Sea Pines faces balancing act

dIt seems like the Sea Pines residents have a balancing problem to consider.

On one hand, they want a voice in the addition of 90 hotel rooms at the Harbour Town Inn with equal value given to the residents. They say they want it, not in the form of gifts, but in the form of balancing power and having a larger say in running their lives and homes.

On the other hand, a recent post from a non-resident complained about a proposal to raise the gate fee to $10.

Here is the dilemma. Yes, Harbour Town is a nice attraction, as well as the restaurants and shopping, but so are other venues on the island such as Coligny, Shelter Cove, Main Street, Wexford Village — all with no gate fees. So the residents in Sea Pines should think really hard at the possible consequences of their actions. It could slow the retail and restaurants trade if people stop coming, forcing them to close. They could wind up with their gated community and hotels, while those people would be traveling out to shop and eat.

Maybe, just maybe, other avenues should be explored to get this extra money the community seems to need. It could be those so-called gifts from the resort, or raising their own homeowners’ fees, rather than biting off their noses to spite themselves when outside residents and vacationers wouldn’t be bringing guests through their gates.

This story was originally published July 15, 2017 at 9:13 AM with the headline "Sea Pines faces balancing act."