Growing SC coast demands early evacuations
Anyone complaining that hurricane forecasters, public officials and the media exaggerated the potential dangers of Hurricane Florence must be oblivious to the problems just north of us now, oblivious to the tragedy in this area of the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893. These serious professionals were trying to do their jobs.
Approximately 75 million Americans, including Beaufort County’s 180,000, live within 50 miles of coastlines subject to the planet’s most dangerous weather systems. Since 1940, the North and South Carolina coasts have added 1.3 million homes. Nearly half of today’s residents arrived after Hurricane Hugo barreled ashore north of Charleston 29 years ago, with winds of 140 mph and with the highest storm surge ever recorded on the East Coast. No matter how well publicized the threat, growth continues.
We understand thoroughly that anxiety, weariness and frustration accompany arduous, expensive hurricane evacuations. Sometimes they need to be done when, ultimately, the hurricane changes its directions. Decisions about them have to be made well in advance of certainty. Most people cannot simply drive away as soon as evacuation is ordered. There are businesses to shut down, boats to be relocated, windows to be shuttered, cash to be found and on and on and on. How long would it take for everybody in danger under certain circumstances to evacuate this community? Many hours.
Suppose Hurricane Florence had hit when and where it was predicted to hit when the governor made his initial decision. As long as populations keep climbing where catastrophic hurricanes come, those unwilling or unable to evacuate probably should live elsewhere. Seriously.
Fran and Bill Bollin
Buckingham Landing
Property owners must help Sea Pines
My wife and I bought our first property in Sea Pines in 1990, attracted by Charles Fraser’s vision of a community in harmony with nature and based upon a synergistic relationship between the resort, commercial interests and property owners.
Unfortunately, Sea Pines experienced some rough spots along the way. Sea Pines property owners came to the rescue during a bankruptcy to form an undercapitalized Sea Pines Associates, which struggled to keep things afloat. Unfortunately, the lack of funding took a toll and the community started to show its age.
We appreciate the investments of the Goodwin family. They have invested heavily in the Sea Pines Resort and while some residents feel those investments only benefited the resort, it is inescapable that all Sea Pines property owners have seen property values rise. Those investments were also instrumental in retaining the RBC Heritage tournament. .
During the bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings, property owner association fees were capped and tied to inflation, which kept our fees among the lowest on the island for years. Sea Pines residents are now advised by an alliance of discontented property owners to make visitors, commercial interests and the resort pay for future infrastructure improvements.
Our community has seen the percentage of costs borne by property owners decrease while revenues from gate fees and other stakeholders have increased. Sea Pines needs infrastructure improvements and property owners should accept their responsibility to assure Sea Pines continues to be a first-class place to live without fracturing relations with other stakeholders.
Jim Synk
Hilton Head Island
How to submit a letter
Send letters to the editor by email to letters@islandpacket.com or letters@beaufortgazette.com.
Or you may submit a letter online.
Letters to the editor must be 250 words or fewer and include your first and last names, street address and daytime telephone number so we can verify the letter before publication.
You are limited to one letter per 30 days.
Letters may be edited for length, style, grammar, taste and libel. All letters submitted become the property of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette.
Letters will be accepted only if they are typed into the body of an email, not sent as an email attachment.
This story was originally published October 1, 2018 at 4:15 PM.