No, Hilton Head will never be another Myrtle Beach. But can it be another Hilton Head?

I just got back from a week at Myrtle Beach and I don't have a single new tattoo, tank top or souvenir hermit crab to show for it.

But I do have this bit of breaking news for nervous Hilton Head Island: Forget what you've heard. Hilton Head will never, ever be another Myrtle Beach.

We've heard that warning in Beaufort County since the first entrepreneur dared to serve fast food. You should have been here when they built the Starvin' Marvin's/McDonald's metroplex near Sea Pines Circle.

Henry Ingram joked — we think — that he was going to rename his nearby emporium "Hungry Henry's."

And at about the same time, the sainted Charles Fraser of Sea Pines fame was building — hold onto your thong bikinis — a water slide in the woods off South Forest Beach Drive.

And the sky did not fall. We did not become another Myrtle Beach.

I like Myrtle Beach. It's as much a part of South Carolina as mustard sauce, chicken bog and a double shot of the Swingin' Medallions.

We enjoyed a beautiful, uncrowded shore on Surfside Beach, nice restaurants on Pawleys Island and half a dozen fine golf courses, where I overheard a gentleman golfer with a quick foot saying, "I didn't come all the way down here from West Virginia to hit a ball from behind a tree."

We stayed next to a tranquil state park.

And, as The New York Times says, in many ways, we are already like Myrtle Beach.

But on our excellent vacation we also were within a gunshot — yes, shootings were in the news up there last week, as well as warnings not to swim in certain areas — of the stuff that separates Myrtle Beach from Hilton Head.

Like the Dixie Shop, featuring Dixie flag boxer briefs in size XXXL, if you can imagine. No, don't.

We could walk to a Harley-Davidson dealership, which could have set us up nicely for a cruise to the biker bar on Murrells Inlet called Suck Bang Blow.

We were snug up against a Mr. Fireworks, Shipwreck Island Adventure Golf, helicopter rides, Palmetto Moonshine and an oceanfront campground where they parked campers so close together it could be called Sardineland.

No, Hilton Head couldn't become another Myrtle Beach if it tried.

So the question on Hilton Head has become what it means to become another Hilton Head.

The vision

The Town of Hilton Head Island is "visioning" another Hilton Head.

Much of the 62-page "Vision and Strategic Action Plan" recently adopted by Town Council has been hard for me to understand. It speaks in jargon.

And it talks of a place with greater income diversity and fewer guard gates, which isn't what Hilton Head has wanted before. It's like looking into a wacky mirror in the old Myrtle Beach Pavilion and seeing something entirely different from yourself.

But I can grasp some of the vibe I pick up in the report that looks to 2040, based on input from islanders. It seems to be warning that we are a crotchety bunch of old geezers sleep walking through an old dream that needs to be shaken up.

It says that if we are going to claim to be such world-class environmentalists, we're going to have to actually do things differently, like get out of cars, use solar energy, add public transportation and become known as a center of environmental research.

It warns that future generations may not be so enamored with gated communities.

It says that if we continue to marginalize and exclude the indigenous Gullah Geechee culture, we will have sold our birthright for the price of a timeshare.

It says we must be at one with the region, especially Bluffton.

I would say Hilton Head needs to limit density. The place is becoming too crowded, particularly the south end.

Change

But to our Alex Kincaid's excellent story that pulled the concrete from a mushy-sounding report, Town Council member David Ames responded that we must be open to its possibilities:

"Let’s be clear on 'Change.' For years the island has been changing and change will continue with or without a Town strategy. The purpose of Island visioning is for that change to be for the better and not for the worse. Regional growth and mega-trends are inexorable forces Hilton Head Island can’t slow. They make the status quo obsolete.

"Island government, businesses, non-profits and gated communities can only acknowledge and plan for them, making decisions to mitigate their negative impacts and to take advantage of opportunities that arise. For the Town not to plan strategically would be an abdication of Council’s responsibilities to its citizens and the island.

"Our community is better off envisioning the future than accepting the status quo. After all, it was that enlightened approach that created this special place."

So I'm going to pluck a few of the report's proposed "key metrics to measure future success" against the status quo:

▪ Increased renewable energy options for Hilton Head residents.

▪ Participation of minority groups in community activities and leadership roles.

▪ Preservation of green spaces and ecosystem health.

▪ Evidence of environmental ecosystem research.

▪ More young professionals living and working on the island.

▪ Availability of additional housing options appealing to mixed demographics.

▪ Updated community infrastructure with "green" development.

▪ Expansion of island-based transportation systems, and reduction of local congestion.

▪ Increased leadership involvement in regional activities.

▪ Expanded transportation options between Hilton Head and southern Beaufort County region.

▪ Increased alternative transportation options on Hilton Head.

That might actually help Hilton Head become another Hilton Head.

This story was originally published June 19, 2018 at 12:36 PM with the headline "No, Hilton Head will never be another Myrtle Beach. But can it be another Hilton Head?."