A Hilton Head Weblog

In September's Hilton Head Monthly

Upcoming Events:

Cassidy P.A.’s Wealth Seminar: “Real Estate Investment Strategies”
Christine Cassidy P.A.’s accounting firm will present a wealth seminar, “Real Estate Investment Strategies,” on Tuesday, August 26, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. The program, the third in the company’s 2008 Wealth Strategies Seminar series will take place at the Coastal Discovery Museum, at Honey Horn, and will be free and open to the public. Christine Cassidy has been practicing accounting on Hilton Head since 1996 and founded her own firm in 2000. Her areas of practice include: partnership planning and compliance, tax controversies, business planning and compliance, S-corporations, estate planning and compliance, asset protection and business management consulting. For more information please call (843) 689-2800 or ccassidypa.com.

ISCA’s Annual “Evening of the Arts”
For more than 25 years, Evening of the Arts, an Island School Council of the Arts event, has provided talented local artists with this opportunity to auction their creations for the betterment of arts education in the Lowcountry. This year’s highly anticipated event, sponsored by Monthly Media Group and Gulfstream, will take place at historic Honey Horn on Saturday, September 27. For more information, to purchase tickets or to make a donation to this worthy organization, please call (843) 342-5487.

Monthly's Annual Readers Choice Awards
Don't miss your opportunity to nominate your favorite area people, places and things! Watch the September issue of Hilton Head and Lowcountry Monthly (and hiltonheadmonthly.com) for Monthly's Annual Readers Choice Awards ballot. Winners will be recognized at Monthly’s 2nd Annual Readers Choice Awards Party at Honey Horn, December 4, and also within the December 2008 issue. If you have questions call (843) 842-6988, x241 or email editor@monthlymag.com.

Monthly Solicitations

Annual Photo Contest Returns!
Are you an amateur photographer with great shots of Lowcountry people, places/landscapes, or wildlife? If so, we would like you to submit your photos for Monthly's annual photo contest!

The top winner of each category - three total - will be published in our October 2008 issue within a 4-color feature, which will include a photo of the photographer and a full-page version of his or her winning photo. The 2nd and 3rd place photos will also be included in this special feature. In order to be considered for the contest, please email hi-resolution (300 dpi+) images to hiltonheadmonthly@gmail.com by September 8, 2008.

Hard copies may be mailed to:

Monthly's Photo Contest
52 New Orleans Road, Suite 300
Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

Please include your name, contact information and photo description. Include a SASE if you would like hard copies returned.

Questions? Call (843) 842-6988 x240

In Case You Missed It...

Hilton Head Smoking Ban to be Enforced on May, 1, 2007
The Town of Hilton Head smoking ban will be enforced at 12:01 am on May 1, 2007.

The key provisions in the Ordinance include:

Prohibition on smoking in the workplace and requirement for employers to provide a smoke free environment for their employees in the work place.

Exceptions to the smoking ban are:

o       Private residences

o       Up to 25% of designated rooms in Hotels, Motels, Time Share Units and Bed and Breakfast Homes

o       Retail tobacco stores

o       Smoking by performers in theatrical events

o       Religious ceremonies where smoking is part of the ritual

o       Business comprised of only one individual that are not collocated in a structure with other businesses

Businesses must post a “ No Smoking” sign at the main entrance to the business

Smoking is not permitted within a reasonable distance outside the entrance of the business

The smoking ban will be enforced beginning at 12:01 on May 1, 2007 and violators may be subject to a penalty of up to $500.00.

- From HiltonHeadIsland.org

Hello Again

I have been away from this blog for a while. In case you missed me, it's good to be back. Please visit again for regular updates.

The BIG NEWS is that Andy and I have moved back to RE/MAX Island Realty and I am truly excited again. More to come...........

Thank You......Andre'

Huge News for Daufuskie

Decades-long Daufuskie marina struggle ends

BY PETER FROST, The Island Packet

Published Thursday, May 25, 2006

DAUFUSKIE ISLAND -- A planned inshore lock-harbor marina on Daufuskie Island has been scaled back significantly in a compromise reached by developer Plantation Land Properties and the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League.

• Photo:
  The Island Packet
  + Enlarge Image

The deal ends a nearly four-year legal battle between the two groups over the validity of a state-issued permit for the marina and clears the way for construction to begin on the project.

The planned marina, on the 730-acre Webb Tract on the north end of the island, has been in the works for more than 20 years.

"We've worked a long time on getting this straightened out," said Pete Lang, managing partner for Plantation Land Properties, the company that also owns the Oak Ridge Tract on the south side of Daufuskie and 90 percent of the undeveloped land on the island.

When asked Wednesday how soon construction might begin on the marina, Lang declined to give a timeline, but said: "Let's put it this way -- the gateway for development has been opened on Daufuskie. I would just say: Stay tuned."

As part of the agreement, which was reached outside the courts:

. The planned 280-slip marina has been reduced to 50 slips.

. A planned inland lock-harbor will be replaced by a dam located 2 feet below the water during high tide, allowing for daily tidal exchange of clean water but restricting the size of boats allowed. The dam would help create a 5- to 56-acre saltwater lagoon and marsh system that will aid more natural water flow and help improve water quality.

. The removal of about 80 percent of the bulkheads, which are like railroad ties, projected to line the waterway in the original plan. Under the new plan, the bulkheads will be replaced with naturally sloping sides of vegetation to better filter pollution from stormwater runoff.

. Plans for a separate 94-slip intracoastal marina and a 400-slip dry-stack storage facility will remain as permitted.

"We're very pleased; it was a good compromise," said Nancy Vinson, water-quality program director for the Coastal Conservation League. "It's a mutually acceptable agreement that doesn't harm the environment and avoids setting a dangerous legal precedent."

The Coastal Conservation League was concerned about how permit extensions are granted by the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, the agency in charge of issuing permits for development in coastal areas.

Vinson said the construction of a lock-harbor marina would have threatened water quality, and wakes made by large boats would have caused erosion and other damage to the sensitive tidal creeks.

"We were concerned that every time you'd open that lock to allow a boat in or out, you'd have a slug of pollution and nonoxygenated stagnant water rushing out into the Intracoastal (Waterway)," Vinson said. "The elimination of the lock-harbor marina is very, very significant."

The project initially called for digging a marina in an upland area beside the water and installing a lock system to keep the water in the marina at a consistent level, which would allow for larger boats.

The state issued a permit for the lock-harbor marina in the mid-1980s. In 1999, Plantation Land Properties purchased the Webb Tract from International Paper, and it was granted a five-year extension on the permit in 2000.

In 2003, the Coastal Conservation League sued, saying that work directly related to the permit had to be done in order to justify renewing the permit. But in December 2004, a Beaufort County court found that enough work had been done to justify the permit's renewal.

"We're very pleased to have this finally settled," Lang said.

He said the company has long had the goal of creating an environmentally sensitive development. Earlier this year, Lang's Conservation by Design planted some 40,000 sea oats along 3,000 feet of beach beside the Oak Ridge Tract to prevent erosion.

"Our property owners are more worried about the environmental integrity of the island than we are about the development of the property," Lang said. "Everyone should welcome this change with open arms."

Active Homes

Hi Everyone,

Here are the currant active home listings in the different areas of Hilton Head. If anything jumps out at you give me a buzz or send an e-mail and we can talk about it.

Sea Pines

Shipyard

Wexford

Long Cove

Palmetto Dunes/Shelter Cove

Folly Field

Hilton Head Plantation

Palmetto Hall

Port Royal

Indigo Run

Long Cove

Windmill Harbour

Spanish Wells

Hilton Head - Off Plantation

I'll do Bluffton next and then the villas on HHI. Thanks and take care!

AC

Listings

Hi Everyone,

In case you haven't visted my website before (or perhaps it's been awhile) please feel free to have a look at www.andrecilliers.com. You can view my current listings, recent sales and there are plenty of articles to read whether you are a buyer or a seller, a novice or an expert. You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter. Thanks very much.

Andre'