Kiawah Island Property Owners Group

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KPOG History

A History of the Kiawah Property Owners Group from 1981-1995
written by Thomas U. Greer

The last installment carried us to April of 1994. Bruce Buchanan was the newly-elected president and Wendy Kulick, vice-president, had taken over as managing editor of Kiawah Island Talk. Wendy had vowed to reduce the cost of producing and distributing Talk. She accomplished this very quickly, as her very first full issue (May, 1994) came in right on budget, showing a marked improvement over previous issues.

Things were relatively quiet on Kiawah during most of 1994. KPOG continued to keep its members fully informed. Talk covered all the island news to include town, KICA, and Kiawah Island Resort activities in addition to KPOG events. Items making Talk during early ’94 covered the waterfront. KICA’s auditor, when reviewing the 1993 financial report, cited the need for a more adequate reserve fund, thus supporting the KICA property owner directors’ position. The Pool Expansion Committee began the search for an architect for the new Beach and Recreation Center. The town initiated action with the state legislature to pass a law requiring shrimp boats to stay at least a half mile off Kiawah’s beach. (Although this is the law along much of the South Carolina coast, the shrimpers’ lobby is apparently a very strong one. To date our representatives have not been successful in getting the half-mile limit applied to the coast of Kiawah.)

Efforts were begun to fund a feasibility study for a Johns Island cross-island parkway, with the town, KICA, KRA, VIT and Ravenel Associates all making sizable contributions. George Walther became chairman of the Emergency Preparedness Committee, replacing Stu Force. Al Sill was appointed to chair the town Election Commission, which also had George Melvin and Bette Robinson as members. VIT constructed a basketball court at Night Heron Park using accommodations tax funds provided by the town. Bob McBrier was publicly thanked for having voluntarily audited KPOG’s financial records for the sixth successive year.

The item which received the most attention, however, was the on-going negotiations between the town and KRA to complete the Development Agreement which they had been working on for so long. The town held four public meetings/hearings to give people a chance to ask questions and provide comments. During three days in the middle of May, the town laid out all the parts of the draft agreement and invited property owners to visit the exhibit and ask questions. Over 150 property owners took advantage of the opportunity.

The one element which caused the greatest controversy was the continued lack of adequate beach parking behind the second gate. The draft agreement called for permitting parking along Flyway Drive in the Osprey Beach area, a solution which understandably received considerable opposition from property owners in that area. Eventually the matter was resolved when KRA agreed to provide a 50 space parking lot on Governor’s Drive, opposite the eastern intersection of Flyway Drive, in lieu of the 20 space lot previously promised near the intersection of Glen Abbey and Flyway.

Signing of the agreement was initially scheduled for 21 July, but after several postponements was eventually accomplished on 16 September 1994. This agreement was a momentous accomplishment and the entire Kiawah community breathed a sigh of relief, as the town and KRA were congratulated for the successful completion. In the September edition of Talk, an editorial praised both parties for their efforts and put the terms of the agreement in perspective - neither side got all it wanted.

KPOG held a quarterly meeting on 13 June. Sean Driscoll, the newly-elected KICA property owner director and a non-resident, spoke about his election campaign, what he saw as KICA issues, and the future of non-residents at Kiawah. He acknowledged that after attending several board meetings he had discovered that all property owners, resident and non-resident, essentially have the same concerns regarding KICA matters. Sean received a number of penetrating questions during the Q&A period. (This was to be the only time Sean would agree to address KPOG, even though invited several times thereafter, as part of the policy of rotating property owner directors invited to speak at quarterly meetings.)

Mayor Lib Melvin thanked John Brislin and his KPOG committee for their work on recycling, which was done to assist the town, and indicated the town would pick up the effort in the future. Prem Devadas reported on resort activities, to include plans for renovation of the West Beach area planned in late 1995.

The July ’94 issue of Talk provided extensive coverage of a 29 June meeting on hurricane preparedness sponsored by the town. Officials from all concerned county entities contributed to the meeting. Attendees at the meeting, as well as readers of the July issue, received many helpful tips for use prior to, during and after a major storm.

On 20 July a misfortune occurred which was to shake the entire Kiawah community for weeks to come. A major fire burned the residence at 29 Surfsong to the ground. The occupants had fled the house just in time. Extensive damage was also done to the home at 30 Surfsong. A major controversy arose when the fire department claimed a lack of adequate water pressure greatly inhibited its efforts to bring the fire under control. The initial reaction was considerable finger-pointing between KRA, the Kiawah island Utility Company, and the fire department. KPOG, in a lead editorial in Talk, raised a series of questions and urged quick action, stating how fortunate we were to have incorporated and have a town government to take charge.

The town quickly assumed responsibility and brought all parties together to complete the investigation of the incident, and more importantly, to agree to work together to take appropriate action. Out of this effort came a new, comprehensive town fire ordinance, a planned new above-ground water tank east of Governor’s Drive (across from the eastern end of Snowy Egret Lane), improved utility pumping capability, increased water main diameters in future construction, and the means to shut down irrigation lines in case of fire. It took almost a year to reach agreement among all parties.

As always, KPOG monitored all of the actions, kept its membership informed, and raised questions and concerns when appropriate. The August ’94 issue of Talk covering the fire was sent to all property owners, not just KPOG members, as a service, because of the importance of the fire safety and water availability issues. That issue also contained an update of the "Who Does What, For Whom, on Kiawah" article written by Tug Greer, designed to help property owners sort out all of the acronyms and organizations on Kiawah - another service provided to all property owners. A new restaurant review column, written by Colleen Khayali, appeared in this issue of Talk and was to become a frequent feature.

The 12 September ’94 quarterly KPOG meeting started with the news that KPOG membership had reached a new high of 1175 members. Membership chairperson Peg Russo was congratulated for her efforts. George Intemann, chairman of the Beach and Recreation Center Committee, reported on the plans and progress of his committee. A project manager and an architect had been selected, and the hope was to have the building ready for use in 1996. Town councilman Charlie Moore reported on the status of the Development Agreement and on the town’s fire safety study.

Tug Greer, KICA property owner director, reported on KICA activities. He briefed attendees on security’s successful apprehension of two youths who were stealing electronic equipment from cars, others who were stealing bicycles, and a third group who sprayed fire extinguishers on some Windswept walls and elevators. All incidents involved dependents of property owners, who were entitled to be on Kiawah. Tug urged attendees to keep their cars locked and any electronic gadgets in the cars out of sight. (This is still good advice.) Prem Devadas briefed on resort activities to include progress on planning for a new club house, with an 85-seat restaurant, to be built at Osprey Point.

At the 19 September 1994 KICA board meeting, the subject of the new municipal center being planned by the town came up. The board had received a letter from Mayor Lib Melvin offering to provide office space in the town hall for KICA with very favorable financing terms. Property owner directors Tug Greer and Laura Pulleyn were very much in favor of co-locating with the town. Property owner director Sean Driscoll said KICA ought to keep as much distance as possible between itself and the town.

The board president procrastinated over responding to Mayor Melvin’s letter for several months. All efforts by Tug and Laura to have the KICA offices located in the proposed town hall met continued resistance from the KRA directors and Sean. (Finally, in mid-’95, numerous property owners made an effort to persuade KRA board members to agree to having KICA offices in the new town hall, and were successful. This late change of heart required the town to revise its architectural plans and delay its construction timetable. Present plans provide for co-location, and all financial arrangements, which are very beneficial to KICA, have been agreed to.)

The concern over insinuations by some parties that the town was not working in the best interest of all property owners caused a strong pro-town editorial in the October ’94 issue of Talk which reminded readers how much the town had done for Kiawah, and praised the work of the town council.

On October 2, Kiawah was hit with a tropical storm which dumped over seven inches of water on our island in less than 24 hours. Standing water was so deep on some roads that cars simply were not able to negotiate it, and some people were prevented from leaving the island. The rainfall had not been expected, so lagoons had not been lowered in anticipation. Golf courses also received considerable water damage.

The October 17, 1994, KICA board meeting caused a major confrontation between property owner directors and KRA directors concerning the 1995 KICA budget. First, the board approved (by a 5-2 vote with only Greer and Pulleyn opposed) a budget which was an increase of 10 to 12 per cent over the 1994 budget. Second, it was done at a single meeting (normally 3 budget meetings had been required in past years) without any input from the Finance Advisory Committee, and without property owner directors having a chance before the meeting to question the staff on budget details. Laura Pulleyn and Tug Greer then called a special meeting of the board to object to the budget and to the manner in which it was passed. However, they were not successful in changing the board’s decision. Both meetings were covered in detail in Talk.

The bulk of the November ’94 issue of Talk was devoted to the upcoming mayoral and town council election. Each candidate was invited to submit a statement of 300 words or less addressing the 3 most critical issues he believed would be facing the town over the next two years. All responses were printed in Talk. Butch Bush and incumbent council member Ralph Magnotti ran for mayor, while the candidates for council were Steve Koenig, Mitch LaPlante, incumbent Roger McLaughlin, Bill Monteith, incumbent Charlie Moore, Ed Morgan and Jane Sheridan. In addition, KPOG, along with the town and the League of Women Voters, sponsored a "Meet the Candidates" night on December 1^st. All candidates had a chance to make a statement and were required to answer certain questions.

The election was a spirited one. On 7 December, 540 Kiawah residents turned out to vote. Ralph Magnotti was elected mayor overwhelmingly. Incumbents Roger McLaughlin and Charlie Moore were reelected to council, while first-time candidates Bill Monteith and Jane Sheridan were also elected. A letter from property owner Bob Qualls which was very critical of the outgoing town council, and which was submitted too late to make the November issue of Talk, was printed in the December issue along with a response by newly-elected mayor Ralph Magnotti which answered Qualls’ letter point by point. (The Qualls letter, after missing the November issue of Talk, was published in the next issue of the Kiawah-Seabrook Connection. Thus, when it was published in the December issue of Talk, Magnotti was able to address the Qualls letter point by point in a letter of his own.)

The winter quarterly KPOG meeting was held on 8 December ’94. President Bruce Buchanan regretfully accepted the resignations of Gloria Fasciano as assistant secretary and John Brislin as assistant vice-president. Mary Carven assumed Gloria’s responsibilities, and KPOG board member Jim Piet took over John’s duties. Membership chairperson Peg Russo was again congratulated, as KPOG membership had now reached a new high of 1226 members.

The KPOG Research Committee had previously composed and sent out to all property owners an extensive questionnaire requesting comments on certain aspects of life on Kiawah as well as their opinion of Kiawah agencies. Jim Piet reported that 800 property owners had already responded, and 90% of them added written comments on their questionnaire. Property owner director Laura Pulleyn reported on KICA activities, emphasizing the problems she saw with the recently-approved 1995 KICA budget. She also addressed a number of other concerns, all of which were thoroughly covered in Talk.

Bruce introduced our newly-elected mayor, Ralph Magnotti, who in turn introduced his new council. Ralph stated that he considered the 4 to 1 majority received in the election to be a mandate to continue the proactive course of the previous council. Implementation of the Development Agreement would be the prime focus for the new council. Lib Melvin as outgoing mayor and Tom Nelson, as an outgoing council member, were both recognized and thanked for their contributions.

The December issue of Talk, which covered the quarterly meeting, also contained a thank you to Elsie Meyer, who for three years had compiled and provided the information included on the monthly calendar which was an important part of every issue of TALK. Pat Estes then picked up responsibility for the calendar.

On 15 December, property owners were notified that KRA had brought suit against VIT, the parent of Kiawah Island Resort, for breach of contract. KRA asked the court to rescind the 1989 purchase agreement wherein VIT assumed Landmark’s purchase of the Kiawah amenities. KRA alleged VIT had failed to build the required hotel at East Beach.

At the 29 December KICA board meeting, Prem Devadas said he had believed VIT’s plans to upgrade the inn at West Beach into a luxury hotel with 225-275 rooms had been well-received by all concerned. Prem said he was shocked when the lawsuit was announced, and went on to say lawsuits are not good for anyone - they hurt the island - and he hoped it could be resolved. (It took the better part of a year, but eventually the parties resolved the matter. An upgrade of the inn at West Beach is still planned with no hotel as yet in any East Beach plans.)

The January issue of Talk was designed to help property owners in the March, 1995 election of a KICA property owner director to replace Tug Greer. Questions were asked of candidate Eric Nielsen. Different questions were asked of each current property owner director concerning his activities on the KICA board. This issue also included a "score card" showing how the property owner directors voted on controversial issues during the previous year and also provided additional detail on what is required and expected of property owner directors. The KPOG board made a decision to send this issue to all property owners, not just to KPOG members, as a service to help them make an informed decision at election time. An editorial urged all readers to take their voting responsibilities seriously. (Bob Qualls filed for the election at the last minute; his responses to the questions were published in the February issue of Talk.)

Talk had asked KICA property owner directors Tug Greer and Laura Pulleyn to study the recently-signed Development Agreement (DA) and write an article on how the DA impacted the Community Association. This article, which contained their assessment of the advantages and disadvantages to KICA, was also a part of the January issue.

During the months of December >94-January ’95, a distemper epidemic swept through the fox and raccoon population on Kiawah. The disease decimated the fox population - you seldom see a fox these days. It also greatly reduced the raccoon population. (Bodies of 43 foxes and 55 raccoons were removed by KICA security.) Fortunately, there were no known cases among household dogs or other pets.

The February ’95 issue of Talk contained a lengthy article by Fred Peck on the new Property Owners’ Beach and Recreation Center. Pictures of the scale model gave the readers a good idea how the building would look, and plans of both floors were also included. Another article contained the resort’s plans to open a food court in May at East Beach. (This facility proved to be very popular with both tourists and residents throughout the summer of 1995.) Bob Cowgill continued to provide his outstanding nature articles, one of which reported on the results of the highly successful Loggerhead turtle nesting season in 1994.

The KPOG annual meeting was held on 20 February 1995. Outgoing President Bruce Buchanan thanked his board for all of their efforts, and then the election of officers for 1995 was conducted. Wendy Kulick was elected president, Browning Crow, vice-president; Ed Morgan, treasurer; Pat Hipp, secretary; Mike Kauffman, assistant secretary, and Jack Hamilton, Beverly Pawson-Liebman and Jack Hogue were elected directors. Jim Piet and Peg Russo continued to serve as directors for their second year.

Mayor Ralph Magnotti spoke for the town and stated the only reason the town was agreeable to taking over ownership of our entrance road to Kiawah was to relieve some of the financial burden from KICA. Ralph went on to talk about off-island road and traffic problems facing Kiawah in the near future.

President Buchanan indicated he had invited property owner director Sean Driscoll to take his turn to present the KICA report, but Sean declined, telling Bruce it would serve no real purpose since most of the members attending the meeting did not agree with his opinion. Tug Greer gave the report.

Rather than give an outgoing report at the meeting, Bruce Buchanan wrote a very thoughtful editorial which appeared in the March issue of Talk. He felt the highlight of his year was the overwhelming response received from the survey sent to all property owners. That 30% of the property owners responded was quite extraordinary. KPOG sent the results to be analyzed by an independent analyst from the College of Charleston, and then results were made available over the next few months to all property owners and to all the Kiawah agencies who received constructive criticism in the survey. Of all the agencies whose performance and effectiveness respondents were asked to evaluate, KPOG received the most favorable rating from property owners, a point Bruce was pleased to report.

This survey was of tremendous value to Kiawah. John Brislin, Paul Bernard, and Jim Piet, who conceived, prepared and distributed the survey, deserve special recognition. Newly-elected President Wendy Kulick insured the results were distributed to all who could benefit and new Research Committee Chairman Jim Piet was the leg man who personally briefed each island agency on the results. Many suggestions contained in the survey, such as the need to have better island signage which can be read at night, and the need to clear brush away from island intersections, have been implemented, thanks to follow-up by KPOG.

Bruce also proposed in his editorial that KPOG form a non-partisan group, which would bring together major Kiawah entities (particularly including persons elected to their positions) to discuss openly and positively ways to improve relationships among the groups for the benefit of all. Wendy Kulick acted on the suggestion and the so-called "Gang of Five" (representing KPOG, KRA, VIT, the town and KICA) was formed and meets periodically. This group appears to be doing their business quietly, with improved communication and several tangible accomplishments (Kiawah directional signage on Highway 17, plans for a teen center) resulting.

Wendy Kulick is the first female president of KPOG. She performs her presidential duties and continues to be the managing editor of Talk (ably assisted by Bev Pawson-Liebman and a host of others) while holding down a full-time job. There have been no anti-feminist remarks concerning the performance of this lady, even in jest. KPOG remains in firm, competent hands. If you look carefully, you’ll find that our ladies more than hold their own when it comes to volunteer work, including leadership positions, on Kiawah.

At the March, 1995, KICA annual meeting, Eric Nielsen defeated Bob Qualls in the election of a property owner director to sit on the board. The referendum to transfer ownership of the Kiawah entrance road from KICA to the town was approved by the membership.

One final incident, of personal interest to your author, is deserving of comment. At the annual meeting, outgoing director Tug Greer gave his personal evaluation of KICA upon his departure from the board. He cited a number of KICA strengths, mentioned several areas where improvements had been made, and then listed a number of problem areas which needed watching.

When the KRA-dominated board refused to include Greer’s comments in the summary report of the annual meeting (which resulted in no report of the annual meting ever being sent to the property owners from KICA), it was KPOG which took the initiative to print Greer’s remarks and distribute them to all property owners, along with the results of the election and the above-mentioned referendum. There is no better example of KPOG living up to its purpose than this. Not only did the organization fulfill its responsibilities to keep property owners informed, but it also served notice to KRA that it would not stand for censorship of property owner board members. Your author will always be indebted to KPOG for its action in this matter.

This history has to stop somewhere, and March of 1995 is as good a point as any, especially considering that the first edition appeared in the August ’94 issue of Talk. Before closing, a couple of points should be made. First, anyone who has read this history has to realize the tremendous service that has been performed by KPOG for all property owners over the years. We must never take for granted KPOG’s contribution to Kiawah and to all of us. Instead, we must recognize that KPOG’s accomplishments were made possible because of the hard work and dedication of many, many volunteers over the years who served on the board or on committees, and also because of the continuous support of those property owners who became KPOG members.

Many others have enjoyed the fruits of these joint efforts, without any participation. The future success of KPOG will continue to depend on volunteers willing to work for the good of all. Please don’t be hesitant to raise your hand when the call goes out. Let your willingness to work and your particular talents be known - to KPOG, the town or KICA, as you please.

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