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Chapters
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KPOG
History
written by Thomas U.
Greer
FROM
HOG TO KPOG - AN
HISTORICAL REVIEW
KRA Buys Kiawah
- The Honeymoon Phase
On
June 30, 1988, KRG sent
out the first-ever
"EXTRA" of its
monthly newsletter, Overview,
to all property owners.
"Kiawah Island has
been purchased for $105
million by Kiawah Resort
Associates from the
Kiawah Island Company,
Limited, on June 29th,"
Overview reported.
Thus Kiawah entered a new
phase of its history, a
phase which started with
a glorious and lengthy
honeymoon between
property owners and their
new developer, KRA.
At the fall
meeting of the KRG held
at the Church of Our
Saviour on 26 September
1988, property owner
director Tug Greer, who
was completing 31/2 years
on the KICA board,
reported on the new
atmosphere within the
board. Greer stated that
since Frank Brumley, whom
KRA had installed as KICA
president, took over,
"all activities are
now conducted in an open
and above-board manner;
property owner directors’
views are solicited,
meetings are conducted in
a professional manner and
a spirit of cooperation
is now readily
apparent."
Two committees
which KRG had taken over
to keep them alive were
immediately welcomed back
under the community
associationC the Budget
Advisory Committee,
headed by Wally DuBois,
and the Security and
Safety Committee, newly
organized under Tug
Greer. In addition, three
new property owner
committees were added to
KICA - an Environmental
Committee headed by Bob
Cowgill, a Covenant
Compliance Committee
chaired by Hugh Goodman,
and a Landscape and
Garden Committee under
Olive Beam. The Pool
Operations Committee,
ably led by Chet Barrand,
continued in being. The
Hurricane Preparedness
Committee, under Stu
Force, remained under KRG,
continuing preparation of
its plan. The committee
was to go to KICA, but
instead in early 1990
passed to the town, where
it remains today. In
addition, the KICA board
made a decision to hire
an administrator, and
property owner Margie
Brislin was the first to
fill the position while
Bob Jonathan, another
property owner, became a
part-time hire to assist
Margie.
Getting back to
more mundane KRG matters,
at the September 1988
quarterly meeting of KRG,
Dave Hott, chairman of
the EMS Committee,
announced that Hope
Plantation had donated an
acre of land to be used
for a proposed EMS
station close to Kiawah
and Seabrook.
Election
Commissioner Wally
Dornseif reported the
first town election would
be conducted on 6
December and a "Meet
the Candidates"
forum was to be conducted
by the League of Women
Voters on 4 November.
Subsequent to the
election, South Carolina
Secretary of State John
Campbell told Kiawah
Island’s new council
Kiawah’s incorporation
was the smoothest he had
experienced in his 13
years in office. That was
a huge tribute to Buzz
Sniffen, Don Watters,
Wally Dornseif and their
committees and to KRG,
all of whom contributed
so much to this effort.
KRG initiated the study,
saw that both sides of
the issue were aired, and
supported the committee
in many ways.
The town
election was conducted as
scheduled on 6 December
1988. Bo Turner was
elected our first mayor
and Pat Welch, Lib
Melvin, Dave Hott and Tom
Nelson were elected to
the council. All were
sworn in on 7 December
and were introduced at
the KRG winter meeting
held on 12 December. At
that meeting, Mayor
Turner gave a report on
town activities, and thus
a precedent was
established which
continues to this
day- that the town
would give a report at
each quarterly KPOG
meeting just as KICA
property owner directors
had been doing. Since
these reports were always
covered in Overview,
KRG members were
continually kept abreast
of town and KICA
activities as well as
other Kiawah activities.
The
newly-elected town
council found itself in
need of office space,
telephones and basic
furniture to set up its
operation; however, it
had no funds as yet. The
KRG board quietly
proffered a loan from
their treasury which
permitted the town to get
started. Mayor Bo Turner
presented a check to KRG
at its 22 May 1989
meeting with thanks,
repaying the loan. (That
KRG/KPOG war chest is a
handy thing to have
around!)
At the winter
quarterly meeting it was
announced KRG membership
now included 893
families, the largest
membership in KRG
history. Dave Hott
reported that a
consortium had been
formed to collect $50,000
to accelerate the
establishment of the new
EMS station adjacent to
Hope Plantation on
Bohicket Road. KRG
members in attendance
supported the board’s
decision to donate $5,000
from the KRG treasury to
this effort. The towns of
Seabrook and Kiawah, KRA,
Southern National Bank,
Bohicket Marina and the
developers of Andell all
made sizable
contributions. With this
financial assistance the
county was able to build
and establish the new EMS
station in record time -
it was operational in
September of 1989.
Bob Zeller’s
second term ended with
the eighth annual meeting
on 20 February 1989. Bob
recounted highlights of
the history of KRG since
its inception, stressing
the important role the
organization played in
representing the
interests of its members.
Property Owner Director
Buzz Sniffen reported on
KICA activities,
announcing that KRA’s
financial director,
Townsend Clarkson, had
replaced Milt Morgan on
the KICA board. Bo Turner
gave the first
"State of the
Town" report.
Tug Greer
reported on a new
committee appointed by
Mayor Turner to
accomplish the annexation
of the remainder of
Kiawah to the town.
Members were Bill Burns,
Bill Fowler, Tug Greer,
Laura Pulleyn and Dick
Sayers. Because of Kiawah’s
small population and
certain provisions of
South Carolina law,
Kiawah was limited in the
amount of acreage it was
able to include in the
initial boundaries of the
town. (Thus, at that time
all property north of
Governor’s Drive and
east of the leisure trail
leading to Marsh Island
Park lay outside the
town. South of Governor’s
Drive, all property east
of the entrance to
Goldenrod Court was also
outside the town. Avocet
Lane and lots 29 through
32 on Bufflehead were
also outside the town.)
All Kiawah property
owners outside the town
limits had to be
contacted and asked to
sign a petition
requesting annexation -
it required 75% of the
property owners in the
area requesting it to
bring about annexation.
The committee was
successful in their
efforts. Over 80% of the
property owners,
including KRA and
Dennison Royal, the
largest landholders,
requested annexation, and
the remainder of the
island was officially
annexed on May 18, 1989.
A new slate of
officers was elected at
this annual meeting. Jack
Pulleyn became president,
Bill Widmer, vice
president; Dot Dornseif,
treasurer; Ruth Cusick,
secretary; and Ginny
Heinrich, assistant
secretary. Directors were
Stephany Dunfee, Pat
Harding, Lynn Pagliaro,
Bill Fowler and Vin
Sweeney. In his initial
remarks, incoming
president Jack Pulleyn
praised the past efforts
of KRG, especially when
threats to our interest
arose. He also praised
the new owners, KRA, for
restoring property owner
participation in island
affairs and stated he saw
no major threat to our
interest on the immediate
horizon. "This is an
excellent time for the
KRG to devote itself to
things that will improve
the quality of life on
the island. While we
anticipate fewer
problems, we must
keep the KRG alive."
Thus began the Pulleyn
regime. One of its first
steps was to reduce the
annual KRG dues by 20% -
a great beginning!
On 7 March 1989,
KRA announced they had
sold the Inn and island
amenities to Landmark
Land Company of
California. Landmark
almost immediately
announced its intention
to build a hotel on the
ocean in the East Beach
area and a new golf
course, designed by Pete
Dye, on the oceanfront at
the east end of the
island. (Hindsight - one
out of two ain’t bad!)
The honeymoon now
involved a threesome. The
22 May 1989 KPOG
quarterly meeting was
held at East Beach at the
invitation of Landmark.
Contrary to the attitude
of the departed Kiawah
Island Company, KRA not
only recognized KRG, but
Frank Brumley accepted an
invitation to address KRG
at this May meeting.
There he announced that
Landmark, in a
magnanimous move, had
transferred the
prestigious Ryder Cup
golf matches to Kiawah
from one of their western
locations. Morale among
Kiawah property owners
soared as the honeymoon
continued.
At the next KRG
quarterly meeting, on 22
May 1989, Stu Force
talked about hurricane
preparedness and how the
town would now play a
major role in this plan,
particularly in ordering
evacuation of the island.
Stu’s main emphasis was
to advise residents to
evacuate Kiawah early
when a hurricane was
approaching to avoid
major traffic jams. He
promised the new
hurricane preparedness
plan would be distributed
in June. Perhaps
attendees would have paid
closer attention to Stu
that night had he told
them Kiawah was soon to
have a chance to test the
hurricane plan, for
precisely 4 months after
that meeting
"Hugo" paid us
a visit and sent us all
down those evacuation
routes Stu was urging us
to use early.
A word about
this Hurricane
Preparedness Committee is
appropriate. The plan was
distributed in the summer
of ’89 as promised by
Stu. Its importance to
Kiawah before and during
Hugo cannot be
overemphasized. The
entire population of
Kiawah evacuated in good
time prior to Hugo
hitting the island. We
had no casualties
whatsoever. Early
evacuation had been
constantly stressed by
Stu’s committee. It was
the committee’s
education of property
owners which developed
the respect for the
danger of hurricanes that
led to rapid evacuation.
Remember, it was KRG that
salvaged the committee
and re-energized it when
the Kiawah Island Company
tossed it out of KICA.
KRG provided funds to the
committee in the summer
of ’89 for printing the
plan. Throughout late
1989, Stu Force
coordinated his planning
with the town. Kudos for
the work are due Stu
Force, especially, but
also to the many
volunteers who served as
committee members, block
captains, etc. KRG
deserves the thanks of
all of us for having the
foresight to keep the
committee alive and to
provide the resources and
support which nurtured
the committee.
No one who was
living at Kiawah at the
time will forget
Hurricane Hugo, which
struck just before
midnight on 21 September
1989. The clean-up that
followed may well have
been Kiawah’s finest
hour. Under the
leadership of Mayor Bo
Turner, the Town of
Kiawah Island established
an operations center and
the entire island
including KRG pitched in
to effect an efficient
and rapid cleanup. Space
prohibits recounting
everything that happened,
but all will remember
Buzz Sniffen’s Trees
Committee, KRA’s
provision of specimen
trees at reasonable rates
and seedlings at no cost,
Landmark’s family-style
meals for all at cost,
new KICA administrator
Bob Cowan’s efforts
after being hit with Hugo
within days of reporting
to his new job, and the
KICA security force’s
excellent control of
entry to the island. Jack
Pulleyn represented KRG
at the operations
meetings and formed a
committee which outlined
with visible tape all
electric boxes hidden by
debris to prevent them
being bulldozed in the
clean-up. His committee
also inventoried downed
trees on heavily damaged
lots. The Kiawah
honeymoon remained in
full swing.
It was almost as
if Mother Nature were
trying to make amends
when Christmas rolled
around, as 1989 was the
year we woke up to a
beautiful white
Christmas. (Those
pictures of snow you see
stuck on many
refrigerators on Kiawah
were taken that Christmas
day.)
KRG’s main
role during the months
following Hugo was to
keep its membership
informed through
Overview, which hardly
missed a beat. Their
mailbox distribution
system was useful whether
it involved fliers for
the symphony or press
kits concerning Landmark.
At the ninth
annual KRG meeting held
on 26 February 1990, Jack
Pulleyn and Bill Widmer
were re-elected as
president and
vice-president. Other
officers elected were
Stephany Dunfee,
treasurer; Lucy Cogswell,
secretary; Pat Harding,
assistant treasurer; and
Louise Risher, Bill Burns
and Ruth Cusick,
directors. Directors Vin
Sweeney and Bill Fowler
returned for their second
year. The treasury
contained $44,000 and
membership had risen to
1048 families, continuing
the steady increase.
President Jack
Pulleyn’s remarks at
this meeting emphasized
the existing harmony on
the island. "There
has been a continuation
of the cordial
relationship. . . with
KRA. . . and
Landmark."
"Both KRA and
Landmark have paid
considerable attention to
the attitudes and
concerns of property
owners. . ." At this
February meeting Pulleyn
announced KRA was
developing a plan for
wildlife and fisheries on
Kiawah and had asked for
a financial commitment
from KRG in support of
the plan. Jack said he
had run the idea past a
number of people and the
opinions were divided.
Some were in favor of
such donations, while
others felt that wasn’t
what the war chest was
collected for. The KRG
by-laws did not cover
this matter. Pulleyn’s
solution was to appoint a
committee, which made a
recommendation that was
later submitted to the
membership in a
referendum, that the
by-laws be changed to
permit the KRG board to
expend up to $10,000 a
year on contributions to
groups whose objectives
KRG wished to support.
The pros and cons were
debated at subsequent
meetings.
The results of
the referendum were
announced at the March
1991 annual meeting - the
by-laws change was
defeated by a 65%-35%
majority vote, affirming
that KRG funds were not
to be used to make
donations to such causes.
Because of the democratic
manner in which this
matter was handled, the
decision was calmly
accepted by all. Jack
Pulleyn had offered to
collect contributions for
the Wildlife Fund and
eventually did collect
$3275, which was turned
over to the Wildlife
Committee.
In early 1989,
KRG learned that the
Kiawah Island Utility
(KIU) had filed with the
South Carolina Public
Service Commission (PSC)
for a utility rate
increase. President
Pulleyn approached Frank
Brumley, CEO of KRA (and
also president of KIU),
who agreed that before
the application was
submitted, KRA would sit
down with KRG and try to
iron out all differences
before the application
went into a public forum,
to avoid a conflict like
the one that developed
over the 1985 rate
increase request. A
committee composed of
Wally DuBois, Dick Sayers
(both of whom
participated in the 1985
dispute) and Jack Pulleyn
then had a series of
meetings that continued
for four months. Rates
had not gone up since
1984 because of KRG’s
successful defeat of the
’84 requested increase.
Since then the cost of
water had gone up 64% and
the utility was losing
money.
The KRG
committee reviewed the
financials of KIU and
eventually agreed to a
prescribed rate increase.
A number of committee
suggestions on how to
spread the increase were
accepted by KIU. KIU and
the committee agreed to
disagree on the treatment
of availability fees
(called by this time
"building incentive
fees" by KRA) and
KRG filed notice with the
PSC of their intent to
intervene. The KRG
committee testified in
favor of the rate
increase, which was
approved, at the PSC
hearings and made its
case concerning the
availability fees.
The PSC agreed
with KRG’s position
regarding availability
fees, which didn’t
impact the rate increase
but will be of great
importance to property
owners when KRA sells the
utility. The manner in
which this increase was
handled prevented any
acrimony and was fairly
typical of the way Frank
Brumley operated when he
was CEO of KRA. KRG
represented property
owner interests once
again and an equitable
solution was reached. The
time lapse between the
time the parties began to
meet and the final
decision of the PSC (late
in 1990) was almost a
year. Important to note
is that KRG was there
with funds as necessary
to represent property
owner interests and was
only looking for a fair
solution, nothing more.
At this rate, is it
possible the honeymoon
could last forever?!
A number of
interesting items were
covered at the 21 May
1990 quarterly KRG
meeting. President
Pulleyn stated he had a
request from a
non-resident member to
look into reported
falling real estate
values on Kiawah.
Property owner Gene Estes
volunteered to
investigate the matter
and reported back at the
next meeting, stating
that market prices on
condos had fallen
steadily nationwide since
the 1986 tax reform. On
top of that, the Kiawah
Island Company retained a
number of condos which
they unloaded at reduced
prices in what some local
real estate people called
the "fire
sale." Details on
specific homes and condos
were provided.
Mayor Bo Turner
announced the town would
begin to pay for picking
up burnable landscaping
debris on island. A new
"Rules and
Regulations" booklet
was being published by
the community
association. KICA’s
security force was now a
totally in-house force -
contract guards had been
terminated. Kathy Boles
gave a briefing on plans
for the upcoming Ryder
Cup (scheduled for the
fall of ’91) and asked
for volunteers to work on
the tournament. (Remember
Kathy? She’s back on
Kiawah now working for
VIT to market the Ocean
Course.) In the issue of Overview
covering this May ’90
meeting KRG, as a service
to its readers, gave over
several pages to publish
an explanation, written
by Jack Pulleyn, of all
the acronyms and
organizations on Kiawah.
With everything
going so smoothly in
mid-1990, some property
owners began to wonder if
there was a continued
need for KRG. Jack
Pulleyn pointed out that
things had a way of
changing rapidly in
developments. He said KRA
or Landmark could
suddenly depart the
scene. Most old-time
property owners strongly
believed the organization
must be kept alive, so
the suggestion to do away
with KRG never got off
the ground. (A wise
decision and a lesson
learned, for hindsight
shows how quickly things
can change in a
relatively short time, as
Landmark encountered
serious financial
difficulties and the
honeymoon with KRA came
to an end.)
The remainder of
the Pulleyn regime
through the rest of 1990
and the first two months
of ’91 was reasonably
quiet. Overview
began devoting a section
of its quarterly
newsletter to the
"Town Kryer" to
keep KRG members informed
of town happenings. Ryder
Cup updates were given at
each KRG quarterly
meeting and property
owners volunteered in
droves to assist with
that tournament.
During the fall
of 1990 we had our second
town election. Tom Nelson
was elected mayor while
Dave Hott, Lib Melvin,
Pat Welch and Bill
Connellee were elected to
the town council. The
KICA made the decision to
bring the rest of its
work force - landscaping,
lake maintenance and
general maintenance -
in-house and hiring
began. KRG put out a call
to Kiawah for help for
the Rural Mission which
serves all our sea
islands. The response was
great and over 200 pounds
of non-perishable foods
was collected and
delivered to the mission.
Bob Cross was asked to
look into the advantages
and types of home burglar
and fire alarms and he
delivered a comprehensive
and informative report at
the 25 February 1991 KRG
meeting. At the same
meeting Bill Lieberman
reported on the county
recycling effort just
getting underway. He told
us all what to recycle
and where to take it.
The election of
new officers was held at
this February annual
meeting. Bruce Buchanan
became president; Ralph
Magnotti, vice-president;
Doris Teti, secretary;
Stephany Dunfee was
re-elected treasurer; and
Ellen Sayers became
assistant treasurer. New
directors elected were
Roger McLaughlin and
Elsie Meyer, while Bill
Burns, Ruth Cusick and
Louise Risher were the
carry-over directors.
Outgoing
president Jack Pulleyn
gave a report on his
stewardship and KRG’s
accomplishments and
thanked those who had
helped him during his 2
years. He indicated with
the large influx of new
property owners and the
many new full-time
residents, there were
many changes taking place
which might cause KRG to
make adjustments in the
future. The membership
stood at 1057 and the
treasury contained over
$53,000. Bruce made a few
remarks, reminding
attendees what KRG does
and why they should all
become members if they
weren’t already.
As the Buchanan
regime took the KRG reins
in early 1991, there were
a series of storm clouds
on the horizon that
threatened our Kiawah
honeymoon, which had
existed for 22 years.
First, there were a
series of rumors
concerning financial
difficulties Landmark was
having, associated with
the new savings and loan
regulations. It was
initially reported that
Landmark was to sell part
of its holdings. Then it
was reported that all of
its real estate holdings
were to be sold to a new
group headed by Landmark’s
top management, with
little impact on Kiawah.
Information seemed to
change frequently and
there was an uneasy
feeling among all of us.
The second storm
cloud was that the Andell
property had been
purchased for
development. In late 1990
we began to hear through
KRA, which was involved
in the large shopping
center planned as part of
the Andell development,
that Kiawah was being
asked to relocate its
entrance road. This
caused concern among a
number of property
owners, who set out to
investigate.
The third cloud
was the "transition
issue." The
covenants seemed to imply
that control of KICA
passed from the
developer, KRA, to
property owners when 5600
lots/homes/condos had
been sold. It was
discovered in late 1989
that KRA never intended
to reach that number,
hence they would control
the community association
until the last lot was
sold. The number sold at
that time stood a little
over 3000. The issue was
under close scrutiny and
preliminary discussion.
Finally, there were
apparent problems between
KRA-appointed directors
and property owner
directors regarding the
1992 KICA operating
budget - was enough money
being put away for a
reserve fund, and was the
Kiawah Island Parkway
between the two security
gates going to be patched
or totally resurfaced?
Were these all passing
squalls or was the
honeymoon turning into a
troubled marriage? Stay
tuned.
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