September LIBPA Newsletter

Island Notes: Business Opportunity. Howard Bayne, owner of MilSpec Communications, which is the only cell phone store on Lady’s Island, has decided to retire and is placing his business up for sell. The store is located in the Food Lion shopping center on Lady’s Island. For additional information contact Mr. Bayne at (843) 575-1863. Welcome to the San Jose Mexican Restaurant. Located directly behind the Walgreen’s store on Sams Point Road and in the last stages of construction the San Jose Mexican Restaurant is expected to open in the near future. This new full service restaurant will be locally owned and operated. Another Publix? The corporate headquarters of Publix has expressed interest in locating a store (39,600 square feet) on St. Helena Island beside Polowana Road and connected to U. S. 21/ Sea Island Parkway. In comparison, the Publix on Lady’s Island is 37,000 square feet in size. The present plans for the St. Helena site includes 4 small (490 square feet) office or commercial spaces located along Highway 21 with the grocery store behind them. Some of the residents of the community have expressed concern regarding both location and design. This project is still in the initial conceptual stage. What will go in the former Grayco site? After many queries and rumors regarding what new business will be located at the former Grayco site a quick check was made with LIBPA member Herb Gray. Mr. Gray reports that at the present time an engineering firm has been hired to determine what choices are possible with the space available and to make a recommendation as to the best use of the property within existing zoning regulations. Although there have been a number of queries regarding possible use of the site no decision will be made until the engineering study is completed. Based on the great renovation job of the former Winn Dixie shopping center the community can rest assured that whatever business is finally located at the site will be a compliment to the Village Center and Lady’s Island. Disaster Loans Available to Lady’s Island Businesses. The Small Business Association has approved the availability of loans for businesses which suffered financial set backs as a result of the McTeer Bridge being closed. For details, go to the SBA web site at www.sba.gov/servuces/disasterassistance or call 1-800-659-2955.

School Busses, Safety, and Sams Point Road: Now that school is back in secession there will be approximately 4000 students on Lady’s Island roads going to and from schools each day. Many of these students will travel by school busses. Everyone knows (or certainly should know) that motorist must always stop when they are traveling behind a bus with flashing amber or red lights. When they are approaching a stopped school bus with flashing red lights from the opposite direction, drivers must stop if they are on a two-lane road. If they are on a four-lane road (or more) highway or private road and meet a stopped school bus, they do not have to stop. Regardless of the fact that the law no longer requires stopping, drivers should slow down and proceed with caution. So, on the four lane portion of Sams Point Road you do not have to stop if meeting a stopped school bus but must stop on the two-lane portion of Sams Point Road or any other two-land road.

Lady's Island Middle School At First Glance:  Mr. Terry Bennett, in his new position as Principal of Lady’s Island Middle School, provided the following statistics regarding 2007/8 student enrollment. On day number 3 (August 22) the total enrollment of Lady’s Island Middle School was 623 students. The capacity for the school facility is 897 students. Past student population at the school was 2001/2 – 689, 2002/3 – 633, 2003/4 – 691, 2004/5 -699, 2005/6 -710, 2006/7 -700. Following is a “first look” at the 2007/8 student population of Lady’s Island Middle School. Grade Levels 6th – 180 students (15.0 per class) 7th – 206 students (17.16 per class) 8th – 235 students (21.5 per class) Racial Make – Up 62% - African American 33% - White 4% - Hispanic 1 % - Other Editor’s Note: A special thanks to Mr. Bennett for the gracious, open manner in which he shares information with LIBPA, parents of students and the community regarding the schools in which he serves as Principal. Mr. Bennett was the Principal of Lady’s Island Elementary School last year.

So We Have A Northern Regional Plan - Now What?: by Jim Hicks, Lady's Island Representative, Beaufort County  Planning Commission After a year of work, by many people, the Northern Regional Plan (NRP) is finished and is now winding its way through each of the municipal and county councils. Although consisting of only 86 pages it is a complicated document and not easily understood. It says that between now and 2025 growth is going to continue to occur; it is going to be expensive to support and difficult to control but if the governments work together we might, just might, retain those qualities that make the area north of the Broad River special. However, the details of how the “working together” will be accomplished remains to be determined, much less formalized and agreed to in the form of intergovernmental agreements. The development of these agreements is the next step. They will be technical in nature, require a great deal of negotiations and good faith effort on the part of everyone involved. How effective they will be depends on the ability of a lot of people and governments to find “common ground”. The steps that will occur (hopefully) to transition the plan from 86 pages of good intentions to an everyday way of doing business include the following:      (1) Intergovernmental agreements. The Steering Committee, which consists of mayors, councilmen, planning commissioners and a school board representative, will change titles (new name Implementation Committee) and will now guide the development of a series of intergovernmental agreements. These agreements will spell out the details of how the plan will be implemented on a day to day basis. As the respective planners and members of the Implementation Committee struggle with the details of such things as annexation, a group of citizens (Technical Committee), who have already devoted many hours to addressing the technical aspects of the plan, will now attempt to reach agreement in the respective ordinances in those areas where there now exists wide differences. As to when these intergovernmental agreements will be completed, there is no magic completion date established at this point.      (2) Beaufort County Comprehensive Plan. Simultaneously, while this endeavor is underway the Beaufort County Planning Department will be rewriting key portions of the 10 year old Comprehensive Plan which by state law must be rewritten at this time. Although some of the plan can be rewritten in 2008, specific portions, such as the land use chapter, must be completed by December 2007. Of specific concern to those working to implement the NRP is the fact that in order to rewrite the land use portion of the Comprehensive Plan requires the present rural zoning be evaluated. Since the NRP retains 60% of all property north of the Broad River in a rural zoning status, this is a very big thing.      (3) Municipal Comprehensive Plans. As efforts progress to develop intergovernmental agreements and the County Comprehensive Plan is being rewritten, in 2008 the Town of Port Royal and the City of Beaufort will begin rewriting their respective Comprehensive Plans. The Town of Yemassee will also develop a comprehensive plan to guide their growth. Since the Northern Regional Plan establishes Lady’s Island and Port Royal Island as “growth areas” in which municipal expansion is anticipated and logical, this provides a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for the municipalities to spell out, in detail, their vision of how their municipalities should look in the future. Such a detailed vision would allow cooperative planning by the municipalities and the county for the type of future development to be authorized in the growth areas and should become part of the NRP. Since Lady’s Island has reached a point in development that consists primarily of the “infill” of small undeveloped portions of the island and both the County and the City of Beaufort have agreed that the rural portion of the island will remain rural, this part of the implementation of the NRP will have little effect on Lady’s Island but could have a major impact on Port Royal Island. The term “the makings of a perfect storm” is often utilized when climatic conditions are just right to support development of a serious weather event. In many ways, the next 12 to 18 months will offer northern Beaufort County “the makings of a perfect planning opportunity”. We have: • Elected leaders and planners with a great deal of experience in dealing with growth who have demonstrated a public and private willingness to work together. • A regional plan that lays out a road map for controlling future growth. • A state mandated requirement that 3 of the 4 key governments in northern Beaufort County, almost simultaneously, evaluate and rewrite their comprehensive plans. • A concerned and knowledgeable citizenry willing to contribute of their time and talent in finding solutions to the challenges of future growth. Will we be able to translate the Northern Regional Plan into detailed intergovernmental agreements that add real, definable meaning to the popular term “smart growth”? There are no guarantees and before we succeed there are some tough days ahead. One thing is for certain we, in northern Beaufort County, will not get another opportunity like this for 10 years and by then it will be too late to matter.

Great Things Are Happening At Beaufort Academy: With the start of another school year a quick check with Beaufort Academy Headmaster Tim Johnson revealed the following great things happening at BA. • Tennis Courts: Construction is in progress for a 6 court Tennis Center located in the vicinity of the athletic field. The project is scheduled to be completed in September. Although the facilities will not be available to the general public they will be available to organizations in the community for special tennis events. • Classroom Renovation: The classrooms for grades 1 through 4 were recently renovated. • Expansion of the Academy Learning Center . The faculty, parents, and alumni work hard to keep Beaufort Academy a first rate academic institution and a good neighbor to the Lady’s Island community. Congratulations on the new Tennis Center and the Lowcountry Learning Center and thank you for your willingness to share them with the community.

Growth, Cost And Annexation: The large amount of property being annexed in the general area of southern Beaufort County, accompanied by approval for massive development combined with annexation action in northern Beaufort County is posing an interesting question to both municipal and county governments. What is the cost of services and supporting infrastructure for one new residential house and who receives the bill? There are lots of numbers flying around but a simple answer to that question does not exist. There are a number of studies available on the subject but usually they only tell the governmental entity that is paying for the study, how much a new house will cost them, not the total bill for how much the house will cost some taxpayer. For example the Strom Thurmond Institute did a study for Jasper County on the subject of what a new individual home would cost the county in the way of services and infrastructure. The result was that regardless of the cost of the new home they (home owners) would pay more in taxes than infrastructure and services would cost the county. A normal first reaction to this is utter amazement until you realize that (1) Jasper County has encouraged development to annex into municipalities (Hardeeville and Richland) which are then expected to pay for providing the basic services, (2) the cost of roads is not included since the state taxpayer is expected to pay for them, (3) the cost of new schools is not included since that is the responsibility of the school district and (4) the county has a relatively high tax rate. Probably a more realistic approach is that taken by the American Farm Trust (AFT) which has completed a large number of studies over the last 30 years on the cost of community services as a result of residential development. The median result of these studies indicates that for every $1.00 a municipality receives in taxes or general revenue from a residence it must provide $1.19 worth of services. On the other hand, for commercial or industrial development for every $1.00 of revenue received, the cost of services provided is only $0.29. For farm land or open space the cost of services is $0.39 for every $1.00 of revenue. This would explain the potential financial problems faced by rapidly growing communities, such as Bluffton and Hardeeville. Having approved large amounts of residential development before sufficient commercial businesses has arrived to pay the difference in the cost of services could result in a very negative “cash flow”. So what is a good “talking figure” when trying to determine how much the approval of a new home will cost in terms of services and infrastructure. Following are the results of some studies on the subject. - A 1998 report entitled “The Cost of Growth in Oregon” by Eben Fodor indicated the “total cost for the incremental capacity of the facilities required to serve new residential development (in Oregon) amounts to approximately $33,260 for a typical new, three bedroom single- family house.” This figure did not include facility cost such as police stations and environmental and social cost. - A study of the cost of growth in Lincoln, Nebraska estimated the cost of single new home on the city government was $17,400. - A conference paper on the cost of growth for a new home in the state of Washington found the combined cost to all government jurisdictions for a single residential unit to be $83,000 (of which $56,000 was for transportation projects). Closer to home, the Strom Thurmond Institute (STI) of Clemson University has completed long range (20 year) studies of revenue versus cost to provide services for projected residential development in the following areas of South Carolina. - Clarandon and McCloud annexations – If most of the new homes included children, the cost to support them would exceed revenue (over 20 years) by $18,000 per house. If the majority of the homes were for families without children the cost of support would exceed revenue by only $13,000. Most of this projected expense is in the area of schools, parks, libraries and similar areas which, in Beaufort County, fall into the county or school district area of responsibility. The Northern Regional Plan indicates a high probability of growth requiring the widening of Highway 21 at some point in the future. Although the picture for the Clarandon and McCloud development of property has changed completely since the study was completed, the basic premise of the study remains valid – new housing in the northern rural part of Port Royal Island will probably not pay for itself. - Hardeeville and Ridgeland. Houses valued at $240,000 or more, paid for themselves while cheaper homes resulted in a negative cash flow. - City of Aiken. The cost exceeded revenues by approximately $11,200 per house. - Lancaster County. The cost would be $1.23 for every $1.00 of revenue received but it should be noted the assumed value of a home was only $157,000. The study did not look at the revenue for more expensive homes. So every study, with the exception of the Jasper County study, reported that new residential construction does not generate sufficient revenue to pay the total bill for the required infrastructure and services unless (1) the new homes are in the “high value” category, (2) there is a high millage rate and (3) impact and development fees are charged up front. What the specific numbers are for the proper millage rate and impact or development fees will depend on how much commercial or rural property exists. Each case is different and the devil is in the details. With the new spirit of cooperation, resulting from the work being done to develop northern and southern regional plans; there is hope that we can come up with a realistic cost figure for impact and development fees and avoid simply raising taxes . Editor’s Note: The sources for this article include an article “The Fiscal Impact of Sprawl in South Carolina by Brad Wyche in the 2d Quarter 2007 issue of Business and Economic Review and the Strom Thurmond Institute web site which allows review of the studies they have conducted.

Things Remaining To Be Done:  Over the years LIBPA has been involved in a number of successful efforts designed to allow words to our community to cope with growth and retain those qualities that make Lady’s Island a special place. Some of these are drafting the current zoning, promoting joint recognition of our zoning by both the county and the City of Beaufort, representing the community in the design and construction of the widening of Sams Point Road, coordinating the sponsorship for landscaping of the medians on Sams Point Road, establishment of a Redevelopment District designed to promote improvement of deteriorated areas in the Village Center, sponsorship of approximately 41 zoning changes, placing a street light at the intersection of Holly Hall Road and Sams Point Road, sponsorship of a Rural Business District, successful promotion of a Highway 21/S. C. 802 connector road, inclusion of the projects to widen Lady’s Island Drive and construction of another bridge parallel to the McTeer Bridge in the 1% sales tax list and purchase of property for development of Crystal Lake Park. Certainly many people and organizations, other than LIBPA, were involved in the above noted projects but the point is that LIBPA was involved in them and has every right to be proud of their success. To keep the scales balanced it is only fair to report those problems that, to date, we as an organization, have not been able to determine a solution. Some of these are: - Establishment of an adequate amount of property zoned for light industrial use. When the zoning for Lady’s Island was originally drafted in 1999 it was thought that by zoning the property across the road from the Lady’s Island airport and the property across Sea Island Parkway from the Convenience Center for light industrial uses it would provide sufficient space for businesses of that type. We were wrong. Demand for property on Lady’s Island which allowed light industrial uses far exceeded the available space and still does today. - Urban/suburban services in a county governed area. When the S. C. Department of Transportation designs and builds new roads they will include sidewalks. They will not pick up trash or keep the grass cut neatly. Beaufort County which is organized and budgeted to deliver services to rural and lightly populated areas does not clean streets, maintain planted medians, install and maintain street lights, cut grass alongside roadways or keep the grass from overrunning sidewalks. These are services provided by a municipality which taxes its residents for such services. Through the public service contributions of organizations and private businesses the litter is periodically picked up along the key roads on Lady’s Island and the planted medians on Sams Point Road are maintained through individual business sponsorships. DOT does have a contract to sweep the streets periodically but we still have no solution to maintaining the sidewalks for those areas in which there is not an active “on site” home or business owner. It is easy to say annex into the City of Beaufort or incorporate into a municipality but those are pretty drastic steps to keep the grass from over running less than a mile of sidewalk. - Use of TIF funds. Almost parallel with the establishment of our present zoning in 2000 Beaufort County authorized the establishment of a Tax Incremental Financing zone for the Village Center designed to provide funding for projects such as street lights, additional sidewalks, trash containers and landscaping. Commercial growth did not occur fast enough to provide sufficient funds for the designated projects and after 5 years the TIF was disestablished in accordance with state law. The future may see the development of a joint Beaufort County/City of Beaufort TIF as a means of funding projects of mutual interest in the Village Center area but for now there is no “special” Village Center source of funding. - Locate an active park on Lady’s Island. LIBPA starts every year with one of its objectives to get an active park (one with athletic fields) located on Lady’s Island. Every year the cost of purchasing the necessary 25 acres for such a park gets more expensive. Mr. John Miller, Director of Beaufort County Parks and Leisure Services (PALS) has worked very hard at finding land on which to locate a park. We (LIBPA, PALS and Councilman Paul Sommerville) continue to search for the elusive, affordable 25 acres for a park. Crystal Lake has been designated for development as a passive park but parents continue to have to drive off of the island for athletic fields or a public children’s playground. The above listed projects are not intended to be all inclusive and certainly there are other similar projects that LIBPA should address but the purpose of this article is to remind our members that we still face special and unique challenges on Lady’s Island and with their support, hopefully we can find solutions.

The Priority Investment Act (The Swiss Army Knife Of Community Planning:  by Patrick Moore, Director, Beaufort Branch of the Coastal Conservation League The South Carolina Legislature recently passed the Priority Investment Act (PIA). Generally, this legislation adds new requirements to Comprehensive Plans already required by law. The new requirements are intended to provide a more complete picture of growth in a given area and provide mechanisms for communities to deliberately control what kind of growth occurs through market based incentives. PIA can be described as the Swiss Army knife of community planning, and I don’t mean the little one inch key chain Swiss Army knife. This bill is more like the big 4 inch version that comes with a spoon, a corkscrew, a ruler, and a saw. Much like a Swiss Army knife, the legislation is only as helpful as the people using it. If used correctly it can get us out of land use conundrums and help solve problems that previously seemed insurmountable. As I hope to demonstrate, the limits of the usefulness of this legislation are the limits of our creativity and ability to build consensus. As background, currently the law requires Comprehensive Plans to have the following elements: Population, Economic Development, Natural Resources, Cultural Resources, Community Facilities, Housing, and Land Use. As you probably know, Beaufort County is in the process of updating the Comprehensive Plan. The new PIA law requires the following things: 1) A transportation element that considers transportation facilities, including major road improvements, new road construction, transit projects, pedestrian and bicycle projects etc. This element must be coordinated with the land use element, which is significant because while it may seem obvious that where the roads go, so goes development, such coordination has never before been required in South Carolina. 2) A priority investment element that analyzes federal, state, and local funds available for public infrastructure and facilities over the next ten years and prioritizes expenditures of those funds on water, sewer, roads, and schools over that same period of time. The bill requires these recommendations to be developed in coordination with adjacent and relevant jurisdictions but provides no penalty for failure to coordinate. This element is useful in heading off unwanted projects. For example, if you thought a proposed water service extension would result in unwanted development, or a third bridge to northern Lady’s Island would ruin the rural character, you could make sure that the project was not on the priority list in the Comprehensive Plan for the next ten years. 3) An addition to the housing element analysis that identifies regulatory requirements that are not necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare but that add to the cost of developing affordable housing. Market based incentives are then identified to encourage affordable housing. These incentives can include but are not limited to: density bonuses, design flexibility, setback and minimum lot flexibility, streamlined permitting processes, waived or reduced application fees, and relaxed zoning requirements to encourage traditional neighborhood design. 4) Priority Investment Zones are encouraged by the bill. These zones can be the result of the Comprehensive Plan public processes which identify the areas for growth and types of desirable growth. The previously mentioned market based incentives are available to creatively and efficiently encourage growth in these zones. The zones can be used to encourage redevelopment of a dilapidated area or encourage new growth. Stop for a moment to consider the possibilities. Small areas can be targeted for redevelopment. Through incentives, very specific types of economic development can be encouraged while undesirable types are discouraged. Also, unique natural areas can be given increased protection, and annexation disputes could be tempered because the public has produced a specific and cohesive growth vision. For example, if a county highly values their wetlands and wants to pass a wetlands ordinance that provides an exception for only very small wetlands, lets say ¼ of an acre or less, but are concerned that an exception for wetlands smaller than 3 acres could hinder economic development; PIA incentives could be used allowing impacts to larger wetlands within the development zone while the more protective standard is in place for the rest of the county. This would effectively achieve the best of worlds, a thriving economy and a thriving environment. This is only one example. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas.

An Unpleasant Sign of the Times:  As the real estate and the mortgage industries continue to struggle with a sliding real estate market a logical area of local concern is the number of houses being placed on the market as a result of foreclosures and bankruptcies. Foreclosures. In April we reported that according to www.foreclosures.com, in the area north of the Broad River, there were only 6 foreclosures in progress at that time. A recent check shows that number has grown to 11 homes with 3 of those being on Lady’s Island. Bankruptcies. In April, in all of Beaufort County, there were 128 homes on the market as a result of bankruptcy action. That number has dropped to 118 homes but the number north of the Broad River has jumped from 69 to 90 homes. On Lady’s Island in April there were 14 homes on the market as a result of bankruptcy and that number remains at 14 homes. The national rate was recently announced to be 1 foreclosure per 693 home. South Carolina foreclosure rate is better than the national rate with only 1 foreclosure per 898 houses and this number represents a decrease in foreclosures of 17% from the previous 6 months.

The Kelley Carey School Facilities Study - A Breath of Fresh Air: The recently completed Kelley D. Carey School Facilities Study is a pleasure to read due to the straightforward, common sense manner in which it is presented. The study was designed to take a hard look at our school facilities and making recommendations as to what should be done (facilities wise) in the next 5 years. Not just because it recommends a new elementary school be built in the northern part of Lady’s Island, which LIBPA has worked for over the last few years, but the manner in which it is presented and the logic used to support its recommendations makes sense and deserves support. Following are some of the key recommendations of the study: - Build a new elementary school in the northern part of Lady’s Island and 2 more elementary schools in the Bluffton area. - Buy the land for the Lady’s Island Elementary School now and try to go into partnership with the County on the land purchase with the aim at collocating joint use (public and school) sports fields. - Quit individually designing each school and establish a standard elementary school design. - Build the new Lady’s Island Elementary School with a core (lunch room, gym, and library) capacity of 800 students and an initial classroom capacity of 600 students but with sufficient land to allow a later addition of 8 more classrooms. - Try to open the doors of the new school for operation in the summer of 2010. - Quit obsessing over the number of classroom seats some where else in northern Beaufort County and build the school where the children are at the present and are projected to be in the future. - Shift attendance zones for Coosa and Lady’s Island Elementary Schools after the new school is built in 2010. - Take such steps as necessary to make Lady’s Island Middle School capable of offering similar opportunity, programs and quality of education as Beaufort Middle School which presently is designated a “school of choice”. - Determine a price for construction of the new schools and conduct a referendum in the spring of 2008 to obtain voter approval for funding through bonds (remember the state does not pay for construction of new schools). If you would care to read a plain language, no nonsense type of report please go the Beaufort County School District web site and read the Kelley Carey Facilities Study. It is a good study and worthy of serious consideration by all concerned. That it says the same thing in regard to needing another elementary school on Lady’s Island as the previous original 2004 DeJong study is frustrating but hopefully this time we will listen and build the school. The cost to build a new school is definitely not getting cheaper as time goes by and we certainly do not need another study (3rd) to validate the need for the school.

What's Next For Lady's Island Real Estate?: by Laura Dahl, Broker and Owner of Advanced Real Estate Company Today’s real estate market seems to consist of frightening headlines, breathtaking morning newscasts, and anxious sellers? Realtor’s phones and emails are constantly being flooded with questions about the current market status. What is happening and how do we make it go away? Lady’s Island, in particular, has seen a phenomenal rate of growth in the past few years but recently everything seems to be in a holding pattern. Construction has slowed and real estate sales have been in a slump. The MLS’s account of sales over the past 30 days is down 39% from August 2006 but there is good news! The appreciation seems to be holding in some areas with the median sold price increasing 8% since this time last year on Lady’s Island alone. The median price of the 22 homes sold in the last 30 days ($283,500) was roughly $22,000 more than the median sold price ($261,750) of the 36 homes sold during the same period time last year. The average days on the market have also increased from this time last year. The median time on the market last year was a staggering 120 days, while last month’s statistics reveal that homes are taking an average of 145 days to sell. Although homes are taking a bit longer to sell, based on the prices of those that have sold, there is sound reason to believe that real estate in the Beaufort area and especially Lady’s Island continues to be a sound investment. The key words here are patience and flexibility! At the present time there are 339 Lady’s Island homes presently on the market with a median price of $299,999. Such bulging inventory occurs as a result of sellers trying to obtain the rapid appreciation of previous years combined with being unwilling to price their home competitively in a changing market. I believe that this is one reason, among many, that today we have so much housing inventory to sift through. Several homes were overpriced when they went on the market and as a result many of the buyers shopping for homes are not able to find anything in their price range that they qualified for due to stricter lending limits. Ok, so we know it is going to take longer to sell a home and we need to be flexible about pricing, but what else can we do? First, make sure you are setting realistic expectations. When do you have to move? Why are you moving? How does your home compare with others in the neighborhood and similar price range? Is your home in tip top shape? Could it use some updating? Do you need to paint? With so many homes on the market and fewer buyers out there, your home has to stand out among the competition. Real estate agents and their sellers need to think of creative ways to be competitive in a market such as this. Homes need to stand out among others in a particular neighborhood and price range. Some sellers have been encouraged to “thin out” some of their personal belongings so that buyers can picture themselves in their home and vacant homes have often been staged (professionally furnished to present a better image of the house). So what does this mean for the market? Although things have slowed down drastically in the last year the real estate market on Lady’s Island has not been hit as hard as some other areas of the country, especially larger cities. As some of the homes begin to move off of the long list of inventory the market should move back to a good balance of buyers and sellers. Our market is of course affected by sellers who have been unable to sell their homes in other areas. Sellers and real estate agents are going to have to get creative. Many are tested to see how well they can think outside the box when it comes to innovative ideas and marketing techniques. With all the pressure many brokers are closing their doors, sellers are taking their homes off of the market and hanging up the towel until the market regains it strength. This brings up an interesting point that Everett Ballenger brought to our attention in last month’s publication, if you do not have to sell your home right now, wait until things pick up. Take the time to prepare your home, updating, and watching the market carefully for signs that it is safe to put your home up for sale. If you have to put your home up for sale, make sure that you are ready, adjusting your expectations to the reality of today’s market, and being prepared for a bit of a wait. It will still be worth it in the end.

Ward Edwards Funds $10,000 Healthy Community Grant:   LIBPA member Ward Edwards, an engineering firm with offices in Bluffton, Beaufort and Savannah, is offering to invest up to $10,000 in projects that promote or improve environmental sustainability in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. The program is designed to encourage creative solutions for existing environmental problems, plant seeds for innovation in stewardship, and recognize tangible, efforts that lead to long term sustainable benefits. The total amount of the funding may be divided among multiple recipients or a single recipient. The following are eligible to apply for funding from this grant: state, local, public, nonprofit institutions/organizations, private nonprofit organizations, K-12 schools, libraries and municipalities and located in a designated area of which Beaufort County is included. Private business, federal agencies, and individuals are not eligible to be grant recipients. To participate, applicants must submit a one page project summary by September 25, 2007. Applicants for the next phase of the competition will be selected from the project summaries and requested submit full proposal package by November 30, 2007. Those project(s) selected to receive funding from the grant will be notified on February 8, 2008. The complete application package can be found at www.wardedwards.com and for additional information call Kimberly Seipel-Parks, Project Development Administrator at 843.263.2059 or email at kseipel-parks@wardedwards.com