June LIBPA Newsletter

Island Notes: Congratulations to Principal Dan Durbin and the teachers at Beaufort High School upon selection of Beaufort High School by Newsweek magazine as one of the top high schools in the nation. Thanks for a job well done. As anyone who took advantage of the opportunity to get rid of old cans of paint or propane bottles at the recent collection conducted by the Solid Waste & Recycling Division of Beaufort County Public Works will tell you, it was well organized and extremely convenient. The average time from arrival to departure was less than 5 minutes and you did not even have to get out of your vehicle. Transportation Committee Report. Rick Butler, the LIBPA Transportation Representative, attended the recent Beaufort County Transportation Committee meeting at which he presented the case for inclusion of Lady’s Island dirt roads in any future paving projects. Due to the absence of a quorum no decisions were made by the committee. Business innovation at its best. Congratulations to LIBPA members Michael and Jane Frederick of the architectural firm of Frederick and Frederick for having the vision to see the need to make existing homes “green” by becoming more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. The new company, Island Green is a division of their present company. To discuss how this concept might apply to your home call 522-8422.

What Is The Status Of A Lady's Island Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart submitted a request to the City of Beaufort to build a supercenter on property adjacent to the Lady’s Island Airport. On February 12, 2008 the City of Beaufort denied the request. Wal-Mart appealed this denial to the City of Beaufort Zoning Board of Appeals which, on March 24, 2008 upheld the denial as being legal and valid. The deadline for appealing the denial to the Circuit Court has expired but Wal-Mart can submit a new application, with a different type of plan, for a super center on Lady's Island. On May 16, 2008 the Charleston District, Corps of Engineers and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DEHEC) Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) released a joint public notice that the Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust had requested a permit to place approximately 3200 cubic yards of fill material in 0.39 acres of critical area wetlands as part of the project to build a super-center as originally requested to the City of Beaufort. That the owner of a piece of property or a developer in conjunction with a property owner can request approval for action involving wetlands from the Corps of Engineers, DEHEC or OCRM is not in question. Many developers routinely submit such requests prior to asking the permitting authority for approval of a proposed development. The Wal-Mart and Lady’s Island case is different in that the project for which the wetlands work is desired has been denied by the permitting authority and that denial upheld at the first level of appeal. The question is not can these agencies (Corps of Engineers, DEHEC or OCRM) process such a request for there is no question of the legal right for them to do so. However, in view of disapproval by the permitting authority of a plan which is being used as justification for the request for wetlands action should not these agencies delay such processing until either (a) the appeal is decided by the Circuit Court or (b) Wal-Mart accepts the ruling from the Zoning Board of Appeals; in which case there would be no need for wetlands action. The public notice does indicate that interested parties have until June 16, 2008 to express their views in writing regarding the proposed work. Also the notice indicates any person may request, in writing, prior to June 16 that a public hearing be held to consider the application and shall state with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing. All correspondence on this matter should refer to P/N #2008-0794-1lW which is the reference for the public notice. The addresses to send either your views on the proposed work or a request for a public hearing are: Charleston District, Corps of Engineers                          S. C Department of Health and Environmental Control 69A Hapgood Avenue                                                   Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management Charleston, South Carolina 29403-5107                          1362 McMillan Avenue, Suite 400                                                                                   Charleston, South Carolina 29408 Lady’s Island County Councilman Paul Sommerville has advised the Corps of Engineers, DEHEC and OCRM of his concern as to their reviewing a request based on a project which has been disapproved by the local permitting authority. He also has solicited support on this matter from the offices of Congressman Joe Wilson and Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint. LIBPA has submitted a similar letter. This is not a matter of whether one supports or does not support a Wal-Mart on Lady’s Island. It is a matter of should state and federal agencies review a request for supporting action on a project which has already been disapproved by local permitting authorities.

The SC802/US21 Connector Road Project: With all of the road projects either underway (widening of US 21 on St. Helena) or under design (widening of Lady’s Island Drive and construction of a parallel bridge next to the present McTeer Bridge) the SC 802/US 21 Connector Road project seems to have slipped out of the spotlight. The engineering firm of Kimley-Horn and Associates is designing the Connector Road project and Larry Meisner, LIBPA member and head of the local Kimley - Horn office recently gave us an opportunity to look at the blueprints for the project. A review of the connector road, as presently designed, has a 4 lane road joining SC 802 just before the Sea Island Presbyterian Church as you come from the McTeer Bridge. It is anticipated that a stop light will be at the intersection which is also directly across from the future home of Crystal Lake Park. The 4 lane road will have a 16 foot grass or planted median with the exception of the entrance and exit portion of the road and the intersection with Lupo Road which will have narrower concrete medians to provide for left turn lanes. On the left of the road, as you travel toward US 21, will be a 10 foot multipurpose (walking, jogging, biking) path. Hazel Farm Road will no longer connect to SC 802 but will feed onto the new road. Lupo Road is the only present road which will completely cross the connector road. Gay Drive will no longer have access to Highway 21 except for those homes which are directly adjacent to the Highway 21. The entrance (Cougar Drive) to the Lady’s Island Middle School will be moved to a location directly across from the exit/entrance of the connector road onto US 21 where a stoplight is planned. On US 21 a second turn lane is planned to allow for drivers coming from St. Helena. The next phase of the project is the acquisition of right away. It must be remembered that the connector road is not funded by the 1% sales tax but rather is paid for by impact fees. The design of the project is at the 25% stage. It is projected that the project will began construction in 2009. Editor’s Note. Mr. Meisner has graciously agreed to bring the plan for the Connector Road to the June 10 LIBPA meeting for review by our members.

A Touch Of Insanity!: If your May LIBPA newsletter arrived looking like it had been a chew toy for a dog, there is an explanation. The mail sorting machine in Savannah gagged on 25 of the newsletters. Instead of simply manually sorting the 25 they were sent back to LIBPA with a note indicating an additional 17 cents of postage would be required for each one. The folks in the local Beaufort Post Office solved the problem by simply delivering the 25 newsletters but did report that if a letter is “unmachineable” an additional charge of 17 cents can be added. First they remove the mail boxes from the Lady’s Island branch of the post office and now the sorting machine does not like our newsletter which we have been mailing each month for 10 years. If your newsletter arrived in poor shape, we apologize and will try harder next month to please the Postal Service’s sorting machine. It helps to have a sense of humor.

Summer Activity For Children: A three week class designed to teach Shakespearean acting and stage fighting techniques to students in grades four through six is now open for registration. Under the direction of retired teacher Barbara Carter the group will learn about performing in front of an audience, acting techniques, comedy, tragedy and staging shows. Ms. Carter was the co-founder of the New Rochelle Children’s Shakespeare Festival. The children’s hard work will culminate in a performance of “The Play’s the Thing – A Children’s Adventure with the Plays of Shakespeare”. The course will be conducted at the Celadon Activity Center from 2 to 4 PM five days a week beginning on Monday, June 9 and ending Friday, June 27. The cost is $69 and the class is limited to 15 students. For additional information please call 379-1089, or e-mail your interest to activities@celadonvillage.com.

Failure To Communicate?: Last month’s survey question on the LIBPA web site asked for comments and opinions regarding the moving, in school year 2009/10, of the 5th grades from Lady’s Island Elementary School and Coosa Elementary School to Lady’s Island Middle School. The action is being taken in an effort to reduce overcrowding and better use existing classroom space. The response by only 8 individuals would indicate either a general lack of interest in the subject or we failed to communicate the question appropriately. The results or lack there of does highlight one of the challenges which our School Superintendent and School Board members face as they attempt to make the changes which are necessary for a more efficient and effective school district. The movement of the 5th grade is not going to occur for over a year. School Board member Jim Bequett’s article in this month’s newsletter points out that the renovations necessary to implement the concept at the Lady’s Island Middle School must begin as soon as possible. As the time draws nearer to the beginning of school year 2009/10 the number of people with opinions on the subject will rapidly increase. We, as a community, are lucky to have a school superintendent who has the experience and vision necessary to develop long range plans for improving our schools, takes the time to ask for public opinion on these plans and as often happens receives only a small amount of public response. In spite of this frequent absence of public participation and comment she, along with the members of school board, is making the hard decisions necessary to improve our school system. It is a tough job and they deserve our support!

Two Businesses - One Family: Lady’s Island residents and LIBPA members Vince and Debbi Covington are great examples of how small businesses can do well in the lowcountry. Debbi, who has 11 years of experience in gourmet and specialty catering, is the chef and owner of Catering by Debbi Covington. With one cook book published, Dining Under the Carolina Moon, another one scheduled for release in the fall of 2009 and the author of the column “Easy Cooking” in the Lowcountry Weekly she has found a variety of ways to share her culinary talents. If you would care to discuss the catering of your special event please call Debbi at 525-0350 or visit her website at www.cateringbydebbicovington.com. Vince, who has been selling and installing residential and commercial window treatments throughout Beaufort County for the last decade, decided in January 2008 to go into business for himself. His company, Covington Blind Company, offers both sales and installation of custom blinds from the Hunter Douglas and B&W lines as well as Norman shutters. If you would like to discuss how to determine the right type of blinds or shutters for your home or business give Vince a call at 812-3081.

Foreclosure & Bankruptcy Report: The number of Beaufort County homes involved in foreclosure procedures would appear to have stabilized. The month of May saw a slight increase of 3 homes south of the Broad River for a total of 69 and north of the Broad River saw a reduction of 1 for a total of 86 homes in Beaufort County presently involved in foreclosures. Following is a review of the number of homes in Beaufort County involved in bankruptcy procedures.                                                       On Lady’s Island with over 5000 homes there are only 3 homes involved in foreclosures and 2 involved in bankruptcies. Editor’s Note: All data contained in this article is derived from www.foreclosure.com.

Our Slowly Aging Lifeline To Town: by Rick Butler, LIBPA Transportation Representative Where is the slowest (opening and closing) arterial highway bridge on the entire Intra-Coastal Waterway? Right! It is our own iconic Wood’s Memorial Bridge. Lady’s Islanders and other travelers using the bridge continue to wait an average of 8-9 minutes for each of its over 2,000 annual openings. That’s over 330 hours or 13 days of annual opening time, not counting those lines of traffic which take longer to clear afterward. While we continue to endure these delays other communities, up and down the ICW, have been busy replacing their old bridges with either ‘no delay’ high bridges, similar to the McTeer Bridge, or fast bascule bridges. A bascule bridge is pivoted at one side of the opening, “flipping” upward. Since it has a counterweight exactly balancing the opening section, it can be opened and closed quite quickly (about 3 minutes), often with fast hydraulic mechanisms. All replacement bascule bridges have been of this type. Since I began cruising the ICW 18 years ago other communities along the ICW from Norfolk to Palm Beach in Central Florida have replaced 21 bridges. These consisted of 9 swing bridges similar to ours, 10 older, slow bascules and two lift bridges. This represents a replacement rate over one bridge a year. Of the 9 swing bridges replaced by high bridges, 2 were in South Carolina, which still has half of the total 8 remaining automobile swing bridges on the ICW. By far the replacement of choice has been a fixed high bridge within a mile or less of the removed swing bridge. Today there are at least 55 high fixed bridges spanning the ICW, and 19 of them have been constructed since 1990. Our state has fixed 10 ICW bridges. Four are new, including a triple expressway bridge at Myrtle Beach, a double expressway bridge to James Island, a four lane high bridge to John’s Island and even one on the rural road to Edisto Beach. Our present swing bridge, the second on its site, was built 51 years ago. It received a major overhaul 10 years ago in 1998. Unfortunately, the overhaul did not noticeably improve the opening cycle times. When the bridge sidewalk was added, a few years ago, lanes were narrowed and large trucks were banned. In an average year our bridge experiences mechanical problems about 10 times, most are fixed fairly quickly. During Hurricane Hugo, the nearly identical Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge to Sullivan’s Island was tipped off its pivot and landed in the ICW, demonstrating an inherent hurricane weakness in these designs. Now, a nearby new high fixed bridge assures storm access to Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island. While we have continued to accept the slow cycle times and inconvenience of the longest swing bridge traffic jams on the ICW, clearly other communities have found, funded and built alternatives. At the recent rate of replacement, in a couple generations ours may be the last slow ICW swing bridge left along the thousand mile waterway. County Council has just approved money to study routing considerations for a “northern bypass” bridge coming from around the northern end of the air station to the tip end of Lady’s Island. Planning is in progress for construction of a bridge parallel to the McTeer Bridge. No planning is currently on the horizon for replacing our swing bridge to downtown Beaufort with perhaps either a high speed bascule at the present site or a fixed high bridge somewhere near Bellamy Curve. Even though it is recognized that a replacement for the Wood’s Memorial Bridge has been discussed for decades, might it be time to resurrect the subject again and focus our attention where serious problems are even now apparent?

The Price Of Car Ownership: Contained in a recent American Automobile Association (AAA) press release was the following tidbits of information regarding the cost of operating a car today in South Carolina. - The average South Carolina motorist (defined as one who averages 15,000 miles per year and drives a sedan type car that gets 31 miles per gallon) will end up paying 58.4 cents for every mile they drive in 2008, which is an increase of 11 cents per mile from 2007. This is the largest one year cost increase recorded to date. - The breakdown of the 58.4 cents per mile is as follows: 17.0 cents for gas and tires 26.0 cents for depreciation 3.6 cents insurance 7.9 cents interest/finance 3.9 cents license, registration and taxes - Average annual cost to own and operate specific types of vehicles in South Carolina in 2008 is projected to be: Small sedan such as a Honda Civic $6,320 Large sedan such as a Taurus $9,769 Minivan such as a Dodge Grand Caravan $10,354 Sport utility vehicle such as a Ford Explorer $11,252 - If you drive an average sedan type of car you can expect an annual gas bill of $1,704. As fascinating as this data is, we all know each individual vehicle and situation is different. What is not different is that each of us is going to pay more for driving our vehicles in 2008. As we see more and more folks carrying groceries on bicycles or walking, it highlights the need for additional sidewalks and bike paths. It also points out how very lucky we are to live on an island within a short distance of schools and shopping areas and in most cases work.

To Our Lady's Island Educators - Thank You: by Richard Tritschler, President, LIBPA Why does the Lady’s Island Business and Professional Association place such emphasis on its support of the public and private schools on Lady’s Island? This is a question I sometimes receive in my role as President of LIBPA and is usually accompanied by a recommendation that we place additional emphasis on some other aspect of life on Lady’s Island. It is a fair question and one that I am uniquely qualified to answer. First, I am a parent and my wife and I have been privileged to watch each of our children attend the public schools on the island. This was the ‘NUMBER ONE’ factor when we chose where we would live. The benefits of having good schools on Lady’s Island are not an abstract thing to the parents in our community; it is very up close and real. Professionally, I am a Realtor and I am very aware of the four top factors that make an area desirable to a potential homebuyer – schools, shops and markets, public facilities (post offices, libraries and parks) and transportation (distance from school and work). Over the last decade Lady’s Island has been the leader in northern Beaufort County in population growth and real estate sales. A key part of this attraction to the island is first-rate schools. In the recent past, I was honored to serve as the Lady’s Island representative to the Beaufort County School Board. In this role, I was privileged to meet and work with the many teachers, administrators and employees of the school district that, each day, give so much of themselves to ensure each child has the best possible education. I was also provided an opportunity to see that education is a big and very expensive business. On Lady’s Island the three top businesses in recent years were real estate, construction and schools. The public and private schools on the island are one of the major employers on the island. I (along with the bank) am a home owner on Lady’s Island and even in the current real estate down turn the value of homes on our island have retained their value much better than other similar locations. A very big part of that value is directly attributable to the quality of the schools on the island. Finally, as President of the Lady’s Island Business and Professional Association even if you disregard the need to prepare our children for the future and retain the value of our homes - good schools are good business for a community. This school year is drawing to an end and on behalf of the Lady’s Island Business and Professional Association I thank all of the teachers and administrators of Lady’s Island schools for your contribution to our community and wish you all a pleasant summer. You have the toughest job of anyone in our community and do not receive the recognition you deserve.

How To Price A Property To Sell: By Everett Ballenger, President, Beaufort County Association of Realtors, Keller Williams Realty/Ballenger Associates. For the sake of this article, we are starting with the premise that we have a home owner that has decided to really sell and is motivated to do so. The next step is to choose the right Realtor… (please note – not all real estate agents are Realtors). Space is limited and pages could be written about how to choose. But as a guide you are looking for an agent that is busy, even in a down market, who is up on the latest technology (good web site etc), who will listen to your needs, and will tell you like it is. Sometimes the truth hurts, it is not nice telling home owner’s news they don’t want to hear. So now you have your agent, it is time to address the prickly subject of asking price. The first step is for the agent to look over the property. I know every home owner thinks their home is different to all the others, and is the best one on the block! There is a good chance the agent has seen other similar listings, he or she will know how it actually does compare. Once the agent has viewed the home, they can go to work with information that is provided within the Beaufort County Multiple Listing Service. First we will be looking at what similar homes have sold for – ideally within the last 6 months. If there were very few or no sales, we extend the time to a year or more. But generally the further you go out in time, the less accurate the numbers will be. We will be looking to compare apples to apples, which in some cases can be difficult; there may be nothing with which to compare the “subject” property. Let’s assume there are similar homes sold recently that we can use. We call these “comparables” or “comps”. Even if the “comps” are close, there will normally be some differences. One house might have single garage, the other a double. The subject home may have nice views, the comps may not. All these differences have to be weighed up to come up with a realistic asking price. Please understand the agent is not doing an appraisal here. Once the agent has compared what’s sold, is currently listed, and under contract, they can come up with an asking price. Other factors must be taken into account, such as how fast the owner needs to sell. There is direct correlation with price and time on the market. The higher the price for a given property, the longer it will be on the market. In today’s market we are looking at “forward pricing” – in other words, if prices are falling as they have over the last two years, and a house is on the market for a longer period, say nine months…it will very likely be over priced in nine months. So we need to price the property to sell when first listed. At the moment the days of pricing a home higher than it should be, and waiting for the market to catch up are over for the foreseeable future. Following is a snapshot of real estate activity, by community, on Lady’s Island in the first 5 1/2 months of this year. As can be seen homes are selling on Lady’s Island and realtors, working with homes owners, are listing those homes within 5% of the final selling price.

Innovative Actions To Improve Academic Performance While Reducing Overcrowding At Coosa Elementary: by Jim Bequett, Lady's Island Representative, Beaufort County School Board The Beaufort County Board of Education gave approval to the administration’s plan to create The Advanced Math Engineering Science Academy (AMES) for gifted and talented students. The Academy will be located in the under-utilized Beaufort Elementary School. The magnet program (AMES) is being designed for advanced students in Grades 3 and 4. It will be open to gifted and talented students from all locations. Admission will be by application, interview and a parent involvement agreement. Students must meet academic achievement criteria in math and in English/language arts in order to be considered. The application period for attending AMES academy will be open for the whole month of June. Classes will begin this fall. The Board also gave approval to begin work in converting Lady’s Island Middle School (LIMS) into two separate academies: the Science, Technology/Engineering and Mathematics Academy (STEM) for fifth and sixth graders and the Seventh and Eighth Academy. Each will have its own separate entrance. The plans are to have the STEM Academy at LIMS ready to open in the fall of 2009. Students will be required to master skills in each of the following content areas: SCIENCE: The students will be involved in exploring the local environment as student scientists. Students will work with scientists and be exposed to various careers that relate to our county, state and the world. TECHNOLOGY/ENGINEERING: These skills foster problem-solving skills and perseverance utilizing modern computer technology in the process. MATHEMATICS: With emphasis on a solid foundation of computational skills and the application of mathematics to real world situations. LANGUAGE ARTS: The important skills of reading, writing, listening and word study will be integrated into the program so that students will have ample opportunities to research, journal, complete lab reports, and demonstrate skills that are part of the language arts curriculum. SOCIAL STUDIES: Each student will acquire knowledge and develop skills necessary for social, political, and economic participation in our dynamic world. These two programs should allow the temporary units at Coosa Elementary to be removed from the campus. The 2008 Referendum contains money for the immediate purchase of land for another elementary school on Lady’s Island which will be built when needed. There will also be STEM Academies at St. Helena’s Elementary and Whale Branch Middle School for grades five and six.

Changing Times:

The Lowcountry Landscape Spring Time-In: By Michael Murphy, President, Preservation Tree Care Aah, springtime in the Lowcountry! The azaleas are blooming. Some camellias are still spectacular. The purple martins have arrived back from their winter’s travels. But, what’s that? Argh! Pollen on my porch! My magnolia leaves are all over the ground and in my flower beds. What’s wrong with my holly? All the inside leaves are turning yellow. My Live oak is orange! I think it’s dying! Nothing can turn an “Aah into an Argh” like the change of a season, especially when Winter as we know it in the Lowcountry turns to Spring. These changes can be very subtle to us because our winters are generally never very severe but our trees and shrubs are always keeping score and they know exactly when to begin to flower or push out their new leaves. It may seem early or late to us, compared to other years, when some plants begin to flower. Pollen production, one of our most visible harbingers of Spring, is always a good conversation starter. We talk about the fact that pollen season started early or is longer than usual, but we are always thinking on a set calendar year. The Plant Kingdom threw out the idea of using the Gregorian calendar millenniums ago. The fact is that plants run on a Phenological schedule that is directly correlated to degree days. Phenology, not to be confused with pseudo-science of Phrenology, is the way plants and animals respond to seasonal and climactic changes to the environment. It has a base in degree days and directly controls the timing of natural events. These events can include the dates that migrating birds leave or return to an area, the first flowering dates of plants as well as the sometime starting, stopping and restarting of the pollen that graces our cars and porches every year. Degree days can be used to determine energy demand, but basically it’s a unit of measurement for recording how hot or cold it has been over a 24 hour period. The Plant Kingdom did acquiesce to a 24 hour day; I think the sun and the moon were in on those negotiations. An early warm up in late winter can trigger pollen production. A subsequent cold snap will curtail it. The next warm up will start it again and, well, you get the picture. It seems like the pollen season goes on forever. Climate is Mother Nature’s on-off switch. Our State Bird, the no-see-em, will only be in our face (and eyes and ears and mouth) when the temperature is within a certain range. Cold or hot weather sends them back in the ground. It’s our bad luck that the temperature range that they thrive on hovers in the low to mid 70’s, the perfect temperature for us to be out in our gardens. Farmers and horticulturalists use these very visible signs that nature has displayed for them to help them determine things that they cannot see. The natural ability of a plant to internally process and accumulate a record of degree days is also seen in the insect world. When plants process this information and enough have been accumulated, POOF!, flower production occurs. Now at this very same time an insect is accumulating this same data base of degree days and when enough have been accumulated, POOF!, they lay their eggs. When these insects are destructive parasites, the key to control is knowing the exact time that they are at certain stages of their life cycles. This gives us optimum timing to apply control measures. We usually do not have a window into the insect world and cannot see when these insects are developing. When we can correlate an insect control measure with a plant flowering time we can be more efficient and get better results. Many insect controls in the Northeast are based on the time that plants like the shadblow tree and forsythia flower. So how will the global warming threat affect all this? International research studies have shown that azalea blooming times are steadily becoming earlier and earlier. Other studies suggest that some plants growing along the edge of their planting zones are expanding their distribution areas. The key here is adaptability. I have found trees to be one of the most adaptable organisms on the planet. If animals do not like changes in their environments they can migrate. Humans can go back into their homes until the pollen stops. Trees have to withstand and adapt to their changing environment or die trying. So raking some leaves in the Fall AND the Spring and washing off a little pollen is not a bad trade off for the overwhelming beauty and aesthetic pleasure that we can derive from the trees here in our Lowcountry. Just think about the alternative; think you could adapt?.