Good stewardship of islanders land

I for one am happy to see the Barnwell Family come up with a creative way to keep there family property, and to make the property work for them in a way that meets the demands of today's

enviroment.

They have come up with a very responsible plan for developing their property. The mix use of commercial, open space, and cottages is on the cutting edge of urban design and "green design". Hopefully they will find the right resources to come up with a Eco friendly green planned neighborhood.

I also encourage the town council to support this project, and ask anyone else to make their voice heard for this project.

Below is an article from the Island Packet.

posted by Charlie Fraser 2009

Barnwells want to develop land so it stays in the family
By DANIEL BROWNSTEINdbrownstein@islandpacket.com843-706-8125
Published Sunday, January 11, 2009

Photo: Thomas Barnwell Jr. visits the tabby ruins on his property on Hilton Head Island. Hilton Head Island's Planning Commission met Wednesday to discuss a north-island development near this historical ruin that was part of Cotton Hope Plantation. The Barnwell family wants to construct a development that would have retail space below apartments. The development would also include town homes and single-family homes with a "cottage" look. The tabby ruins will be the center of the development. Jonathan Dyer /The Island Packet

For seven generations, the Barnwell family has held on to the heart of their land on the north end of Hilton Head Island. They'd like to make sure it stays that way for the next seven and beyond.

Like other native islanders, the family has sold bits and pieces to capitalize on the wave of development that first hit the barrier island about 50 years ago. Led by family patriarch Thomas C. Barnwell Jr., the family has developed a string of well-kept, affordable neighborhoods.
Now they have a concept for holding on to the rest of their property -- an idea that could become a model for other Gullah-Geechee families facing the dilemma of keeping evermore expensive land that's been handed down, one generation to another, since slavery ended.
The family plans to develop the land, about 18 acres on the south side of Squire Pope Road that straddles Gumtree Road, into mixed-use buildings with retail on the lower floors and living space above, nine town homes and a cluster of 35 cottages. They would lease the buildings and homes to themselves and others, retaining ownership of the property.
An overarching theme of the development is to respect the environment and the character of Hilton Head natives while creating a close-knit community. Conceptual plans currently weaving through town planning boards up to the Town Council include an organic vegetable patch and a park.

At a meeting last week, Planning Commission members unanimously recommended granting a zoning change from residential to planned development.

Neighbors are generally supportive of the project, but do have some concerns about nearby roads not being equipped to handle more traffic.

The plan is for the family to build two mixed-use buildings around the ruins of an early 1800s tabby home that was once part of Cotton Hope Plantation. The ruins -- which might someday be listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- would be restored to their original condition in hopes they'll become the focal point for the public portion of Tabby Village.

Because the family wants some retail businesses in some buildings, it is asking the town to transfer those commercial rights from three other acres it owns along Skull Creek. That waterfront property would then remain vacant, preserved in its natural state.
"We're trying to do some advance planning," said Barnwell. "Before the bridge (connecting the island to the mainland), native people used to own and control over 2,500 acres of land on the island. That's not the case today."

Today, native islanders own fewer than 1,000 acres, according to Barnwell.
There's no firm timeline for when the development will occur, only that the mixed-use buildings and town homes would be built first in order to generate money for the rest of the project.
The proposed development has roots much deeper than most projects that make it to Town Hall. It touches on age-old issues of land use, land ownership and quality of life for the descendants of slaves left behind on Hilton Head, where the Civil War ended early. The island was the first place captured by Union troops who were searching for a strategic deep water port.
Barnwell has been outspoken on those issues, even testifying before Congress and serving on a civil rights committee during the Kennedy presidency.

He was born in 1935 to a midwife on the island, 21 years before the first swing-bridge over Skull Creek was built. He was educated in a two-room school house before attending classes at Penn School on St. Helena Island -- the first school built in 1862 for freed slaves -- and went on to university work.

As a young man, Barnwell drove Martin Luther King Jr. from the airport to Penn Center for a gathering of civil rights leaders. King called him "Brother Tom."
In the early 1970s, he and other native islanders helped win the fight against a $100 million chemical plant that politicians wanted to build near the bridge to Hilton Head. Islanders felt it would have precluded the island from ever becoming a tourist destination or a desirable place to live.

Barnwell was a leader in a native-islander commercial fishing cooperative on the island at the time, and was adamant about protecting the environment.
Barnwell has spent decades pushing for ways to improve the lives of the area's poorest residents. With coolers full of shrimp and oysters, he went to Washington seeking federal money when he founded the public-health service now known as Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services.

Friends call him a man of humility beneath his sometimes gruff and standoffish behavior.
He used to drive an old pickup truck until his family finally persuaded him to buy a new truck.
Barnwell is a lifelong entrepreneur and activist who has developed and maintained several successful housing tracts on the island. But he also drives a tractor and raises marsh tackies and goats, and grows collards and gourds on his land, all in the native island tradition.

"This project is not about my father or myself," said his son, Thomas Curtis Barnwell III. "It's about this young lady sitting here -- my daughter -- my niece and future generations. To let people know we're retaining our land. It has always been in our family and it will always be in our family.

"We're not just handing our property over to a developer," he continued. "We're retaining it."

Windmill Harbour

was created in 1981 and is located on a 172-acre peninsula on the Intracoastal Waterway immediately after crossing the bridge from the mainland to Hilton Head Island. It is now the home of the South Carolina Yacht Club. The primary focal point is its 15-acre inland harbour (twice the size of Harbour Town) with an innovative, but simple, user-operated navigational lock that transports sailboats and powerboats from the tidal fluctuations of the adjacent Waterway into the stable waters of the yacht basin. A deep-water pier outside the harbour accommodates boaters picking up passengers and supplies, or those who wish merely to tie up for a short period of time. Up to 270 boat slips are also available. There is also a Sports Center serving both the pool and tennis court areas with dressing areas, saunas, an outdoor Jacuzzi pool, a large community pool and wading area for children, shower facilities and ample deck space for lounging or community gatherings. Windmill Harbour was designed solely for the use of property owners, residents and their guests.

The unique design of Windmill Harbour is the use of individually designed townhomes, patio homes and a few full size home sites. Views for homes include harbour, the Intracoastal Waterway with dramatic sunsets, marshes and wooded landscaped areas. The South Carolina Yacht Club is open for outside membership and has become one of the premiere social clubs on the island.

Community Highlights

• Lock Harbour with 15 acre harbour
• South Carolina Yacht Club, tennis courts and swimming pool
• Private gated community
• Located on Jenkins Island with easy access off island and convenient to the island.

View a Video of Windmill Harbour

http://www.fraserrealty.net/windmill-harbour.asp

Information provided by Charlie B Fraser & PDC

The "Island Lifestyle"

Early Vision of Sea Pines

Sea Pines Company in 1967 hired Callister and Payne Architects and Land Planners from Tiburn California to come up with a number of home designs that would make nice cottages on the ocean or along the tidal creeks of Hilton Head . Featured here are a couple of the designs that came from their firm in 1967. Although I am not positive but I don’t believe any of these designs were actually built by Sea Pines Home Builders.

I am sure that these designs did influence some of our earlier architects like Pete McGinty, Doug Corkern, and Jackie Lee.

My uncle Charles was trying to find that unique style for the island, and he was a ferious researcher into new and innovative ideas.

Charles Warren Callister was a leading architect in the Bay area in the 40’s through the 60’s and his vision of designing a home to the property, and not designing a home and then clearing the property. This was the core to Charles Fraser’s vision of instilling Land Covenants and strict
Architectural guidelines for any home that was to be built in Sea Pines. That is why a tree survey needed to be done, and a stake out of how the home would sit on the lot, and what colors the exterior were going to be. It all had to do with blending into the natural setting surrounding the home. It’s not a coincidence that Charles hired Mr. Callister. They were both searching for the same harmony. Charles Fraser was searching for a community to have the harmony and Mr. Callister was doing it on an individual basis. Mr. Callister is 84 today and is still designing.

I can see my uncle sitting in his living room in his 1st home in Sea Pines on Green Heron. He
loved to have late meetings at his home to discuss matters about what he was planning and
to get feedback from those who were with him. I can see him spending time with Mr. Callister
discussing their perspective visions of land planning and architecture.

These were the meetings and the research that went into developing Sea Pines and the many communities that Sea Pines Company was involved in and the employees who went on to work for others or start their own development companies.

As Bluffton and the Town of Hilton Head search for their vision of what their perspective communities style is, it is always good to look back and think from which it came. Hilton Head Island has matured over fifty years into a community. Their were a lot of people who helped shape the way the island is today.

It is a style that we have come to call the “Island Lifestyle” !!

Property of Charlie B Fraser 2008

Click on Drawings to see a larger image

Architectural Drawings Copyright Callister and Payne 1967

Hilton Head Island Real Estate For Sale

This is a great “BRAND NEW” home located centrally on the island. A spectacular home with over 9000 square feet of decks, garages and heated space. Easy access to the beach and all the amenities the island and Lowcountry have to offer. The home has six bedrooms and six & half bathrooms. The main feature of the home is the nice transition between outdoor decks, balconies, pool area, and the indoor living area. There are decks or balconies on all levels front and back, and a heated swimming pool. The home features two master suites, four bedrooms, and play room or den.

HOME FEATURES

• six bedrooms and six & half baths
• gourmet kitchen, granite counter tops
• stainless appliances: refrigerator, dishwasher, appliance center.
• hardwood , tile and carpet floors
• dramatic entry foyer
• formal dining and living room
• three car garage
• Elevator
• entertainment room or bedroom
• wired for stereo system throughout home
• crown molding
• fireplace, ceiling fans, cable TV, smoke alarm
• whirlpool tub
• outdoor shower
  
  
  

Real Estate Trends in Sea Pines Plantation

I am not a firm believer in average on homes that are not similar. However, they do serve a purpose n spotting trends in the market place.

Sea Pines plantation is located on Hilton Head Island and considerred the premier residential resort destination on the island and else where. The develpment guidelines that were established by Sea Pines Company are copied all over the world. Numerous employees of Sea Pines have gone on to develope world class residental and resort communities. So, when it comes to real estate on the island Sea Pines tends to lead the way in sales, appreciation and rebounding from down turns in the market.

The number of new listings peked in March 2008 and the number of homes going under contract had two strong months: February and July 2008. September had a good month for new contracts, but October was dismall.

The month of October was by far the worst month for our economy in a long time, and hopefully we will begin to rebound over the next year.

2008 YTD we have had 322 new listing, 120 go under contract, 119 close, 170 DOM and the CP was 92% of LP.

2007 YTD had 389 new listing, 151 go under contract, 143 close, 141 DOM and the CP was 93% of LP

2006 YTD had 343 new listings, 134 go under contract, 137 close, 101 DOM and the CP was 94% of LP

Hilton Head Land Buying Program

Do we really want the Town of Hilton Head buying more properties on and off the island? I for one don’t believe we need to buy more land. Let me tell you why!

Bullet Points from Island Packet Opinion Nov 2, 2008

Here's a compilation of what's been accomplished since the land-buying program began in earnest in 1990:

• 127 parcels, totaling 1,171.7 acres, purchased. That represents 5.1 percent of land within town limits and 19.24 percent of develop able land outside gated communities.
• 4.3 million square feet of commercial space taken out of potential development. That figure represents 62 percent of the 7 million square feet of commercial development that has been built.
• 1,365 hotel rooms taken out of potential development. That represents 45 percent of the 3,010 hotel rooms that have been built.
• 4,210 residential and time-share units taken out of potential development. That represents 30 percent of the 15,031 existing multifamily and time-share units.
• 36,070 potential peak-hour vehicle trips prevented.

The Town’s land buying program has had a very good impact on our quality of life, taken commercial and residential property out of the hands of developers, created parks, passive parks, and wildlife habitat. They have achieved their goal and do not need to continue it. The negatives of the program have been the controversies with their transactions. Private Citizens have flipped properties for big profits. The Town’s buying program has inflated the price of commercial and residential properties; it has in essence along with the LMO destroyed the commercial business on Hilton Head. The LMO is too stringent on renovation of a property. I’m sorry but an acre lot that has had a property on it for twenty years does not need a wetlands survey.

The town wants a corridor between the beach and Palmetto Bay, but the LMO does not allow properties that currently exist be renovated to the existing square footage, and when it does the hoops an owner must go through virtually make the project too expensive for development.

A thriving and well designed commercial district is important to our quality of life on the island. What we currently have are numerous properties in various stages of deterioration, and a LMO that makes it hard to make the necessary changes to the property or change the zoning to stay in tune with the changing market place. A sapling tree twenty years ago near a building, along a golf course, on a vacant lot, cannot be removed today because of the LMO. This was not the intent of the LMO. Our island does not suffer from a lack of trees we suffer from a progressive thinking government about what is good for the quality of life and property values.

If we don’t have the thriving commercial districts with activities that are in tune with today’s market our major economic engine will dwindle annually. We currently are in a economic down turn and many business will not survey through the off season. As our quality of life is brought down by lack of quality commercial activities so will the demand for tourist to come to the island.

All the commercial growth has moved to Bluffton, and today we have to virtually travel off the island once again to get our daily supplies. So what do we have on the island, not much? What new or renovated island commercial properties have been built lately?

• Renovations
• Coligny Exxon got a face lift.
• Truffles Grill
• Coastal States Bank
• Old Kinghorn Insurance Building
• Old Linen Store Palmetto Bay Rd.
• Sea Pines Center
• New Construction:
  o Joni Bank’s Design Group
  o (2)New buildings on New Orleans Rd.
  o Adventure Cove, Caraba’s, & Adventure Cove Plaza

So, do I want the Town to buy more property to take off the market and over inflate the value; NO. The article below references Charles Fraser’s vision for the island and pioneering land covenants. He also believed that parks and commercial activities were an important part of any community. He was a strong believer of passive parks and active parks in and around commercial activities. He lamented the fact that he did not put more small passive parks around the commercial areas. Our Town has tried to do this, but they do it in areas that have Town owned land all around it, and no viable commercial activity. The two play off each other and that is the vision our Town is lacking. The Shelter Cove Community Park, Chaplin Park, Jarvis Creek park are all nice, but they are near any significant commercial activity. If they were in easy walking distance of commercial activities they would be thriving parks.

If you build it they don't always come! If we pass this new referendum the Town needs to have dynamic focus groups study what is needed and what we should buy. The focus group should be made up of land planners, business people, real estate agents, environmentalist and citizens concerned for the quality of life on the island.

Some will read this and say that I am just a real estate agent and I want more homes and condos to sell. They are wrong, I want to sell what we have and to do that I sell our "Quality of Life" and I am worried that the Town is not thinking in a progressive matter at what is is our "Quality of Life". We need to make sure our Town elected officials get it!

Property of Charlie B Fraser 2008 All Rights Reserved
Below is an Opinion Piece Published in the Island Packet on Nov 2, 2008

http://www.hiltonheadislandsc.gov/Maps/TownProperty.pdf

Vote 'yes' on referendum to support land purchases
Published Sunday, November 2, 2008
Opinion of The Island Packet

Hilton Head Island voters have the opportunity Tuesday to support a program that has done almost as much to shape the island we know today as the land-use covenants pioneered by Charles Fraser.

There is no better growth-control mechanism for the town than to own property and control how it is used. That ability to purchase key parcels, including the town's centerpiece Honey Horn tract, has made all the difference in reducing overall development and protecting environmentally sensitive land despite intense economic pressures.

Voters are being asked Tuesday whether they want the town to borrow $17 million for the town's land-buying program. It would mean a 1 mill increase in property taxes ($8 for an owner-occupied home valued at $200,000), but the town has demonstrated over the years that the program is well worth this investment. We ask you to vote "yes" in the advisory referendum.

Here's a compilation of what's been accomplished since the land-buying program began in earnest in 1990:
• 127 parcels, totaling 1,171.7 acres, purchased. That represents 5.1 percent of land within town limits and 19.24 percent of develop able land outside gated communities.
• 4.3 million square feet of commercial space taken out of potential development. That figure represents 62 percent of the
7 million square feet of commercial development that has been built.
• 1,365 hotel rooms taken out of potential development. That represents 45 percent of the 3,010 hotel rooms that have been built.
• 4,210 residential and time-share units taken out of potential development. That represents 30 percent of the 15,031 existing multifamily and time-share units.
• 36,070 potential peak-hour vehicle trips prevented.

In addition to its growth control contributions, the land-buying program has added significantly to the quality of life on Hilton Head. It has provided land for passive and recreational parks; preserved scenic vistas, historically significant sites and wildlife habitat; and provided access to public beaches and waterways. It also has provided land for the public library, Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, and fire stations and storm water control projects.

In recent years, the town has expanded its reach to the mainland, providing $7.4 million in funding to purchase conservation easements on property near the bridges to Hilton Head. Those purchases have helped Hilton Head as much as Beaufort County and Bluffton. They've eliminated development pressures and thousands of vehicle trips on busy U.S. 278.
Hilton Head voters have long supported the land-buying program, saying "yes" to referendums in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003. This is no time to stop. No one likes the thought of a tax increase in these difficult economic times. But we'd hate to see the town miss a strategic opportunity because the money was not there. The town's real estate transfer fee -- a 0.25 percent charge on all property sales -- brought in about $3 million last year, down from the salad days of 2005 and 2006 when it brought in about $6 million.

It's a tough time to raise money through real estate sales, but it's also a great time to buy property at very good prices. Supporting this program through a slight property tax increase could ensure that happens. Please vote "yes" to extending this valuable program.