What Makes A Place Desireable to Live?

The brick and mortar do not make a home, but the "Lifestyle" associated with an area do make a home or for that matter a great retreat from your primary residence. Hilton Head Island started buying land to preserve over ten years ago. The residents agreed to a 1/4% transfer tax to go towards buying property. Over the years the twon has bought and kept off the market numerous homes and commercial space from being developed. Along with a strong Land Managment Oridance the Town of Hilton Head has made strides in making Hilton Head a great place to live and vacation. It is a "Lifestyle" of combing the beach, watching birds, playing golf or tennis, miles of leisure trails for walking and biking. One of the islands greatest assett are the surrounding estuaries and sounds either for fishing, sailing, kayaking, or simple enjoying a day on the water. A number of the properties bought have turned into either passive parks or active parks. Little league sports is alive and well on Hilton Head Island. As towns across America struggle with growth control, we on Hilton Head and now beaufort County have been putting our money where our mouth is. We cannot ask the government to buy property without taxing the residents who will benifit from the purchase, and ultimate protection of the land. Part of the vision of Charles Fraser and Sea Pines Company was an eco friendly community. The term was not used when the company was started, but that is what was done. Covenants placed on the land to instill a harmonious balance between nature and man was the goal. Today it is called "Eco-Friendly". The purchase of properties by our local government and our county governement are keeping that vision alive. The brick and mortar of a home are where we stay to enjoy the "Lifestyle" that has been created in the Low Country. Those bricks can cost millions of dollars or a few hundred thousand, whatever your level, it all comes down to the vision to create a "Lifestyle".

copyright @ Charlie B Fraser Feb 27, 2008

Charlie is president and Broker in Charge of the Charles Fraser Realty Group. He can be reached at: charlie@fraserrealty.net or visit his website www.fraserrealty.net

Recent articles in the Island Packet about the open space programs:

Strike while iron hot on land preservation
Published Friday, February 1, 2008

It is great news to learn that Beaufort County is quickly spending the $50 million voters approved for land acquisition in November 2006.
Beaufort County Council this week approved borrowing a second round of $20 million for its land preservation program. It approved the first $20 million last year, shortly after the bond referendum gained voter approval.
The money should be put to use as fast as possible, especially when a slow real estate market might make a conservation easement or government land purchase more attractive to property owners.
And we shouldn't worry that our money is being spent profligately. The county's Rural and Critical Land Preservation Board and the Trust for Public Land vet these purchases to make sure they fit into the overall goals set out for the program.
From 1997 to 2007, the program preserved about 11,000 acres through donations and the purchase of land or development rights. That acreage is set to increase to about 16,000 acres when a pending deal closes.
It would be even better news if state lawmakers would follow Gov. Mark Sanford's lead and approve an additional $50 million for the state's conservation program. The one-time appropriation would be added to $15 million raised for the program through a share of the state's documents fee.
The state Conservation Bank has spent about $71 million to preserve more than 134,000 acres from its inception in 2004 through 2007. In Beaufort County, the state has spent $2.87 million to help preserve 1,475 acres, according to the Conservation Bank's Web site.
Sanford reiterated the message he delivered at Palmetto Bluff in December in his State of the State address earlier this month: South Carolina needs to preserve what makes this state special if we are to stay competitive in the long run.
"Keeping what is special won't just happen, though. It will require foresight, vision and action given that over the next two decades, one million people will be moving to South Carolina, making us the tenth-fastest growing state in the nation.
"... think about how rare this opportunity is given the real estate market slowdown and once in a lifetime timberland sales by the big timber companies," he urged state lawmakers. "In life, some opportunities only come once, and I believe this is one of them."
We urge the Beaufort County Legislative Delegation to push hard for the governor's funding request. Married with local efforts, it would strengthen our hand immensely in that once-in-a-lifetime chance to preserve what we love about the Lowcountry.

There's nothing passive about passive parks
By JEREMY HSIEHjhsieh@beaufortgazette.com843-986-5548
Published Saturday, February 9, 2008

BEAUFORT -- Beaufort County's land preservation efforts have ramped up in recent months, opening up limited public access to thousands of acres as passive parks.
Passive, unfortunately, doesn't mean maintenance-free -- or free to maintain.
Buying land for parks takes property off of tax rolls while piling more maintenance responsibilities onto county workers.
"We saw this train wreck coming down the road," said Slade Gleaton, South Carolina director of the Trust for Public Land, at a Jan. 17 preservation meeting. The trust is a nonprofit organization that the county hires to handle preservation deals.
The preservation program is paid for through bonds earmarked for buying land and development rights. Since the program was created in 1997, voters authorized borrowing $40 million in 2000 and another $50 million in 2006. The bonds are repaid over time with a small property tax.
The bond money cannot be used for maintenance or park development, so the responsibility falls to Eddie Bellamy, county director of public works.
The workers cutting the grass at ball fields are the same ones tasked with cleaning up the passive parks, Bellamy said. Nothing has been added to his budget to maintain the passive parks.
The county contracted landscapers to maintain some preservation sites, but it was too costly, said County Council Vice Chairman Skeet Von Harten.
"Something has to be done. We keep acquiring more land without putting in more dollars. If we let all this land become an eyesore, then the whole program tanks," he said at the January
meeting.
There is limited public access to the preserves, "But not to the degree we'd like," said Glenn Stanford, a trust project manager that works in Beaufort County. "You've got to open them up as well."
For example, the county bought the historic Fort Fremont on St. Helena Island from private owners in 2004 for $5.4 million. Decades of overgrowth and neglect left it looking like the setting for an Indiana Jones adventure instead of a family outing.
The overgrowth and refuse at the fort has been cleared, but "we can't man the fort so people can actually look at it," Bellamy said.
Stanford said adding trails, wildlife viewing areas and interpretive signs are desirable developments for passive parks that would improve access.
One source of revenue for that type of development comes from the land preservation deals themselves. The trust sometimes negotiates with land sellers for cash gifts for the preservation program. Unlike the bond money, gift money isn't legally bound to pay for
preservation.
Another part of the eventual solution, trust officials said, is creating a corps of volunteers to help with maintenance and fundraisers. Trust officials have been referring to the concept as "Friends of the Parks."
"It's been something we've been chewing on and passing back and forth in-house for some time," Stanford said, emphasizing that the idea is purely conceptual.
"It hasn't really gone beyond, 'Do you like the idea?' " said Steve Riley, chairman of the County Council's Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Board.
Gleaton said the volunteer corps couldn't shoulder the entire maintenance load for the county's passive parks and that some new revenue stream must be identified. He suggested charging modest user fees, as does the Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission.
The commission's executive director, Tom O'Rourke, said the fees it collects at its marinas, fishing piers, beaches, campgrounds and water parks pay for new parks.
Less than 45 percent of the commission's operating budget comes from taxes, according to the commission's Web site.

County Council OKs spending $20M to save land
From Staff Reports
Published Tuesday, January 29, 2008

BEAUFORT -- Beaufort County property owners are likely to face a small tax increase later this year to pay for the quickening pace of land preservation.
On Monday, the County Council unanimously voted to authorize borrowing an additional $20 million for its preservation program. Two additional votes are required to make the authorization final. This follows a similar authorization the council made last year, also for $20 million.
To repay that $40 million, county controller Tom Henrikson said he estimates needing a tax increase in the next budget year that would cost the live-in owner of a $200,000 home roughly $16 more per year.
In terms of dollars spent and land protected, the pace of land preservation in the county has picked up dramatically in the last year.
"The last six months, really," Henrikson said.
From 1997 to 2007, the program had preserved about 11,000 acres through donations and the purchase of land or development rights. The acreage total today is closer to 16,000, when including a major deal that is currently pending.
While the need for the extra $20 million isn't immediate, land preservation officials said more preservation deals are coming soon that warrant the additional borrowing.
COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR TO GET RAISE
The council unanimously agreed Monday to give county administrator Gary Kubic a pay increase.
Chairman Weston Newton said council members would determine how to raise Kubic's pay at their next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 11.
Newton said the increase could come through a combination of a salary raise, a bonus, a retirement fund contribution or an increase in his car allowance.
Kubic currently receives an annual salary of roughly $164,000.
$16.5 MILLION IN PUBLIC PROJECTS
The council initially approved a $16.5 million bond issue Monday for improvements to parks, boat landings and other public projects in Beaufort County.
Funding for the 11 projects, all of which were approved individually last year, will come up for a final vote at the council's Feb. 11 meeting.
The projects include the new Buckwalter Recreational Community Center in Bluffton, improvements at the C.C. Haigh Jr. boat landing on Pinckney Island, four traffic cameras on Bluffton Parkway, and stabilizing buildings at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn.
Jeremy Hsieh of The Beaufort Gazette and Michael Welles Shapiro of The Island Packet contributed to this report.