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A little spit of land stirring up some big controversy on Kiawah Island.
This after Congressman Henry Brown introduced a bill that would qualify
future homeowners on Captain Sam's Spit for federal flood insurance.
Captain Sam's Spit will soon be the site of 50 multimillion dollar houses
and some are concerned what will happen when the next storm strikes.
"If anything is ever built there, a hurricane comes and tears it up, it will
take it and throw it right into the marsh," long-time Kiawah Island resident
Sidi Limehouse said.
Limehouse is against the proposed bill.
Some on the other side say this is nothing new.
"Captain Sam's isn't more vulnerable to a hurricane than the rest of
Kiawah," Kiawah's Mayor William Wert responded.
Vulnerability led the federal government to zone Captain Sam's ineligible
for federal flood insurance back in 1982, but a bill in the works could
change all of that.
"If it passes," Nancy Vinson of the Coastal Conservation League explained,
"the tax payers are going to end up spending millions and millions of
dollars to restore and replace these homes and to subsidize the flood
insurance on them. They would restore or replace the roads, the water, the
sewer lines after the hurricanes come."
Town of Kiawah officials disagree and say the total bill would not be left
for taxpayers to foot.
"The first $250,000 would come from the federal government just like Katrina
and places in Florida, but anything above would be dependent on what the
homeowner has for his own personal insurance," Mayor Wert added.
That explanation is not good enough for some neighbors who say it is all
about business.
"That is 100 million dollars for them," Limehouse said about the developers.
"That's a lot of money. You think of those 50 houses down there and what
they can get for them. That is 100 million dollars."
That money pales in comparison to what they could have to pay and this
community is not ready to bear that burden.
Mayor Wert says it was federal flood insurance that helped out Hurricane
Katrina storm victims. He says damage of that magnitude is everyone's
responsibility and the future homeowners deserve that assistance.
This fight is on its way to Washington. A hearing will be held on September
10th. Town council voted against sending Mayor Wert to testify at that
hearing. They say the council has gone far enough to support this bill.
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