Council votes against Washington trip

KIAWAH island — In a split vote Wednesday, Town Council nixed a plan by the mayor to travel to Washington next month to testify in favor of a bill that helps Kiawah's developers on a federal flood insurance issue. Mayor William Wirt called a special meeting amid concerns over a bill introduced recently by 1st District Rep. Henry Brown. Brown's bill would remove the mile-long sand spit by the county's Beachwalker Park from the Coastal Barrier Resources System. Kiawah Development Partners wants to build 50 homes on this spit, but land inside this federal zone doesn't qualify for federal flood insurance or money for beach renourishment projects. Wirt sent a letter in May to Brown saying the town fully supported the legislation. After a Post and Courier Watchdog report on the issue, some council members said they weren't aware of the letter. During Wednesday's meeting, Wirt apologized for not sending copies to council members. "It was an act of omission, not commission," he said. He explained that he thought a 2005 agreement with Kiawah Development Partners required the town to help with permits and other government matters, and that the letter to Brown was an effort to fulfill that obligation. Wirt reiterated his support for the bill. Future homeowners on the spit should be eligible for government-backed flood insurance just like other homeowners on Kiawah, he said. "It's a matter of fairness." Two councilmen, Steve Orban and Charles Lipuma, questioned why the town should send the mayor to Washington to support the bill. They said the mayor's letter should be sufficient. When Wirt made a motion to authorize the trip, council leaders voted 2-2, killing the trip. Several people attending the meeting called the vote a small victory against plans by developers to build homes on a spit next to the county's Beachwalker Park. "They ought to give it to the county," Sidi Limehouse, a farmer near Kiawah, said. "It's idiotic to build on that sand spit. I wouldn't build a doghouse there." Congress created the Coastal Barrier Resources System in 1982 to discourage building on undeveloped hurricane-prone coastal barrier land. It takes an act of Congress to remove land from this zone, and Brown introduced a bill doing so in June. Wirt and officials with Kiawah Development Partners said the development will go forward whether or not Congress passes the bill. In recent interviews, Leonard Long, executive vice president of the company, said that Brown's bill would enlarge the Coastal Barrier Resource System by 116 acres, trading land on the beach for more acreage inland, and that the company has agreed with the town to build 50 homes on the spit, fewer than the town allows. Because of this, Long said, Brown's bill will enhance the ecological value of the area. The company also hired scientists to do extensive studies of wildlife around Capt. Sam's Inlet to ensure the development does no harm, he said.

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