Pact would cut Kiawah building

County could lose chance to buy land for park The residential developer of Kiawah Island would surrender its rights to sell prime oceanfront property to Charleston County's parks department and to build a hotel under a newly proposed agreement between the company and the town. The deal, which has not been approved, also calls for Kiawah Resort Associates to scale back by 40 percent the number of homes that can be built on the undeveloped tracts it still owns within the posh gated community. In exchange for those and other concessions, the locally based developer would lock in long-term assurances about the scope of its future business activities, even as the makeup of the town's elected leaders and zoning rules change, said Kiawah Mayor Bill Wert. Also, Wert said, the town would allow KRA to build a low-density residential development on Captain Sam's Spit, a prime piece of waterfront property on the island's west end. Company officials could not be reached for comment Monday. Residents are getting their first look at the 33-page development agreement, which took six months to negotiate. The document is available on the town's Web site and at its offices. Workshops and public hearings also have been scheduled for Sept. 7 and Sept. 9. Town Council is scheduled to address the issue for the first time Sept 13. If approved, the proposed agreement would replace a 1994 version, which expires in 2008. Buddy Darby, KRA's president, wanted to extend the terms of the existing deal, but the town refused. "It was time to take a new look," Wert said. Jim Piet, a former island mayor and president of the Kiawah Island Property Owners Group, a watchdog organization, has reviewed the new terms. But it was too early to pass judgment on the merits because of all the complexities, he said. "There are parts of it that are definitely moving in the right direction. There are other parts that we have some questions about," Piet said, declining to elaborate. One of the biggest changes requires KRA to give up its right to sell up to half of its 118-acre Captain Sam's Spit to Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission. The county already operates the two-acre Beachwalker Park on the tract under a 100-year lease with the company, said Tom O'Rourke, the commission's director. The county has held informal talks with KRA about buying the property and possibly some surrounding land to ensure the public has permanent access to the island and the beach, O'Rourke said. But the town opposes any expansion of the park, saying in its latest newsletter that it would attract more traffic and that the amenities, such as larger changing rooms, toilets and snack bars, would be unsightly. Rourke said Monday that KRA officials assured him all along that the county's purchase option would remain open under any new agreement. He said he was "very concerned" when he learned otherwise. "They said they were going to finish their development agreement with everything in place, like it's always been," O'Rourke said. "I really wish there could be some discussions ... to see if there can be some way to look out for the public's interest perpetually out there." Another concession eliminates the possibility that a second hotel will be built on Kiawah, an idea that many island homeowners oppose. Under its current agreement with the town, KRA has the right to build a 293-room property near Beachwalker Park. The new terms would ensure that the newly built Sanctuary, which is owned by a group controlled by Virginia billionaire Bill Goodwin, would remain the island's sole hotel. By relinquishing those rights, KRA would be allowed by the town to carve out 50 home sites on about 20 acres at Captain Sam's Spit. The rest of the land would be protected permanently from development under a conservation easement. KRA also would cap at 1,184 the number of homes that could be built on the 1,460 acres it owns on Kiawah and several adjacent barrier islands. Zoning regulations allow 1,974 units, or 40 percent more than under the new proposal. Also, the town said the new agreement would curtail what it called the "free rein" that KRA has had over the years in deviating from the island's land-use regulations and building standards. "We have put zoning and conditions where there weren't any before," Wert said. In addition, KRA has agreed to donate to the Kiawah Island Community Association Inc. any future investments it makes in the island's water and sewer system. In the past the company has sold those improvements to the local utility, which KRA owns. Those deals have sparked lawsuits by property owners who felt the practice raised their rates. The new agreement should deter litigation in the future, Wert said.

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