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As summer in Sea Pines draws to a close, your Sea Pines CSA Board and Staff were extremely pleased to receive Federal Judge Norton’s Order granting CSA’s Motion for Summary Judgment and dismissing the lawsuit brought by property owner Jill Jinks seeking to nullify the Critical Infrastructure Referendum. As often happens in litigation, we didn’t win every point we made – Judge Norton determined that CSA does not have the authority to call a Referendum seeking voting by our property owners to amend the 1974 Covenants, despite our good faith view to the contrary, based on advice of counsel. Most importantly, in a big win for our Sea Pines Community, Judge Norton decided that the clear will of the Sea Pines Community to amend the 1974 Covenants and create the funding needed for the repair and maintenance of our aging and deteriorating critical infrastructure — determined by your overwhelming, positive vote – ratified the Board’s actions, so that the Critical Infrastructure amendment can become effective. With this decision, CSA can fund the work that has been started in anticipation of such a ruling – and assure that this work will not be further delayed, or worse, halted due to lack of necessary funding. With our next Sea Pines CSA Board meeting scheduled for September 27, I expect that your CSA Board will be discussing a reasonable timeline for collecting the 2022 Critical Infrastructure Assessment as well as the upcoming 2023 Annual and Critical Infrastructure Assessments in a way that does not unreasonably burden our property owners by reason of the delay created by this litigation.After two summers strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 felt a bit more “normal” in the context of a generally “fully occupied” Sea Pines. Interestingly, emails received by Sea Pines CSA staff and at my Chairman@csaseapines.com email address, as well as concerns discussed in social media “chatter,” focused principally on a “lack” of adequate enforcement of our land use and short-term rental regulations. Whether it was concern with the number of e-bikes and motorized scooters on our leisure paths, or parking violations or noise complaints created by shortterm rentals, or speeding cars on our primary roadways, in virtually every case, the concern focused on a failure to catch and punish the violators.
There is no number of CSA security staff that will catch every violation – any more than our state police can charge every driver on I-95 or 278 traveling well over the speed limit. But we certainly recognize the need for additional, well trained security and land use management staff created by the growing number of short-term rentals and increased property owner occupancy throughout the year — and we are taking all reasonable steps to fill our current vacancies and hire additional staff over our current number. I can assure you that CSA is using every tool in the book to entice qualified candidates to join our team, but we continue to compete with virtually every other local/county jurisdiction, so the process of hiring will be a slow one. And as we seek to continue our efforts to develop new financial resources needed to maintain a competitive salary structure for a larger staff, we ask you to be patient and understanding as we expand and train our new employees.
Our Board Committees will be meeting next month to take up the various issues and concerns that must be addressed in meeting our communities needs. We have a busy Fall Agenda, and I am hopeful that we will continue to move the Community forward to maintain Sea Pines as the premier community in Hilton Head.
As always, your understanding and support are greatly appreciated. |
