It is clear that winter has arrived in Sea Pines, with beautiful holiday lights adorning our gates, the commercial centers and many neighbors’ homes, and the Hooded Merganser ducks returning to our Sea Pines ponds. And with winter’s arrival also comes the end of another year of your Sea Pines CSA Board’s activities.

I am very appreciative – and very proud – of the work done this year by the Board, the various Board Committees (populated largely by non-board member property owners) and the outstanding Sea Pines CSA Staff. To name a few highlights,

• The Board proposed, and the community overwhelmingly approved, a financial path for finally addressing our critical infrastructure, providing a long-term increase in our annual assessments dedicated to fixing and maintaining our roads, bridges, leisure trails and stormwater systems;
• The Board adopted new, clearer and stronger land use management rules (as developed by our Land Use Management Committee) to maintain Sea Pines beautification and provide Sea Pines CSA with stronger enforcement tools in the thankfully rare circumstances when they are needed;
• The Board adopted new regulations on noise from leaf blowers used by our commercial landscaping companies, a first step in providing a more acceptable level of quietude to our neighborhoods; and
• The Board began the process of finding the additional revenue sources needed to meet the challenges and demands placed on our Sea Pines CSA staff by the greater occupancy of Sea Pines, particularly the growing number of short-term rentals being offered in our community.

This was our time first using online balloting for our Board of Directors’ election and we had a record turnout of voters. Even with a surprisingly high percentage of ballots still mailed back, we are very pleased with the process. On a personal note, I do appreciate that property owners re-elected me to remain on the Board next year. I will continue to work on finding solutions to the challenges that face Sea Pines, in order to assure that we remain the premier community on our Island.

In that regard, we are very pleased to have received many comments from property owners regarding our announcement to pursue certain new revenue generators, as proposed by our Revenue Task Force. We had hoped to be in a position to adopt some of those proposals at a special meeting in December. But we want to be in a position to address those public comments in a complete and cogent fashion, and I do not believe we will be able to do so by the scheduled December 16th date. We are therefore rescheduling that special meeting, and instead hope to announce a new special meeting date for late January. I remain hopeful that the Board will then be able to continue to discuss and debate – and hopefully act on — both the need for these additional revenues and the appropriate sources for obtaining them.

On behalf of the entire Sea Pines CSA Board and our outstanding Sea Pines CSA Staff, I want to wish you all a joyous holiday season, with best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.

Regards,

Larry Movshin
Sea Pines CSA Board Chairman