I just read the "Digest" for February, 2007 and I am writing to express my opinion on the proposal to amend the association's covenants.  I request that my opposing view be given equal distribution to all members prior member voting for this years annual meeting.

 

I believe that the KICA  covenants should not be amended to allow the board to spend the capital reserve funds for any other purpose beyond that which is allowed by the present covenants.   The Board has a fiduciary responsibility to manage the funds within the covenants requirements, (a job they have done exceptionally well) and to return excess funds to the contributing members. It is our moneys after all.  Members should be allowed to individually decide if they wish to contribute to tax exempt organizations that work to enhance the environment on Kiawah Island or, any other purpose. 

 

Property owners individually face increasing cost issues on Kiawah, including steep increases in property insurance.  The Board should not  give away funds because there is a feeling that since these moneys are already collected it would be painless and magnanimous to pass them along to another organization.

 

The reserve funds are not intended to reach beyond the purveyance of the association.  If surplus funds do exist, give the money back to the members.

 

Sincerely,

 

William Geib

Member and Property Owner

Open Letter from KINHC's Chairman
By Paul Roberts

Since its founding, the Kiawah Conservancy has advocated setting aside land to preserve the balance between the Island’s people and the plants and wildlife making up the environment of our fragile barrier island. What we need now is a larger, island-wide effort to increase the rate at which we preserve open space - an effort that matches the rate at which new homes are being built. This may well be our best opportunity to maintain the current balance of nature on Kiawah.

The Board of the Kiawah Island Community Association (KICA) has decided to act on the Island’s urgent need to preserve open space and is offering an amendment to the covenants to be voted on by the Association’s members at the March annual meeting. The covenant change will allow a portion of the money collected in the existing transfer fee on real estate sales to be used for the purchase of open land. The KICA annual meeting packet will be arriving in your mail within the next few days. By voting to approve this covenant change you will be supporting the preservation of natural habitat on Kiawah Island and joining those who want to do everything they can to maintain the environment that we all cherish.

This proposed covenant change is very good news, since in the past, the monies collected by KICA through the existing transfer fee on real estate sales have been restricted in their use solely to the maintenance and repair of infrastructure, facilities, and landscaping renewal. In recent years the Island’s major roads have been resurfaced and the landscaping renewed and this reserve fund has still continued to grow, with around $7.4 million dollars currently available. Some have viewed this as an “emergency fund” to be used in the event of a major storm or other disaster, but current IRS restrictions prevent it from being used in place of commercial insurance, which the Association already carries.

With this covenant change Kiawah Island would join a number of other prominent communities, many of them islands like Kiawah, that have used a real estate transfer fee to accumulate the funds needed to acquire habitat before it is developed:

• Nantucket Island, MA
• Martha’s Vineyard, MA
• Little Compton, RI
• Block Island, RI
• The Hamptons, Long Island, NY
• San Juan County, Puget Sound, WA
• The Town of Hilton Head, SC
• Spring Island, SC

Kiawah is fortunate because the mechanism for collecting the monies to preserve undeveloped land is already in place, and requires no increase in the existing transfer fee. KICA already collects a one-half of one percent transfer fee on real estate sales, paid by the buyer at the time of purchase. All that is needed is to change the Association’s covenants to allow the Board to allocate a portion of this money to land preservation on Kiawah Island.

It is hard to imagine losing the beauty and serenity that we all enjoy, but unless the current generation of association members takes this step we will have sacrificed our last and best chance to preserve what we most love about Kiawah. I urge you to vote your ballot in support of the proposed covenant change and return it, even if you plan to attend the meeting, to insure that a 60 % quorum is achieved.