Is going green an real option for Hilton Head Island?
By TIM DONNELLY
tdonnelly@islandpacket.com
843-706-8145
Published Saturday, December 1, 2007
BEAUFORT --It's not easy being green, but Hilton Head Island is up for the challenge.
Top town officials continued their annual planning retreat Friday, setting a slate of goals and priorities for 2008.
While the Town Council members didn't delve into specifics, they agreed to look at several ways to make the town greener and more environmentally sensitive -- and to remind residents and tourists that one of the island's primary assets is its natural beauty.
A big step the town might take is to increase recycling. Trash haulers on the island are mandated to offer recycling to residents, but some in the town worry haulers are ignoring that requirement or residents aren't taking enough advantage of the service.
Other ideas discussed included adding recycling bins to town parks and facilities and requiring special events to include recycling.
Some members said a taxpayer-funded town recycling program may be the solution.
"I think maybe the time has come for us to examine what we're doing, what else we can be doing, what incremental steps we can take to go toward a mandatory program," said Councilman John Safay, who began pushing for more recycling two years ago. "There are so many different ways of going about this, it's going to take some work to figure out what works for us."
Council members also added "green initiatives" to their goals list for the year, but did not get into the details.
In coming months, the planning staff is already set to review some of the town's environmental regulations and enforcement for things such as specimen trees and wetland buffers.
But concerns about the town's environmental image have broader implications than recycling or tree rules.
Officials have become increasingly concerned in recent years that the island is losing its original environmentally-sensitive ethos first championed by Charles Fraser and his Sea Pines development. Council members say they should be branding the island as a natural resort with distinctive Lowcountry character.
To accomplish that, they agreed the town's vision statement for the next 15 years should include the goal that buildings and other construction be designed to blend into the natural environment. A new emphasis should also be put on parks, open space and natural beauty, they said.
"(There) seems to be more and more of a challenge to have our new residents really buying into the character of the whole environmental issues and tree protection," Mayor Tom Peeples said.
The other highlight of Friday's session was the council's continued emphasis on redevelopment as a key component to the island's future success.
The problem, officials said, is that the town regulations and land use rules have become so restrictive they tie the hands of property owners trying to improve their property. The town tried to address this issue in the past year, but didn't produce a good solution, council members said. Property owners need flexibility if the island hopes to keep its buildings looking up-to-date, members said.
"We are denying people ways to make improvements to our community because we've got rules that tie us in such knots," Peeples said. "It makes absolutely zero sense at this point."
The retreat resumes today at 8:30 a.m. in the Best Western Sea Island Inn on Bay Street. At the end of the session, the council will produce several priority lists laying out its goals and initiatives for the next 12 months.
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