Mayor's Corner Cont.

The fourth amendment to the 2013 Amended and Restated Development Agreement shortened the expiration date from January 1, 2026, to December 4, 2023. The expiration of the Development Agreement will require additional work, including updates to land use planning and zoning, and we will start on this task this summer. The discussion will start with the Planning Commission and will be brought to Town Council for final decisions.

Betsy Kerrison Parkway is an essential gateway to the Town of Kiawah Island. With the exception of the Town’s Municipal Center, development along Betsy Kerrison is within the unincorporated areas of Charleston County. Town planning staff and the Town’s planning commission will work with Charleston County Planning Department to look at creating a Betsy Kerrison Parkway Overlay District. This is important to help maintain the Parkway’s rural feel leading to the Kiawah roundabout.

To sustain the Town’s prosperity amid ever-changing conditions, Kiawah must capture the vision of its future today, which is being addressed through Kiawah Next – the Town’s 10-year vision plan. We are taking the time to envision the next chapter of this area so that we can plan accordingly. Kiawah Next is the campaign to ask for community feedback, so we can work together to make Kiawah the best it can be Please visit the site www.kiawahnext.com for more information and learn how you can get involved.

Public Safety – Staff will release an RFP for an investigation into the need for and structure of a Town police department. Currently, the Town has two contracts with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office for 24/7 law enforcement services, whichtotal approximately $1 million annually.

The Kiawah Island ARB – At its recent Strategic Planning retreat, the Council determined to establish a task force to review and make recommendations with regard to architectural review issues on Kiawah Island. The Council proposed to KICA that this be a joint initiative and we anticipate that the KICA board to consider the proposal at the upcoming KICA annual meeting.

Andell West Annexation – Town Council continues to discuss with Riverstone the potential of annexing the Andell West properties.

Johns Island Task Force/Roads – Town Council will continue its involvement in the Johns Island Task Force, and will monitor discussions related to the road projects on Johns Island.

Go Green 2.0 Initiative – In 2022, we made considerable progress in sustainability. Town Council approved the Marsh Management Plan and started the Go Green initiative. This year, Council is reconstituting the Go Green workgroup to discuss and review various green initiatives. The objective of the workgroup is to create a multi-year plan and consequently implement, enforce and measure actions to reduce the island's carbon footprint, reduce the use of single-use plastics and adopt other eco-friendly initiatives into daily operations, in addition to several practices already in place. A key objective is to create and implement pragmatic progress among all stakeholders with reliable timelines and hold the different entities and the community accountable for their actions.