Kiawah’s most recent trouble isn’t really about parking spaces — it’s about typical not-in-my-backyard politics. And that’s the sort of politics that could cost the town, and its residents, millions of dollars ..
. without accomplishing much of anything. See: Mount Pleasant.
As The Post and Courier’s Teri Errico Griffis reports, Kiawah Resort Associates — the island’s longtime master developer — has sued the town of Kiawah Island for changing the terms of an agreement after KRA spent millions of dollars on a new development. Still, the town refuses to allow its brand-new beach club to open. Basically, KRA says its deal with the town signed years ago required 14 off-site parking spaces for the club.
But as construction was winding down, the town — citing an obscure ordinance — came back and demanded six times as many spaces. The company says it scaled back another development to free up land for the additional parking, but the town still won’t issue the certificate of occupancy needed to open the club. So the company is asking for $11 million in damages.
The bigger problem for the town is that its ongoing spat could hurt the value of 78 condos at a new development adjacent to the club called The Cape. The people who bought those luxury condos have publicly suggested that, if this impasse continues, they could be looking at losses of $1 million per unit . Guess who’d get sued for those damages.
Kiawah Mayor Brad Belt says there’s much more to the stor.