The Report The Town of Kiawah Island
Any conversation about sea-level rise on Kiawah Island must
start with The Flood Mitigation and Sea-level rise Adaptation
for Kiawah Island, SC, prepared by The Flood Mitigation
and Sea-level Rise Adaptation Subcommittee of the Town of
Kiawah Island’s Environmental Committee, Town of Kiawah
Island, South Carolina, September 4, 2018 (the Report)—a
comprehensive analysis prepared over a period of eighteen
months of intense research and consultation with numerous
experts by a distinguished group of Kiawah residents. The
entirety of the Report is available at www.kiawahisland.org/
floodandsealevelrise.
The Report was carefully researched, thoroughly
documented, and thoughtfully crafted. The research it
embodies is extensive and important. Even more importantly,
the Report contains numerous practical suggestions about
how the governing organizations and the residents of Kiawah
Island can address rising sea levels. We have included articles
on sea-level rise and the Report by Jack Kotz in previous issues
of Naturally Kiawah (see Volumes 39 and 40). Perhaps the
most important message of the Report is that all of Kiawah’s
people and entities—the Town of Kiawah Island (TOKI), the
Kiawah Island Community Association (KICA), the Kiawah
Conservancy (the Conservancy), the Kiawah Island Golf
Resort (KIGR), and the Kiawah Partners (KP)—will have to
work together to initiate meaningful action to address the
issues involved. See the box at the end of this story for some
practical suggestions for property owners made in the Report. Mayor Craig Weaver and Communications Manager
Stephanie Braswell described some of the topics and studies
with which the Town has been involved. Planning for the
future has been undertaken with a view to incorporating
plans to address
sea-level rise.
The Report
was initiated
by the Town’s
Environmental
Committee. Town
planners recognize the uncertainly of predicting exactly
what the future will bring and are taking a careful approach,
preparing to act on what is known or can be reliably predicted
and to adapt as changes in water levels occur. Of primary
importance to the Town and the Community Association is
learning how the Island’s infrastructure works in major rain
events. Mayor Weaver emphasized that the Town’s leadership
recognizes that preparation may involve significant expense
but that the risk of being underprepared may outweigh the
possibility of overspending. As the first course of action, the
Town has formed a task force to study the issue of sea-level
rise. A number of the key recommendations from that study
have since been incorporated into the Town’s Comprehensive
Plan. Front and center in all the discussion and analysis is
the Kiawah Island “brand”—a place known for its natural
beauty, pristine beach, and abundant wildlife. Town leaders
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