emphasize that all members of the community have to unite
in support of preserving what makes the Island unique and
that the best way of gaining support is through education.
Kiawah can be a place at the forefront of preparing to endure.
The Community Association
The Resilience Specialist
Lucas Hernandez has master’s degrees in Environmental
Studies and Public Administration from the College of
Charleston and is heavily involved in the Charleston area flood
mitigation conversation. He is a member of the Charleston
Resilience Network. The Community Association’s board
actively responded to the information and recommendations
in the Report. One of their first actions was to hire Lucas as
the Association’s first ever Resilience Specialist. The step was
exceptionally forward thinking, and as Jimmy Bailey observed,
“Lucas is perhaps the first resilience specialist hired by a
community association in the entire country.”
Jimmy Bailey is the chief operating officer of the Community
Association and is directly involved in all of the discussions
on the topics of flood mitigation and sea-level rise. The
complicated structure
of governing entities
on Kiawah requires
taking the time to sort
out and understand
responsibilities.
For example, in
very simple terms,
roadways are divided
as those up to the
main gate and those behind it. The Town is responsible for the
Kiawah Island Parkway up to the front gate. The Community
Association is responsible for roads behind it.
Keeping roadways open during rain events is especially
important for getting emergency and service vehicles on and
off and for providing access for residents. Fortunately for
Kiawah Island, early developers took water management into
account and coupled development with a very sophisticated
infrastructure. However, as conditions evolve, Kiawah, like
all coastal communities, will have to keep adapting. As
Community Association leaders contemplated information
made available through the Report, they took a unique first
step and decided to hire an individual with special knowledge
about sea levels and flood management. Lucas Hernandez is
the Community Association’s Resiliency Specialist and works
with every part of the community to study water levels and
water management.
Jimmy described the processes that the Community
Association is using to find the optimum ways to learn about
flood mitigation and sea-level rise with a view to finding
the best steps to take to address these issues. What steps
are necessary? What steps are desirable? What costs are
associated with optimizing the existing infrastructure? What
would we like to have? What do we have to have? Leaders in
the Community Association are determined to find answers,
and the significant activity undertaken already puts Kiawah
in the forefront. It is a barrier island where the community
is determined to maintain property values and make the
investments, changes, and adaptions essential to keep it both
safe and beautiful.
10
Naturally Kiawah