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Urban Land speakers preach gospel of sustainable tourism
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
King Street’s Riviera Theater hosted more than 200 people during a recent conference presented by the S.C. District of the Urban Land Institute, a 70-year old organization dedicated to responsible land use.
Leaders from the S.C. coast’s most rapidly growing areas, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island, spoke about growth issues facing their cities and the region as a whole. They pointed out that, while each area is challenged by a unique set of growth and development issues, each is critically connected to the state’s $15 billion tourism industry, a cash cow that is nevertheless fragile in the face of future population growth.
Ed McMahon, a ULI senior fellow, said the state risks killing the goose that laid the golden egg if it does not preserve the environment that draws tourists to its beaches, golf courses and historic attractions.
McMahon spoke about sustainable tourism as bringing in more cash per tourist and having less of a negative impact on the existing community, versus mass-market tourism, which brings in hoards of tourists who spend less.
His audience was made up of area developers, architects, real estate agents and others closely connected with growth and land-use issues.
“For me, it was nice to know that they were able to reach (the attendees) about the economic benefits of applying some of those principles that land-use planners advocate,” said Kathryn Basha, zoning administrator for the town of McClellanville.
Basha said the town of McClellanville is not opposed to growth and recognizes the reality that there is going to be change in the community.
“The philosophy is, don’t come here because it’s beautiful and then not respect the natural environment and the character of the community that makes us what we are,” Basha said.
Christopher Ibsen, director of real estate for Piggly Wiggly, said he felt the conference provided a useful discussion on the importance of sustainable development.
“We react to residential and population growth,” Ibsen said. “We’re acutely aware of the responsibility we have in this part of the world, because this is our home, too. I think our goal is just learning ways that we can be good community stewards. I’m sure that’s a never-ending process.”
McMahon said sustainable tourism preserves the environment that lures tourist in the first place, and said new buildings in a community should blend in with the existing environment.
Steve Riley, town manager of Hilton Head Island, brought photos of the Hilton Head Wal-Mart, which departs from the traditional big-box commercial building look by adding an architectural facade and appropriate landscaping.
Growth management began on the island in the mid-1980s, Riley said, when the mantra was that Hilton Head Island did not want to be another Myrtle Beach.
By the 1990s, people in the neighboring town of Bluffton, which is now seeing booming population growth, were saying they didn’t want to be another Hilton Head Island, Riley said.
Charles “Buddy” Darby, president of Kiawah Island Partners, said the island’s master plan, approved in 1976, did not allow development past the line of sand dunes.
“We won’t deviate from that master plan,” Darby said. “It was great they did it early on.”
Jack Walker, director of planning for the city of Myrtle Beach, said the town grew from a cluster of beach communities long before Kiawah and Hilton Head were tourist destinations, and is now in a stage of evolution. Myrtle Beach’s growth issues include walkability in a town that has begun to sprawl and affordable housing.
“If you live in a resort area and are trying to deal with housing, affordability is a big issue,” Walker said. “Affordability and land costs merge together.”
John Crotts, director of the College of Charleston’s Tourism and Hospitality Management program, said the average area tourist spends $225 a day. The state had 32.5 million visitors last year, and the top destinations were Horry, Charleston and Beaufort counties.
A number of those tourists become residents. All three speakers at the ULI conference said area homeowners often come first as vacationers, then buy a vacation home and eventually retire along the Carolina coast.
Young professionals are also being attracted to the area. Geoff Dulaney moved to Charleston nearly a year ago from Dallas and says he was hoping not only for a career change but also for a lifestyle change.
The former sports marketer now works in private investment and is seeking a position with a local premier real estate company.
“I was ready to get out of the urban sprawl and the eight-lane highways,” Dulaney said “I was just finding this suffocation.”
Dulaney said Charleston offered a quality of life he desired, and he was also attracted by the coast.
“Florida was out,” Dulaney said. “Really, no other town along the coast provided the quality of life I was looking for.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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