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VOLUME 18 ISSUE 26
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MARCH 21, 2025
MUSC Facility Closer to Reality BY THERESA STRATFORD For The Island Connection
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t’s finally happening. The long awaited MUSC Health Kiawah Partners Pavilion is finally becoming a reality. Is this a dream? It might have felt like a dream on March 10 as the last beam on the structure was placed at 857 Seabrook Island Road. Leaders from MUSC were in attendance, along with partners in construction and representatives from the Town of Kiawah Island and Seabrook Island to comment on the occasion. This significant milestone celebrated the end of the building’s structural phase and the beginning of addressing a need that the Sea Island community has belabored for many years. The need for a health care facility in closer proximity to the people of South Johns Island, Seabrook Island and Kiawah Island has presented more and more of an issue as the population of the area increases and as traffic is getting more and more congested. Dr. Patrick J. Cawley, CEO, MUSC Health and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, said, “Access to quality health care is important for everyone, and this combination of specialty physicians, primary care providers and a 24-hour available emergency department greatly improves access in the sea islands.” (continued on page 3) About the process to get to this point, Dr.
Priorities in Order
SEABROOK COUNCIL ADOPTS GOAL LIST FOR 2025 BY THERESA STRATFORD
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For The Island Connection
fter some light discussion about the rankings and weight of importance of some of the strategic priorities and goals that were discussed in a recent strategic planning workshop, the Seabrook Island Town Council unanimously approved the list and adopted the priorities as presented at the February 25 Town Council meeting. The strategic planning workshop took place the week before on February 18. “These are our goals,” Mayor Bruce Kleinman announced. “All of our actions will be guided by these for the rest of the year.” Seabrook Island Town Administrator Joe Cronin explained that the priorities were ranked by the assigned points given to each priority by the Council members in the strategic planning meeting. Council members were told to give their top three priorities three points, the middle four priorities were given two points, and the bottom priorities were given one point each. Cronin said that staff then added the points to come up with the ranked priority list. Cronin noted that any priorities that had overlapping objectives were combined into one priority. The priorities are as follows: Highest priority/most important. These three priorities were ranked the highest by Council members, receiving combined scores between seven and 12, which means these priorities received the highest combined scores. 1. Seabrook Island Road – Address drainage, elevation, flooding, and pavement conditions along the town(continued on page 2)
Visit us
BY THERESA STRATFORD
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For The Island Connection
njoying a beautiful day on Seabrook Island doesn’t usually involve the buzzing of a drone overhead. Are you being watched? Where is the operator of that thing? That’s exactly how the Seabrook Island Equestrian Center staff felt recently when a drone flew over the property just a little too close, spooking the horses. Due to the incident, Town Council Member Darryl May brought an amendment to an ordinance about livability issues specifically related to drone usage. The amendment addressed the multiple purposes for drone use on Seabrook Island, including commercial purposes, professional photography and recreation. May said that the purpose for the amendment was simple: “To fly a drone on Seabrook Island, you have to have a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating under part 107 with the FAA. This is the license required for commercial purposes.” He added that, basically, recreational drone use will not be allowed on Seabrook Island unless this license has been obtained by the operator. “If you have this part 107 license, that means you underwent training, and you know the rules with the FAA under part 107. A licensed person following the rules would not have flown a drone that close to horses at the Equestrian Center. It was dangerous, and there was a potential for a horse trampling a staff member,” he said. May said that if a license was required, a code enforcement officer could have responded to that situation, demanding the operator to present their required license. Jeff Davis, a licensed drone pilot and resident of Seabrook Island, attended the Town Council meeting on February 25, when this amendment was presented. He spoke at the meeting and said that he believed that “proactive communication” was more effective than enforcement. “We need to make sure people know. We can
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work with the rental companies to put information in the welcome packets,” Davis explained. “I tell people about this amendment. Communication is important, and it goes a long way. People sometimes don’t read the rules; they need to be told.” May said that the issue of drones came up when he met with the short-term rental committee. “Most agreed that there needed to be some regulation with drones,” he said. Davis explained that he studied for six weeks for the certification test. “You are unlikely to pass if you haven’t studied,” he said. “It takes a couple of months, and you have to get a 70, or else you have to wait to take it again. We need to make sure we notify contractors that use them for business that the enforcement will change. They need to get certified.” Davis also went through a few considerations with drones. He mentioned that “if you see the drone, you should be able to see the pilot.” He also noted that drone batteries last only about 20 to 30 minutes and that a pilot would not land remotely on purpose. Back in August of 2024, Davis addressed the Town Council with a presentation on drones. At that time, the Council decided not to take action on any regulations for drone usage. The amendment passed unanimously on February 25, and the livability ordinance now reads: The operator possesses a valid Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA and is able to produce evidence of such certificate upon request by a code enforcement officer; and the small unmanned aircraft is properly registered with the FAA, pursuant to the FAA’s Small UAS Rule (Part 107), and the operator is able to produce evidence of such registration upon request by a code enforcement officer. The new amendment will take effect on May 1.
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