Board Chairman, Larry Movshin’s April 7 Letter
8:00 AM
I happened to open my “Being Chairman of CSA” Manual this week, and while I found chapters on “hurricanes”, “Referenda” and “Board elections”, there wasn’t a single word about “Pandemics”! Yet almost every day, Sam Bennett and I are watching one of our government authorities at an emergency meeting or press conference discussing new guidelines or mandates designed to limit the spread of the COVID19 virus. Just yesterday afternoon, for example, Governor McMaster announced an
Executive Order
that makes mandatory his prior voluntary “stay at home” requests.
I want to emphasize that we are all in this together; all of us are suffering with fear and anxiety about our health and our future – I certainly share those fears. Even a short time watching the television, with constantly changing guidelines and recommendations, and the growing numbers of reported cases of the COVID19 virus, must make all of us aware of the need to change our daily habits to limit the risk of contamination. To that end, with today’s “stay at home” Executive Order making mandatory the advice that he and our Mayor have regularly given, and that CSA has consistently urged to everyone living or visiting Sea Pines, I reiterate that we all should:
Stay in our homes except to make trips for essential needs (grocery stores, restaurants, prescription drugs, gas, doctors’ appointments) and to exercise outdoors. [The Governor’s Order also permits visiting family members and attending religious services]. Take advantage of grocery, restaurant and pharmaceuticals delivery services. And when you do leave your home, to shop for food or drugs or to exercise, engage in social distancing by staying six feet or more away from all others with whom you may come in contact. If you do go to a public store, consider using a homemade non-medical mask. We should all assume that everyone we come in contact with may be a potential carrier of the virus, so limiting contact with others is the safest course of action during this pandemic.
Life in Sea Pines (or anywhere else in the world) is not "normal" for now, and the better we all follow these guidelines and mandates, the sooner we can get through the worst of this pandemic and move closer to whatever the new "normal" in Sea Pines will be.
Our CSA leadership team is constantly modifying CSA's responses to the various CDC and SCDHEC guidelines and all governmental mandates. To help our community adhere to all of the governmental guidelines and mandates, including today’s “Stay at Home” Executive Order, CSA has taken the following actions:
1. To comply with the Mayor's orders closing public access to the beaches, all "day trippers" are advised that our beaches are not for public use. We currently are not running the Sea Pines trolley service, and we are patrolling the beach access roadways to assure that the public is not using our private beach access points.
2. We have placed signs along all our major leisure trails reminding bikers and walkers to engage in social distancing. We understand that these paths (and many of our private beach access trails) are relatively narrow, so we urge those using these paths and access points to be particularly sensitive to oncoming traffic and yield to the side whenever possible. Signs have also been posted at the Tower Beach access points urging social distance on the walkways. To further assist in maintaining proper distancing when entering and exiting the beach, effective today, Tuesday, April 7, we are implementing a “one way out to the beach (on the left boardwalk nearest the watertower) and one way in from the beach (on the right boardwalk nearest the restrooms)” regime as an additional safety measure. Disability access to the restrooms and pavilion bench area will continue to be on the “rightside” pathways.
3. We have limited the use of the Tower Beach parking lot to one car per property owner (no guest passes or separate guest cars) and we have closed the Pavilion to prohibit groups from using it. I am pleased to report that, Tower Beach parking was available last week to all who required it, except for a few hours on a few days.
4. We continue to patrol the beach throughout Sea Pines to assure that beachgoers are not congregating in large groups and that beachgoers are generally using the beach for exercise and relaxation/meditation, and not for "beach parties" or other group activities.
5. Consistent with the Governor’s Orders, (a) we are providing renters, property owners and guests obtaining a pass with a notice that they must self-quarantine for 14 days if they are coming from one of the 'hot spot" areas; (b) we are asking all others coming to Sea Pines to voluntarily self-quarantine for a 14 day period from their date of arrival; and (c) we are requiring property owners and managers who engage in short term or vacation rentals to confirm
in writing
that they are complying with the most recent restrictions on new rental agreements before we will issue any new weekly passes to them (given the cooperation of many of our rental management companies, who have cancelled most of their rentals for April, there are very few short term rentals being processed for the next month).
I can assure you that as soon as a new mandate or guideline is issued, CSA will response appropriately to assure that Sea Pines complies with those pronouncements.
As I have ventured out of the house for exercise on the golf course or at the beach, I have been particularly impressed with the way our Sea Pines community has, indeed, been sensitive to the presence of others in order to maintain good social distancing. While we’ve heard some concerns that CSA should be more restrictive in our decisions, I'm not sure what else CSA would do to create a better "shelter in place" environment in Sea Pines. And I continue to believe that if each of us currently staying in Sea Pines takes the steps that we’ve been told are necessary to protect ourselves from the spread of the virus, we can all remain relatively safe.
I have two more requests not directly related to a COVID19 guideline or mandate, but important for all of us to be able to comply safely:
(1) in the Town of Hilton Head you are required starting on April 1 to leash your dog on our beaches from 10 am to 5 pm. We know you love your dogs and they need to exercise, but not everyone else likes dogs, and some actually fear them (no matter how friendly your pets may be). An unleashed dog can lead to unpleasant confrontation with those seeking to social distance, so
please leash your dog at all times you are on our Sea Pines beaches.
(2) With lots of us using the beach to walk, jog and ride bikes, it is particularly important
to fill in holes before you leave the beach
. Unfilled holes can lead to ankle injuries or bike falls. Protect our neighbors using the beach by filling in all holes as you leave.
Sea Pines is a great community, and we are going through the COVID19 crisis together. Being "good neighbors" by recognizing the rights of others and ourselves will, I hope, get the Sea Pines community through this pandemic in the quickest possible way.
