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Mayor Tom Peeples has drafted some of the most infuential islanders to serve on a task force that will reevaluate the town’s core values — and give guidance to a town coping with a shifting identity.
The 13-member panel will be led by Dave Ames, a long-time resident who has served on various government and private boards, most recently serving as chairman of the county’s Aviation Advisory Board. The group, named the Mayor’s Task Force for the Island’s Future, will be charged with a bit of soul-searching as they look to identify the key values, characteristics and desires that defne Hilton Head Island.
“I want to build upon the great work done over the past two years by our Planning Commission and town staf in developing our new Comprehensive Plan,” Peeples said in a press release. “I want this group to take that foundation, and combine it with the vision that Town Council has crafted over the past years at our annual goal-setting workshop, and draw in the work of David Ames and others who have spoken so eloquently on the need for a new focus for a new, more mature stage in the town’s evolution.”
The group also includes: native islander developer Tom Barnwell; Willis Shay, a former chairman of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra; J.R. Richardson, owner of Coligny Plaza; Gail Quick, chairwoman of the Planning Commission and a former vice chancellor at the University of South Carolina Beaufort; Joe Harden, founder of Harden Homes; David Tigges, a managing shareholder of the Beaufort County unit of McNair Law Firm; Mark Baker, co-owner of Wood+Partners land-planning and landscape architecture frm; Peter Kristian, general manager of Hilton Head Plantation; Elizabeth Lamkin, former CEO of Hilton Head Hospital; Marc Frey, CEO of Frey Media; Kumar Viswanathan, CEO of Asset Management Associates; and Steve Birdwell, president of Sea Pines Resort.
The volunteers on the group will meet for six months and the meetings will be open to the public. The town’s current vision statement labels itself a “unique residential, resort, and business community” by highlighting “great natural beauty,” “world-class beaches” and “well-planned community,” among other things. But as the town copes with changing values of its residents as debates over expansion at The Mall at Shelter Cove and the future of the Hilton Head Island Airport unfold, those principles could be in need of fresh perspective.
