General Manager’s Update

Dear Landings Association Members,

We soon will welcome November, the month of Thanksgiving, and we have much for which to be grateful. We weathered Hurricane Helene, with significantly less damage than others in the Southeast experienced. But we’re not out of the woods yet. There still are weeks of debris collection from common property to be removed by your Landings Association, as well as debris to be removed from private property by your Chatham County tax dollars at work. For those who were here after Hurricane Matthew in 2016, you know it could have been much worse.

As of this writing, we are estimating this storm will cost us in the neighborhood of $400-500,000 in debris removal and repairs, especially at Landings Harbor. That portion of our community had sustained winds of 40+ MPH for 10 hours straight, which created damage to the Ship Store, the seawall, the fish cleaning station, and other sections. The good news…no damage to the newer phase 1 and phase 2 dry storage racks. The bad news…the salty spray of the seawater is starting to kill vegetation, including plants and some trees, a phenomenon we haven’t experience in past storms.

Your Landings Association had budgeted a total of $145,000 in Operating Contingency for unforeseen expenses such as the damage resulting from Hurricane Helene. Combined with better than budgeted net revenues over expenses, no Special Assessment is anticipated to fill budgetary gaps.

My thanks to the hardworking employees who stayed through the storm (Security), who responded immediately after to help clear roadways (Public Works), and who immediately worked post-storm to secure Landings Harbor property and prevent further damage (Marinas). Many Public Works employees still had no power a week after the storm but faithfully showed up to work each day to restore our community as quickly as possible.

Some statistics from the storm:

• 25 roadways blocked that were cleared by Public Works staff and our on-island partners, including The Landings Golf & Athletic Club. It was gratifying to see these two organizations work so closely together for the benefit of The Landings.
• Another 25 or so roadways cleared by neighbors who worked together after the storm passed through.
• 175 trees down in Landings Association right-of-way, and many more in other locations. Damaged trees continue to fall throughout the community and are being addressed. TLA’s Public Works Team soon will begin grinding stumps.

The timing of the storm led to some scrambling with year-end expense estimates and the creation of the 2025 Association budget. We now have completed that process, working with liaisons from our Finance Committee to refine estimates as well as to finalize needs for 2025. The Finance Committee and Board of Directors will review and approve the budget at this December’s meetings.

Finally, I read with great interest and insight the front-page article of this edition on an 18-year-old member of our community off to college for the first time, and how thankful she is to have grown up in The Landings. As I wrote previously, we recently sent our only child, a daughter, off to college, and that sure is a transition! My wife and I are thankful for each minute we get to talk to her or spend with her. Let’s bring that same sense of thanks to our great community.

If I can be of help, please let me know (karls@landings.org). Your feedback is important to me, and I love giving and receiving SkidaWaves.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!