Dear PBNA Members, 

Below is an overview of the Feb. 12. 2025 South Street Town Hall meeting with members. If you have any questions or want to take a deeper dive please click here to see the attached document.

Also, SAVE THE DATE: April 15th PBNA Meeting – open to all PB Residents - More details to come

We’re waiving our 2025 membership fees, go to https://pbnabluffton.com/ to sign up and stay in the loop.

Development Update:

• No new PB Base Club amenities will be built until lawsuit is settled
• SSP Suggestion floated of building a new/seperate club for new amenities (Nothing confirmed)

Crossroads:

• New Fitness Amenities Complex rough design provided
• New Fitness Amenities Complex will not be built until lawsuit is settled
• Suggestion floated that new Fitness Amenities Complex could be built prior to lawsuit settlement if SSP were to establish it (and thus bill it) as a separate club (fee)
• SSP building residential cottages near putting green

Anson:

• Coore Crenshaw golf course progressing with irrigation completed on 7 holes
• No details on membership status or pricing
• Temporary Clubhouse to be built first
• Permanent Clubhouse will be similar to May River golf facility but will not be a “true member” (SSP words) Clubhouse
• Targeted opening date 1^st quarter 2026

Montage Hotel Update:

• SSP building (clearing has begun) new event facility at Montage (SSP owns Montage) to alleviate "pressure" off Village Green – owned by Preservation Trust & funded by PB Members
• Location is behind (both) Montage Spa and Flame Pizza truck.
• SSP said no limit exists regarding the number of weddings per calendar year

Cell Tower:

• Tower structure has been built but electrical & other infrastructure not ready
• No commitment provided for when it’s operational

Real Estate:

• Real estate prices and sales of new lots and homes up 19% in 2024 (180 closings)
• Other specific sales detail enclosed in this newsletter
• PBNA commentary: assuming all 180 new homes joined “The Club” @ $50K fee = $9 million in revenue not accounted for on PB Club Balance Sheet

PB Club & Operations:

• Organizational data, number of members, data on (optional) for-profit clubs (Golf, Shooting, Boating) and commercial operations (such as employees of SSP) provided
• Buffaloes Restaurant turned back to Montage to manage

• PBNA commentary of fact: For those that don’t know, SSP terminated agreement with Montage (2021/2022) to manage PB Club and various other commercial operations

• PBNA commentary of fact: PBNA requested overall and by entity organizational charts to determine whether collective “Club” is being run efficiently; whether overhead and other costs are being allocated to the Preservation Trust (POA) and PB (base) Club fairly b/c this directly impacts the DUES MEMBERS MUST PAY. To date: we have not been able to obtain this information

PB Preservation Trust (POA) and Design Review Board (DRB):

• First ever POA meeting that included members was held January 27, 2025

• PBNA commentary of fact: this was a Board of Stewards (BOD) meeting – not an annual member meeting – which should be held annually in the 3^rd quarter of each fiscal year according to POA By Laws  

• Please see this section of attached newsletter for critical issues raised at that 1/27/25 meeting
• DRB reported 1,154 completed homes; 224 in design review and 132 under construction (implying there are approximately 1,510 Base Club Members)

Member Issues and Concerns:

• Please see attached document for details.
• Question and Answer portion of meeting (ended poorly with a PB employee insulting members), please see attached document for details

Montage Weddings on Wilson Village Green:

• SSP working with Montage to put tighter controls on weddings/events 
• SSP (Gray Ferguson) confirmed they increased village green day rental fee from $3K/day to $4K/day
• SSP would not commit to limiting number, size or duration of weddings/events

• PBNA commentary of fact: Wilson Village Green is owned by POA but managed for “the mutual benefit of its members (PB homeowners) by SSP. Utilizing POA assets for the benefit of maximizing the value of Montage is effectively transferring value out of the POA (PB homeowners) and arguably a breach of their fiduciary duty under SC Law. Please see PBNA Letter #12 date 1/12/2025 for more information on this subject.

Member Annual Dues Increases:

• Member dues will continue to increase at a rate above inflation

• Palmetto Bluff Base Club is a PRIVATE, for-profit entity (BUT it is not supposed to charge members fees above operating expenses) 

• PBNA commentary re: Base Club
• No new base club amenities have been built since 2017
• Membership increase = 855 in 2017 to (estimated) 1,510 2025
• Dues increased by 79% from 2022-2025
• Dues increased by 292% (9% increase/year since 2012)

• PBNA Commentary: Given the significant increase in DUES, is it reasonable for members to want/expect new base club amenities?"

Settlement of Member Lawsuits:

• SSP commented on the lawsuit “on the advice of counsel we can’t answer the question(s)”
• Attendees did not appear to be satisfied with SSP responses to questions concerning lawsuit

• PBNA commentary: SSP appears to have little incentive to resolve the matter b/c litigation could be providing SSP with excuse to not build member amenities; additionally, significant portion of SSP legal fees is charged and paid for by PB members through POA and Base Club annual dues

Role of Member Advisory Committee:

• SSP expressed interest in expanding role of Member Advisory Committee (MAC) to be active conduit for member concerns and recommendations to SSP

• PBNA commentary: Concern about MAC member neutrality – member volunteers are selected by fellow members but they must be confirmed by SSP or PB Club management

PBNA-Your Invitation To Participate:

• Currently looking for new BOD members to serve 3 year terms
• PBNA Objective: community communication, member sounding board, facilitate positive change in our community via a seat at the table with SSP
• PB Community is growing quickly, need to be sure it grows in a way that takes homeowners into account alongside the profit margins of SSP
• SAVE THE DATE: April 15th PBNA Meeting – open to all PB Residents - Details to come
• Please see https://pbnabluffton.com/ to sign up and stay in the loop - Membership fees waived for 2025

PBNA Volunteers

Bob Morette, Arian Ellis, Helen Ryan, Ford Bartholow, Frank Riddick, and Allen Roth.

If you have friends and neighbors who are interested in joining, please tell them to go to our website, www.pbnabluffton.com, and click “join”.