Now this same land is being taken away by developers with the cooperation of local and state governments.

What’s being lost is not just land or money: It’s community. Five, six, even eight generations of the same families have lived continuously in these coastal communities. The neighborhoods they form are tight-knit, safe, and supportive – a rarity in modern American life.

Generations without wills or the need for them

Every state in the US requires that land deeds be transferred in writing. However this was not an option for the African American property owners during Reconstruction.

It was illegal to teach slaves to read and write, so that first generation couldn’t possibly have written wills. The Jim Crow laws that followed Emancipation then impeded black people’s access to the legal system, according to Willie Heyward of the Center for Heirs Property Preservation. So, the first generations of these land owners were unable to create written wills, and property was handed down verbally.

The tradition of verbal bequeaths continued in the African-American community. Rather than honoring a verbal will, the State considers land left by those without a written will (those who are “intestate”) to be equally owned, by all heirs.

Thus, there are many tracts of “Heirs’ Properties” in the South in which the last recorded deed is from the Reconstruction period. Some of these properties can have over a hundred heirs associated with them.

Turning Bottom-land to Gold

The introduction of air conditioning and mosquito control has turned these properties into the type of gold that makes developers drool. Since the mid-50’s, coastal islands and marsh-front properties have been converted to high-end housing, resort and commercial properties, displacing the long-standing African American communities.

The SC Government has so favored developers that they have changed the laws defining land ownership. For instance, persons who possess a piece of land, pay taxes on it, and were verbally deeded it by an ancestor do not have “clear title” to that land in South Carolina. This lack of clear title leaves the land vulnerable to court-forced sale, if even a single heir chooses to raise the question of ownership.

Once a court orders the sale, the developers are standing in line at the auction with more cash in their hands than the heirs could ever hope to raise.

Techniques of Taking The Property

Unclear Title

So long as there is no clear title to a property, a single heir can force its sale. In all heirs’ property cases a ruling from a court is required to “clear” the deed. Quite often, there are too many heirs, or the plat is too small, for equal and reasonable division. So, the court orders the property to be sold at auction, and profit is split between the heirs.

Build Something Really Nice Next Door

Property taxes in places other than California are assessed based on the value of the house and land. This value is based on subjective factors – how much would people be willing to pay for it? A $10,000 house surrounded by other ten thousand dollar houses will be assessed at ten thousand dollars. However, if someone builds a single $1 million dollar house next door, the property value of the $10,000 will go up – a hundred fold.

So while the property tax on the ten thousand dollar house was just a couple hundred dollars and easily paid, the property tax on the same house next to a mansion is in the tens of thousands and beyond the reach of the average South Carolinian.

Tax ‘em Out

While many States consider land ownership to be a basic and inviolable right, South Carolina acts aggressively to remove land from people who cannot pay property taxes.

South Carolina will sell off a person’s land if they are ten months late in the payment of taxes. Other states give people several years to pay back taxes and some even have laws preventing tax sales. For instance, in Ohio, a lien may be placed on a property for delinquent taxes, but the land cannot be forced into sale.

The taxes on heirs’ properties were quite reasonable for a very long time. However, as the value of the land has gone up, thanks to air conditioning, mosquito control, and mansions placed on neighboring properties, the tax bills have also increased.

It can be difficult to keep track of a single tax bill, which is applied to large tracts where dozens of families live. If the person who has taken responsibility for paying the taxes dies or moves away, the bill is often forgotten.

It is also possible for any person to go to the County offices and change the address on any tax bill.

Would the developers do this and then enjoy the confusion as the land goes into tax sale?

It would explain a few incidents.

South Carolinians are only given nine months to pay their property tax bill. After that, they must pay what is owed, plus the taxes that will be due next year to prevent the sale of their land in the tenth month.

For example, in 2005 taxes are due on January 15 and delinquent properties are sold on October 3. Developers, with loads of cash in hand, will be ready to snatch up the valuable properties at auction, pricing heirs out of the picture but still often buying at well below market value.

Even though the governing agency is only allowed to sell as much land as is necessary to cover the delinquent taxes, they have traditionally sold the entire plat.

Regulate ‘em Out

In other places, the local government has lent the developers a hand by creating regulations that surpass the means of the Heirs’ Property owners. For instance, in Mount Pleasant, sewer hookup is now required for all new houses and renovations. But the City did not run the sewer line close enough to the Heirs’ Property sites to allow for hookup at a reasonable cost; They actually went around one Heirs’ Property site to put sewer lines to a new sub-division.

So now the property owners must pay tens of thousands of dollars to “tap in” to the system. If unable to pay, they can not modify their homes, build new homes, or even repair the existing septic systems when they break. In effect, they are forced to sell the land, to someone who has enough money to pay for the sewer connection.

What Is Being Done

The Center for Heirs Property Preservation is fighting hard to preserving these unique communities in Charleston and surrounding areas. They are providing community education by doing things like leaving pamphlets at government offices and community centers and teaching Heirs Property seminars. There has been a Public Television special about Heirs Property.

They are additionally providing legal and mediation services to embattled Heirs Property owners, and helping to clear the titles. Also they work to change State laws that disadvantage Heirs Property owners.

In one ingenious approach, according to Willy Heyward, they are helping families create autonomous entities to manage and own land in potentially disputed heirs’ properties. Once this entity is formed — a Partnership, Limited Liability Corporation, or other form of Corporation — each heir is given shares in it equal to their stake in the land. Developers cannot then get a single heir to force a sale; the majority of the share holders must agree to what will be done with the property.

A State-appointed task force that includes members of the Center for Heirs Property Preservation and Charleston School of Law is looking at ways to protect property owners’ rights. One law they are working on would require mediation amongst heirs prior to, or instead of, going to court, in order to avoid a forced sale.

Even the world-famous Spoleto Festival USA is getting involved. Their Evoking History project for the 2006 Festival involves the members of the Phillips Community – one of the Heirs’ Properties that is being threatened by developers.

In the end, it all comes down to how well groups of heirs, some numbering over 100, can cooperate to save their communities. The sad thing is that they have to fight against both developers, and their own government.

Sources

http://ccfgives.org/heirsproperty.htm

http://www.lri.lsc.gov/abstracts/abstract.asp?level1=SPA&level2=Housing&abstractid=030017&ImageId=1

http://www.pfdf.org/innovation/innovation/innovation.asp?innov_id=567

High Resolution Images

In June of 2004, Geologists at LSU released a study which summarized the last 100 years of hurricane landfall and the associated storm frequencies on the Atlantic Oceans US Coastline. Geologists found that the top three likely places for a hurricane to make landfall include southern Florida, the North Gulf Coast between East Texas and the Florida Panhandle and surprisingly, the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The study showed that the storm frequency in South Florida is lessening, while in North Carolina, specifically at the most easterly stretch of the Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras, the number of storms and subsequent hurricanes that make land fall is increasing.

The 90 mile stretch of barrier islands that compose the Outer Banks, stretching from the Virginia Border and ending at Cape Hatteras, has seen more than its share of hurricanes. The islands are not anchored to any land mass or coral, they are merely sand bars peeking through the ocean. As “free floating” islands, with an irregular coast line and a severe continental slope, the Outer Banks have all of the geographical properties that attract a Hurricane. At Cape Hatteras, the furthest easterly point, the Banks extend 13 miles into the Atlantic Ocean from the nearest land mass and are a mere 40 miles from the Gulf Coast Current – the “highway” used by most hurricanes.

With Hazel, in 1959 (a category 4), in 1996 Fran (category 3) and in 1999 Floyd (category 2), the frequency, the severity and the further odds of tropical storms hitting North Carolina continues to keep meteorologists on the look out, according to the State Climate Office. The SCO, like the geologists at LSU, used history as a precursor for determining the storm future of the Outer Banks.

“North Carolina has a long and notorious history of destruction by hurricanes. Ever since the first expeditions to Roanoke Island in 1586, hurricanes are recorded to have caused tremendous damage to the state. Reliable classification of the intensity of tropical cyclones began in 1886. Since that time, there have been 951 tropical cyclones that have been recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 166 or 17.5% of those tropical cyclones passed within 300 miles of North Carolina

The coast of North Carolina can expect to receive a tropical storm or a hurricane once every four years, while a tropical cyclone affects the state every 1.3 years.” SCO

What Does the Future Hold?

With historical information in hand, the SCO focused its studies on the increased storm activity during the last thirty years. Not only has the frequency of tropical storms increased along the North Carolina Coast, but also the intensity (measured by the amount of damage) has increased. Their hypothesis is that future storms will be far greater in quantity, and far more intense. Their objectives included studying the effects of El Nino and La Nina on the sea surface temperature (SST). Noted by the SCO was the logical increase of the number of tropical storms and subsequent Hurricanes during El Nino. A Hurricane derives its power from the heat and condensation of the water over which it travels; a warmer water temperature like that experienced during El Nino “fuels” a tropical storm and increases the probable intensity of a powerful hurricane, like Katrina.

What would happen to the Outer Banks after a Category Five Hurricane?

North Carolina has never seen the likes of a category five Hurricane with sustained winds of greater than 155 mph and sea surges of 15-18’ feet. A hurricane of this magnitude along with associated sea surges is likely to eradicate all or portions of the islands. Many times during the past century, the islands have been inundated, leaving only traces of sand and protective dunes, and this during category two hurricanes.

The Outer Banks are less than ½ mile wide in many spots, and a 15-18’ storm surge, has the potential to completely flood the barrier islands, causing them to disappear from the coastline. The coastline is so fragile, and the continental slope is so severe that scientists seek grants from agencies such as Sea Grant to fund an ongoing study to track the shape of the coast and the erosion every five years. The studies show the current position of the islands via satellite photos and compare them for loss of coast line to the previous picture.

Reviewing these maps shows that the coast line is receding from .5 to 1.5’ each year and that the islands are migrating to the south. Rising sea-levels and prevailing northeast winds, cause the Outer Banks to move towards land. During a hurricane, the winds wash away homes, and form new inlets while closing others and the entire coast line can change in a matter of hours as the sand is swept further out to sea. One category five hurricane could remove the all of the protective dunes, man made improvements and cause ocean water to enter the estuaries destroying much of the islands beauty and eco-system, leaving behind sand bars visible only during low tide.

Where would the people go?

There are about 49,000 year round inhabitants of the Outer Banks. This number swells to 250,000 during the summer and beginning of hurricane season. The evacuations routes are simple – one way onto the islands, and one way off. Visitors are asked to familiarize themselves with the well marked routes when entering the Outer Banks. The state of North Carolina has a strict evacuation policy and requires that those who stay behind and refuse evacuation sign a notification form listing next of kin. This is enforced by public officials going door to door during an evacuation procedure.

In the case of category two hurricanes, millions of dollars of damage is incurred, in the case of a category five hurricane, North Carolina can expect nothing less than a complete rebuilding of the Outer Banks.

Eden Island is practically, though not technically, a barrier island. It sounds like a safe place to be, but a barrier is the first thing an unstoppable force goes through.

If you live near one of the 280 barrier islands that protect Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas from the rising seas, you can expect rocks, sand, and storms. During low tides, they can be a hazard to navigation for fishermen and can quickly alter your vessel’s hull, in the bad way. Big storms can wipe out whole ways of life. The marina in the above image has been reorganized by Hurricane Katrina.

Powerful storms are a hazard in many low-lying coastal regions in the world. People usually cooperate to plan for huge storms, like Hurricane Betsy, the previous most-powerful-storm to hit the Gulf Coast. Through planning, cooperation, and communication, large numbers of fatalities can be avoided when the next 40-year storm hits.

“New Orleans’ worst hurricane disaster happened 40 years ago, when Hurricane Betsy blasted the Gulf Coast. Flood waters approached 20 feet in some areas, fishing villages were flattened, and the storm surge left almost half of New Orleans under water and 60,000 residents homeless. Seventy-four people died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.”
Deseret News

People like to quantify or measure things with numbers because it provides a convenient way of comparing two different things. In the first recorded civic societies, people used numeric icons made of clay to keep track of the different promises they’d made to one another. Think about how difficult it would be for ebay if you could only swap your old stuff for other people’s old stuff.

The result of this is the drive to measure, to record, and to summarize, in order to be able to understand the cost of things. If you can’t understand the true cost of something, then you can’t tell if it is a fair exchange for your resources.

“Estimates put the cost of Katrina to taxpayers at around $100 billion and possibly more. At this point, it is estimated that the Katrina operation on a daily basis is costing more than a day at war in Iraq. “A disaster of this magnitude can be hard to comprehend,” U.S. Representative Chris Shays said in a speech to the House of Representatives. “Convinced of our mastery of the physical world, we too often underestimate nature’s horrible, irresistible power.”
Patricia Mc Cormack, Greenwich Citizen

“New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has said that the number of dead, when it comes, will shock America and the world. When asked to estimate the death toll the other day, President George W. Bush who was vacationing at his ranch in Texas when the hurricane struck and who delayed visiting the site, said: “It’s lots.”
Patricia Mc Cormack, Greenwich Citizen