Premier Golf, Yachting, and Tennis Community in the Heart of Hilton Head Island PO Box 4100, SC 29938.       111 Wexford Club Drive, SC 29928.       Tel: (843) 686-8810.       Fax: (843) 686-6210.

The Birth of Wexford Plantation Part 2

The "Planner's" Perspective by Ken Skodacek

The Planning and the Permitting

40 and 50 Wexford Club Drive

Laying Out Wexford in a Few Hours!

As promised, Willard called with the following additional planning parameters: There were to be 525 homesites to be located on the 505 acre tract, with the added caveat that ALL of the homesites to overlook some form of open-space amenity (the internal harbour, the golf course, internal lagoons or the marshes of Broad Creek); i.e., no two homesites could back up directly to one another. I immediately began laying out the community as I saw it, beginning with the concept of having the golf course related development around the outer portions of the community and planning the harbor related homesites on whatever space were left in the interior of the overall tract. The golf course routing quickly fell into place, with the 17th and 18th holes practically siting themselves. I spent the last couple of hours of the afternoon working out the four interlocking "islands" within the internal harbour area. Being an ardent boater and having designed several water related developments for Arvida Corporation in the Sarasota/Longboat Key area, I knew the importance of making sure that the harbour properties could all be accessed without having to go under a bridge.

Now Slow Down

Long story short, when Mr. Byrd came into the office the following morning, Wexford was completely laid out - the centerline of every golf hole, the centerline of every road, every lot line, the curve of every bulkhead and even all of the boat slips in the clubhouse area. The only item that remained in a minor state of flux for the next several months was the exact siting of the clubhouse. I remember asking Mr. Byrd if he wanted me to do a color rendering for him to take back to Hilton Head for his next weekly meeting and he looked at me smiling and said that we had better keep this here for at least a month or two. It suddenly dawned on me that even in 1982 dollars, we had just completed a $100,000 land plan and he would have trouble justifying that fee if he showed up the next week with a color rendering of the finished plan.

Modifications to Meet Permitting Requirements

Much did still remain to be done however, before Wexford was to become a reality. Permitting was the major concern. Freshwater wetlands were just becoming an issue and, in the end, a part of the master plan had to be modified to clear one of the final hurdles. Wicklow was originally designed as Wicklow Circle, extending through the area between the 5th and 7th fairways, coming back into Wexford Club Drive where Oxford Drive currently ties in. Oxford Drive was to be a much shorter cul-de-sac off of Wicklow Circle. That was the final trade-off made with the permitting agencies to get their approval. Also, not enough can be said for the help of then State Senator James Waddell, the senior member of the South Carolina State Senate, who, while not intervening directly, kept the permitting ball rolling. If you will recall, in 1982 we were still reeling from the Jimmy Carter recession and the Island economy - indeed, the nation's economy - was very bad, and all elected government officials were doing their best to promote job opportunities.

Information & services on these pages apply only to members of the Wexford Plantation Homeowners' Association.

Updated: Feb/1/08 Copyright 2008