A Daufuskie Island lot that was purchased for more than $200,000 about a decade ago was sold again for less than $12,000.
And that’s OK, the S.C. Court of Appeals said on Aug. 13. The three-judge panel upheld a county ruling that supported the foreclosure sale.
But the conflict may be more than a simple case of out-of-towners skipping out on association fees.
In fact, the dispute may stem from the longstanding challenges faced by the eight-square-mile island over how to support development by providing reliable ferry transit to and from the mainland.
William and Michele Ashton of Pennsylvania purchased the lot on the bridge-less island between Tybee and Hilton Head in 2001 for $201,500. They missed association payments, and it was sold in 2012 at a foreclosure sale for $8,800. An additional $2,793 was added for unpaid taxes and fees.
The couple said their due process rights were disregarded in the foreclosure proceedings and the $11,593 price was so low as to shock the conscience.
The Pennsylvania couple were the owners until January 2012, according to court records.
In the meantime, Bloody Point fell on hard times and began bankruptcy proceedings.
“As part of that financial difficulty, most if not all of the services being provided to the property owners by the Bloody Point Property Owners Association … were either significantly curtailed or eliminated completely,” wrote the Ashtons’ lawyers.
The couple received a letter from
the association “informing them that Bloody Point had gone ‘belly up,’ and that the golf course had been shut down,” they continued.
The association stopped collecting regime fees and providing services to the property owners for a period of time, said the lawyers.
The Bloody Point Property Owners Association started foreclosure actions against the Ashtons in 2011 after issuing a lien against the property for payment of association dues and fees.
But living in Pennsylvania frustrated officials’ ability to notify the Ashtons, the couple’s attorneys argued, and they were not properly served.
From a broader standpoint, some see the island’s economic development woes as a product of its fragmented transportation system. As some tell it, higher operating costs and barriers to entry, along with difficulty wooing potential homeowners and investors are just a few of the hurdles Daufuskie faces.
In April of last year, Kevin McCarthy, chief executive officer of the island’s Bloody Point Golf Club and Resort, joined an array of regional leaders and state politicians to press the U.S. Department of Transportation for grant money to fund a study of a comprehensive public ferry system.
“In June 2011, we had the opportunity to purchase the assets of the bankrupt Bloody Point Club, with the hopes of helping contribute to Daufuskie’s future,” McCarthy wrote.
“In the years we’ve visited Daufuskie, we have witnessed multiple club and resort bankruptcies and the economic despair on the island that accompanied them.
“Despite our greatest efforts, however, the chance for longterm sustainability of Bloody Point is severely restricted by the lack of an island-wide ferry system.”
Beaufort County is expected to be notified next month whether it will receive a $325,000 grant for a ferry study.
