At the recent Isle of Palms candidate forum held by The Island Eye News, beach erosion was one of the top issues being debated. After hearing from the candidates, The Island Eye wanted to get a sense of how beachfront property owners felt about the issue, and staff was able to talk to several oceanfront owners.
Of the eight interviewed homeowners, only a few wanted to go on record, many expressing they didn’t want to seem critical of the people they needed help from.
A recurring sentiment at the forum was residents’ fear of losing their homes.
Barbara Bernstein commented, “I am afraid! Very afraid! Waves are so forceful that today’s 11 a.m. tide took away all the protection the city had put with sandbags and (scraped) sand.”
The Vanderham family, who own on the south beach, said, “We have had two fences fall into the ocean.”
The Vanderhams added that they appreciated the city’s efforts, but they felt the plan was not working, and their pool and home are vulnerable to the smallest storm.
Residents expressed sadness not just for their property but for the beaches that could be disappearing. Dan Slotchiver, whose family has been on Beachwood East for over 40 years, expressed his concern for property and beach destruction and pointed out the “domino effect” this would have on island businesses as rentals lose their charm. A loss of value could result in lower revenue, lower taxes and ultimately lower property values – plus soaring insurance rates for all.
While Slotchiver applauded the efforts of Town, he felt beach management practices are more reactive than proactive.
“If we are not proactive, we will keep putting bandages on the problem. We must evaluate the cost of these bandages and delays. Waiting too long for the proper solution can cause horrific losses that could have been avoided,” he said.
The Beachfront Management Act prohibits erosion control devices seaward of the state setback lines, but the Act also requires replenishment, renourishment and maintenance of a dry sand beach at all tides. Several residents commented that little new sand has been placed on the southern beaches in the last 25 years. The 2018 Wild Dunes beach renourishment project permit required 600,000 cubic yards of sand be placed on the public beaches between the Connector and Breach; none of that came to fruition, perhaps exacerbating the current conditions.
Currently, there are no documented proactive long-term beach renourishment plans. The city is working with the Army Corps of Engineers on spreading sediment harvested over the years from the Intracoastal Waterway. This sediment is now being pumped onto Sullivan’s Island side of Breach Inlet. Project manager Jacob Kyzar estimates that just 35% of the 200,000 cubic yards have been deposited so far.
Kyzar said, “Based on dredge production and material stockpiling in the borrow sites to date, we expect the placement on the Isle of Palms will not start until this winter.”
Once the project moves to the Isle of Palms, the plan is to dump 500,000 cubic yards of the sediment at low tide, where the tides and waves can clean the sediment. The Army Corps states the project does not seek to build a dry sand beach like a traditional beach renourishment. This is for two reasons: To reduce project cost and to allow tidal cycles to “wash away” the sediment of undesirable materials (silts, clay, vegetation, etc.).
The city is relying on the remaining clean sand naturally migrating up and along the beach over time. In the interim, the city, working on an independent project with its consultant, Coastal Science & Engineering Inc., budgets funds to utilize a portion of this cleaned material to rebuild a dune structure from 2nd Avenue to 10th Avenue on Ocean. There are currently no plans to move sand from this project to the Beachwood area.
The Vanderhams and others asked for a Plan B, adding, “We would like to have a second and third opinion on if we are doing everything we can to save our homes.”
With the continuing rising sea, most seemed to think some kind of hardscape was needed to protect against the waves, which have become more aggressive. Some residents suggested rocks, others covered walls and others a hardened base to place sandbags on. But it was clear to all that over a year of sand scraping and sandbags have only resulted in more dune and property loss and damage, as well as significantly more beach erosion.
