At least two members of the Isle of Palms City Council are less than enamored with the idea that the city is considering moving sand from one area of the beach to another to address erosion on the north end of the island.
At their regularly scheduled meeting on May 28, Council members discussed the city’s permit application for a shoal management project that was filed with the Ocean and Coastal Resource Management division of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control in April.
Elizabeth Campsen stated that she is “not a big fan of taking sand from one section and adding to another,” while Blair Hahn further criticized the excavation, saying removing sand from 44th to 53rd Avenue would lead to a 50-foot to 100-foot inland shift of the high tide line, effectively taking people’s property and relocating it elsewhere on the island.
Desirée Fragoso, the City Administrator, responded that bringing in new sand is not included in this permit, so sand will have to be moved around the island. She assured council members that the main focus is to use sand from the offshore migrating shoal, also known as ‘Potential Harvest Area 2’ in the below permit diagram. If the shoal is inaccessible, sand from the accretional area along the avenues, known as ‘Potential Harvest Area 1’, will be used as a backup plan.
She also reassured Hahn that any change in the high tide line is temporary and that excavation along the avenues will occur 400 feet beyond the building line.
Some residents have expressed multiple concerns about this plan. Some say good beach management and renourishment are defined as adding new sand to a depleted beach, not relocating sand within a beach. An additional concern some have is the relocation of sand from what the city and state define as a public beach to what they classify as a private beach.
This upcoming project will be much smaller than some previous beach nourishment projects on the Isle of Palms. Its primary purpose is to provide storm relief to properties and prolong the lifespan of the 2018 nourishment project, thus reducing the overall cost of maintenance and keeping the beach accessible to the public at all tide levels. Harvesting the migrating shoal or excess areas along the avenues will be a much more cost-effective solution for the city, at only 10% of the cost of trucking in upland sand. Additionally, this approach will avoid issues with traffic and sand compatibility that would arise from bringing in new sand.
The plan is to begin work on the project at the end of 2024, during the winter months when beach usage decreases. It is estimated that the project will take one to two months to complete, and during this time, most of the beach will remain accessible.
The city welcomes public feedback on this project using the form provided at www.iop.net/public-comment-form.