IOP closer to restoring beach

Brad Nettles
The Post and Courier

These sandbags will be removed within a few months as the beach renourishment process begins. Isle of Palms approved an $8.4 million bid for an offshore dredging and renourishment project on May 2, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a permit for the project on May 7.

The Isle of Palms received a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week, the final step before beginning the beach renourishment project.

The permit allows a contractor to begin setting up equipment, but the city would have to draft an operations and monitoring plan before emptying sandbags and pumping new sand to the eroding beach on the island's northeast end.

Linda Lovvorn Tucker, city administrator, expected the Corps of Engineers to approve that plan this week. City officials said that new sand could start hitting the beach by the end of the month.

The Isle of Palms applied for the permits for an offshore dredging project in November.

"I am glad to be where we are. ... It's what we've been working toward for a long time," Mayor Mike Sottile said.

Sand will be taken from a ridge three miles offshore and fed to the beach area spanning from 53rd Avenue to Dewees Inlet. The majority of the project will take place within the gated community of Wild Dunes, which has experienced erosion for about the last four years.

As part of the project, an artificial dune would be built on the island's northern tip parallel with the Wild Dunes Links course and near several of the condominiums experiencing the worst erosion. This artificial dune is supposed to encourage the formation of a natural protective dune, according to the corps permit project summary.

Council contracted with Weeks Marine for the dredging project of $8.4 million. The work has to be complete by July 31.

Sottile said the full project cost and its associated monitoring should come in at about $9.9 million.

Of that cost, council has agreed to pay $1.9 million and Charleston County $900,000.

Wild Dunes residents and the resort have committed to spending about $6 million. The city also applied for a $1 million grant from the state.

Funds from those sources typically require public beach access. The Wild Dunes Community Association has discussed making parking spots near the northeast beach available to all association members, and Sottile has encouraged the community to offer public parking for beach access, but neither has been offered.

Without the state grant, any remaining costs would be paid for by Wild Dunes association members, resort properties and private enterprises, Councilman Dick Cronin said.

Councilman Mike Loftus said council wouldn't support spending any additional public funds more than the $1.9 million.

"The city will absolutely not go over that number," he said.

The project would take place during loggerhead turtle nesting season. The permit from the state requires intense monitoring and relocation of affected nests. The city would be required not only to hire people to search for nests each morning, but also to watch the construction zone through the night for nesting turtles.

Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.