Beach panel to study S.C.'s coastal rules

With rising seas chewing at S.C. beaches, a panel of lawyers, politicians and others will study how the state can improve its battered, 22-year-old seaside development law.

The advisory commission, picked recently by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, is expected to recommend changes in a law that has largely failed to move new construction back from the seashore - and in some cases has allowed bigger development along the beach.

Building too close to the ocean makes hotels, condos and homes more vulnerable to damage during storms, which can cause taxpayer bailouts. It also can speed up beach erosion if the ocean constantly pounds seaside hotels, condos or seawalls. The issue is of particular concern because sea levels are rising, a trend that is forecast to continue.

Rep. Tracy Edge, part of the commission, said he wants to know if the state can simplify the permitting process for oceanfront development.

"I think the major goal is to take some bad kinks out of the process," said Edge, a Republican from North Myrtle Beach.

Commission member Wes Jones said existing state law is complicated and needs a fresh look. The 1988 law's policy of "retreat" of new development from the beach hasn't worked as intended, he said.

"We have to come up with a solution that makes common sense," said Jones, a lawyer from Hilton Head Island, who is former chairman of the now-defunct S.C. Coastal Council. The council helped formulate the 1988 beach law.

The DHEC board plans to outline the 17-member panel's specific duties at the next board meeting. The board would decide whether the panel should look solely at the state's beach management law or if it should also consider other issues, such as development in marshes.

Among those on the committee are five state legislators; mayors Joe Riley of Charleston, Bill Otis of Pawleys Island and Tom Peeples of Hilton Head Island; and Nick Kremydas, chief executive of the S.C. Association of Realtors. Coastal geologist and erosion expert Robert Young, USC law professor Josh Eagle and former DHEC board chairwoman Elizabeth Hagood also are among those on the panel.

Ex-DHEC board member Edwin Cooper is expected to chair the beach commission.

The commission will rely on a 2009 DHEC-sanctioned study. The shoreline change advisory report, developed by a collection of scientists, businesspeople and government officials, said the 1988 state law had not worked as intended. Since Hurricane Hugo leveled beachfront buildings in 1989, virtually every structure has been reconstructed, sometimes bigger.

South Carolina's failure to move new development farther back from the beach is related to the state's reliance on renourishment projects, which artificially widen the seashore with dredged sand.

DHEC staff members have interpreted state law to mean they must, in some cases, allow new development closer to the ocean if beaches have been renourished. DHEC has done that by periodically moving an imaginary building restriction line toward the ocean, which allows new and bigger structures closer to the water.

DHEC's interpretation of the 1988 law has loosened oceanfront restrictions on several hundred lots, many in Hilton Head Island and in North Myrtle Beach. In the latter case, several high-rise hotel/condo towers have been built on Cherry Grove's narrow, flood-prone seashore.

But critics say renourishment projects, which are funded with tax dollars, shouldn't subsidize new and bigger development that could be destroyed in the next hurricane. The 2009 study that examined beach policies recommended never moving the building restriction line seaward and setting new development farther from the beach. Since Hugo, taxpayers have spent more than $200 million on beach renourishment projects, but funds for such work are beginning to dwindle.