Grand Strand mayors concerned about potential shoreline changes

Grand Strand mayors concerned about potential changes to the state’s shoreline management regulations and their possible effects on private and public property have agreed to speak as one to a state committee looking at those rules.

At Wednesday’s meeting of the Coastal Alliance, mayors discussed policy changes that could be recommended by the Ocean & Coastal Resource Management division of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s blue-ribbon panel, which is looking at the 20-year-old Beachfront Management Act of 1988.

The committee is made up of development, business, real estate, environmental and legal professionals, and elected officials including Sen. Ray Cleary, R-District 34, which covers Charleston, Georgetown and Horry counties, Pawleys Island Mayor Bill Otis, and Rep. Tracy Edge, R-Horry County.

One facet of the committee’s work is examining the policy on setbacks from the “ideal dune line,” which is based on where the beach dunes would be if humans had never interfered with them. The committee is considering whether to increase the setback from 20 feet from the baseline to as far as 100 feet from the baseline -- a move that could seriously impact future development and redevelopment along the Grand Strand, the Coastal Alliance said.

The difference of up to 80 feet could be the difference between property owners rebuilding or walking away after a destructive storm, said Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes.

Though each municipality has its own rules, in Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, buildings damaged 50 percent or more must be torn down and rebuilt rather than repaired.

If the setback was changed and the Grand Strand experienced a major hurricane that severely damaged oceanfront homes and hotels, those properties would have to move back as far as 80 feet to be rebuilt.

“That would completely change the complexion of Myrtle Beach,” Rhodes said. “People might choose to walk away rather than rebuild, which would not only leave mortgage companies hanging, it would have a dramatic effect on tourism and private property ownership.”

North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley said a 100-foot setback in her town would place properties on Second Avenue instead of the oceanfront.

The mayors agreed they need to argue for home rule, especially in this case, and agreed to write a letter they all will sign and send it to the blue-ribbon committee before its next scheduled meeting on Jan. 17 in Columbia.

“We feel like we can make the best decisions about what’s right for our own areas,” said Surfside Beach Mayor Allen Deaton. “We’re good stewards of the shoreline -- we all are.”

A one-size-fits-all approach for the whole South Carolina coast doesn’t work, said Hatley.

“That could have a major economic impact on a lot of communities,” she said. “If the line were 100 feet, that’s like taking people’s property.”

Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach had setbacks even before the state put its rules in place, said Myrtle Beach city manager Tom Leath, and Myrtle Beach’s setback is more stringent than the state’s.

“There are some environmentalists on the committee who have some strict beliefs that all beachfront development should cease,” Edge said. “There are people who believe we can just wave a magic wand and all oceanfront development will disappear. But that view is not going to sit well with a lot of people. I mean, what are we going to do -- just not have Myrtle Beach exist in 40 years?”

Not all the committee members are convinced about a single setback line for the whole shore, Edge said, or whether setbacks need to be changed at all.

“We’ve had data that has shown that most properties that have been developed have fallen within current regulations, and the ones that have tried to be developed outside the current rules have been denied,” he said. “Where development shouldn’t occur, it hasn’t.”

The blue-ribbon committee has been tasked with looking at the whole beachfront act to see which policies are in place and which should be in place for the future to guide shoreline management, said OCRM spokesman Dan Burger. The group has been meeting since last fall, and has set a goal of having a report ready for the DHEC board by April. The board will add its input before the report is presented to the Legislature for consideration.

The blue-ribbon committee has not finalized any recommendations yet, Burger said, and has not met since last October. In fact, three of its nine meetings scheduled so far have had to be canceled for lack of a quorum.

“Getting people to attend has been one of the issues,” Edge said. “But it’s not unlike any other committee like this I’ve been on.”