What if FEMA doesn’t approve more money for the Surfside Pier?

Town officials have been waiting to hear back from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on whether or not they will receive funding to build a new concrete pier after the wooden pier was destroyed during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Now facing another season without income from the pier, officials are wondering if it’s time to move forward without additional funding from FEMA.

“I just want to put council on alert that we’re going to have to make a tough decision soon if we don’t hear back from FEMA,” councilwoman Julie Samples said during Tuesday’s council meeting.

Town Administrator Micki Fellner said that if officials decide to move forward without waiting for a decision, they would be stuck with no more than the $5.6 million already approved by FEMA.

In order to build a concrete pier the city needs $9.2 million. However, this money replaces everything except for the building that are currently on the pier, including a bait shop, a restaurant and an ice cream shop.

To move forward with the $5.6 million, 75 percent of which is coming from FEMA and 25 percent from the state of South Carolina, would mean another wooden pier.

“You either get the grant or you don’t get the grant, there’s no just going ahead and doing it,” Fellner said during the meeting. “This council may have to make a decision at some point, you know what, we don’t want to wait any longer, let’s go back with what we can, which would probably be a wood pier. We would be eligible for that amount of money, that amount of grant money, but we couldn’t go ahead and start a different project with a different scope of work.

“And then there would be nothing new. They would not consider additional funds, anything of that nature. So we’ve come a long way and we’re just waiting.”

In January, Surfside Beach awarded a bid to Hagerty Consulting, LLC of Evanston, Illinois that will worked on the grant proposal to replace the pier.

Fellner said that after consulting with the group the time that it is taking FEMA to make a decision is “normal.”

“It can be very normal,” Fellner said. “What we’re all hoping the reason is they’re really looking at it.”

However, during the council meeting most members agreed that work needs to begin on the pier so that the town and businesses do not lose money during another season.

“The pier is the central point of the town, it is one of the reasons that people come to Surfside,” councilman Randle Stevens said. “The pier has always been a central location and we need to go ahead and get involved and do something on it.”

If FEMA does not approve additional funds for the pier, town council can appeal the decision. However, an appeal can take up to three years, Fellner said, which council is not willing to do.

Fellner is hopeful that FEMA will provide more information by next week.

“If we have not heard anything by the next council meeting, they’re going to want to move forward,” Fellner said.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 1:16 PM with the headline "What if FEMA doesn’t approve more money for the Surfside Pier?."