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Isle of Palms planning $30 million beach renourishment project

Isle of Palms is planning a beach renourishment project to fight worsening erosion, which is estimated to be more than $30 million.

Isle of Palms is planning a beach renourishment project to fight worsening erosion, which is estimated to be more than $30 million.

City leaders say the plan is to dredge sand from offshore and pump it back onto the beach.

“We’ll go 3 to 4 miles offshore and pump sand back to the island,” Mayor Phillip Pounds said.

The city plans to place more than two million cubic yards of sand, focused on the Wild Dunes area and Breach Inlet.

Erosion threatens oceanfront homes

In recent years, erosion has affected more than beachgoers. Residents say it’s threatening oceanfront homes.

“In this corner here, a breach inlet is, I think, seen at the worst, the erosion,” said John Chiappardi, a resident of Isle of Palms. “I’ve seen swimming pools go into the ocean. I mean, I think there’s lost eight pools or something to that effect.”

For now, sandbags have been used in emergencies, but officials say those have been taken over during high tides.

“Tides have come over the sandbags in some areas, particularly in the Wild Dunes area,” Pounds said.

Previous project lasted six years

The last beach renourishment project was in 2018 and helped with the problem temporarily.

“It lasted, you know, pretty good for six years. We had been planning to do it in 2028, but we moved it up two years,” Pounds said.

Some residents want a more permanent fix.

“It’s correcting the problem, but we don’t know if it’s temporary or permanently,” Chiappardi said.

But that is not up to the city, but instead the state’s legislature.

“You know, in South Carolina, you’re limited by what you can do on the beach, certainly the public beach,” Pounds said.

Hard erosion walls are one of the structures that could help the problem, but aren’t allowed.

This project is estimated to start around the summer of this year.