Water Damage Restoration in Folly Beach, SC

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) — A beautiful day of beach-goings went on Thursday following a night of rising tides on Folly Beach. While those beachgoers were busy having fun Folly leaders were busy uncovering a sad truth about Tropical Storm Idalia's impact: Sand on the beach could become a dwindling commodity.

“This is actually the worst erosion we’ve seen since the passage of Hurricane Matthew back in 2016," said Nicole Elko, the Coastal Consultant for the City of Folly Beach.

Wednesday night's unusually high tide was a challenge for the beach.

Read more: Second Lowcountry tornado confirmed in North Mt. Pleasant.

“So we are five years since our last renourishment. So, we weren't very prepared going into this hurricane season with sand on the beach," said Elko.

Idalia's impact caused up to 15 feet of dune loss in some spots. Even higher numbers in others. With three months left in Hurricane Season, Folly could see even more erosion before the next renourishment happens.

Elko tells us, “We won't have any sand on the beach for Hurricane season and we will be extremely vulnerable for the next month or two.”

Efforts are underway to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to hopefully speed up the renourishment timeline. The work could start in the Winter or as late as March 24.

Read more: INTERVIEW; Mayor Crawford Moore assesses damage at Edisto Beach.

With an Emergency Declaration approved by President Joe Biden on Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers could go in and help local spots like Folly Beach impacted by Idalia.

Jeff Livasy, the Chief of Civil Works for the Corps Charleston branch, said "What we anticipate doing from this event is looking at the storm damage and then we will be asking if we can basically, incorporate that into our ongoing activities and say, 'okay, we anticipated, you know, a set number or, you know, so many cubic yards of loss from Hurricane Ian.

"We now quantify that we got a little bit more from this hurricane are we eligible for the funding from last year or can we get additional funding and just keep the same efforts going but at an increased quantity."

Meanwhile, a number of folks were enjoying the change in weather over the 24-hour span. Some families and even beach-goers going solo were busy using metal detectors searching for "treasures." More importantly was just the chance to enjoy a great day of surf and sand regardless of the erosion status.

“It’s the perfect day. Like I don’t think we’ve had a better day this entire summer. It’s still catchable waves and it’s like 70 degrees all day," said surfer Georgia Myrick

Read more: Charleston leverages storm cleanup to discuss future resilience amid rising sea levels.

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A citizen’s petition successfully limited the number of short-term rentals on Folly Beach. Now, City Council has three months to make the ordinance function smoothly before the renewal period for rental licenses opens in March.

Short-term renting is a lucrative business, especially for a barrier island like Folly Beach. Vacation rentals on the “Edge of America” generated millions of dollars in gross revenue in 2022, though some people felt the number of rentals on the island had gotten out of hand.

Save Folly’s Future, a group spearheaded by Folly Beach property owner and West Ashley resident John McFarland, took it upon themselves to do something about it.

“Save Folly’s Future considers the alarming increase in investment STRs on Folly an existential threat to the community. Whatever your opinion, positive or negative, it’s a community-wide issue and should be decided by a community-wide vote,” McFarland wrote in an August 2022 Save Folly’s Future newsletter.

The organization penned a petition that garnered over 400 signatures, more than 15 percent of the city’s registered voters — the minimum amount required by South Carolina state law to send the issue to Folly Beach voters, triggering a referendum that would adopt the ordinance as written, if passed.

The bare-bones ordinance was adopted last February by a slim margin of less than 80 votes. It restricted the number of investment short-term rental licenses, for rentals that are not owner-occupied, to 800. And it makes licenses nontransferable with few exceptions.

“We’ve been managing the ordinance since February. It was drafted, you know, by a layperson. It didn’t anticipate a lot of things that have come up since then,” Folly Beach City Administrator Aaron Pope said.

According to the latest data the city council received in November, there are 955 investment STR licenses in good standing on the island. Licenses issued before the cap was instituted are able to renew, but with the number of active licenses exceeding the 800-license cap, the wait list is shaping up to be a long one.

NORTH CHARLESTON — To continue efforts to become the Coast Guard’s “operational center of gravity” on the East Coast, officials broke ground Jan. 26 on its new $160 million campus.

This 64-acre site along the Cooper River — just south of the former naval base that closed in 1996 — will house an administration building and redesigned 1,100-foot concrete pier.

Construction is expected to begin later this year and be completed in 2026.

“This Charleston campus will have improved infrastructure that translates into more productive personnel and more efficient operations,” said Capt. Neal Armstrong, the commanding officer of facilities design and construction.

The 51,500-square-foot administration building will provide training and conference room space, and additional rooms dedicated to cutter ship support.

Sustainability is a priority, so the new facility will achieve net-zero energy usage and a net-zero carbon footprint, Armstrong said.

The current Pier November will be replaced with a pier more than three feet taller to enhance durability during coastal storms. It will provide utilities to support five national security cutters and a 90-ton crane, which is critical for dockside maintenance, Armstrong said.

During the design and construction phases nearly 60 subcontractors will support the two main contractors on the project, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and RQ Construction LLC, providing work for nearly 900 people.

Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, said every Coast Guard mission begins and ends at a shore facility. When the ships are not at sea, they need a base that can provide necessary maintenance, she added.

The missions conducted at Base Charleston are vital to protecting national security and economic prosperity, Fagan said, adding that the new campus will aid in “lifesaving work,” including patrolling the waters for smuggled narcotics.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Some Folly Beach residents are noticing a new face to the island’s central business district.

With Snapper Jacks up for sale, St. James Gate turning into Coconut Joes and a new Revelry Brewing location opening this week, the makeup of Center Street is changing.

Toni Catoe, who’s resided on the island for more than 46 years, says throughout all this change, she has one ask for Center Street businesses.

“We would like to see more community involvement,” she says.

Community involvement is an element Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin says is an essential component for the success of businesses on Folly.

“If you want to stay in business for a long time, you need to think about the people that live here. Because in the winter, most of those tourists aren’t here,” Goodwin says.

And an element Coconut Joe’s General Manager, Chirs Galloway, says they plan to invest in.

“If you tie yourself into the community, the community will do well for you,” Galloway says.

It’s not only community involvement Goodwin says is essential to Center Street’s success.

He says with the cost of business going up, businesses that fare the best tend to have some sort of corporate backing.

“I’ve heard as much as $20,000 for rent. If you have to pay that much for rent and you haven’t bought the water, the alcohol, the lights,” Goodwin says.

He says Center Street has always been changing and evolving.

“When people come to me and say, ‘I want Folly Beach to be like it was.’ I look at them and say, ‘What do you remember Folly Beach being?’” he says.

Moving forward, he wants to maintain a strong central business district on Center Street, while balancing the needs of residents and tourists.

Most importantly, he says he wants to maintain a close-knit community.

“It’s a wonderful community, people look out for each other, neighbors step in to help each other without even being asked,” Catoe says.

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New Year’s Eve fireworks will light up the skies on Folly Beach as they have for the past 14 years, but with one slight change: The pyrotechnic show will take place five hours earlier than usual.

The annual Flip Flop Drop, a beloved tradition that rings in the New Year in the most funky Folly way, coincides with a high tide this year. In anticipation of this, officials have bumped the beach fireworks display from midnight to 7 p.m. Dec. 31.

Both the New Year’s Eve fireworks show and the July Fourth fireworks show are organized by the Folly Association of Business. Kelly Travers, an event coordinator for FAB, said the call to move the show up happened in the summertime, following the Fourth of July fireworks show that never was. The Independence Day display was canceled because of high tides.

“High tide is slated to be at 11:06 p.m. on Sunday, which doesn’t really bode well for fireworks at midnight, especially on a very eroded beachfront,” Travers said.

The launch site for the fireworks cannot be within 280 feet of a residential structure. There will not be enough sand to accommodate this radius or spectators on the beach for the traditional midnight fireworks display, Folly Beach Municipal Clerk Wes Graham said. There is “limited to no” beach access during high tide, he said.

“Personally, I love fireworks. I get the understanding of wanting our fireworks, but we will just have to work around the tides,” Graham said.

Moving the show up several hours was preferable to canceling it or rescheduling on another day. Plus, there’s a silver lining in an earlier show, Travers said. Families with young children can enjoy the evening display without breaking bedtime. The Flip Flop Drop will still take place on Center Street at midnight Dec. 31, for the night owls eager to celebrate the New Year.

“We’re excited to try something new and at 7 p.m., it’s more of a family-friendly event where people can bring out their kids to watch the display, as opposed to them being up at night. We’re kind of excited for a new take on the fireworks this year,” Travers said.

NORTH CHARLESTON — To continue efforts to become the Coast Guard’s “operational center of gravity” on the East Coast, officials broke ground Jan. 26 on its new $160 million campus.

This 64-acre site along the Cooper River — just south of the former naval base that closed in 1996 — will house an administration building and redesigned 1,100-foot concrete pier.

Construction is expected to begin later this year and be completed in 2026.

“This Charleston campus will have improved infrastructure that translates into more productive personnel and more efficient operations,” said Capt. Neal Armstrong, the commanding officer of facilities design and construction.

The 51,500-square-foot administration building will provide training and conference room space, and additional rooms dedicated to cutter ship support.

Sustainability is a priority, so the new facility will achieve net-zero energy usage and a net-zero carbon footprint, Armstrong said.

The current Pier November will be replaced with a pier more than three feet taller to enhance durability during coastal storms. It will provide utilities to support five national security cutters and a 90-ton crane, which is critical for dockside maintenance, Armstrong said.

During the design and construction phases nearly 60 subcontractors will support the two main contractors on the project, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and RQ Construction LLC, providing work for nearly 900 people.

Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, said every Coast Guard mission begins and ends at a shore facility. When the ships are not at sea, they need a base that can provide necessary maintenance, she added.

The missions conducted at Base Charleston are vital to protecting national security and economic prosperity, Fagan said, adding that the new campus will aid in “lifesaving work,” including patrolling the waters for smuggled narcotics.

FOLLY BEACH — Folly Beach will be renourished with around 130,000 dump trucks worth of sand this year. The renourishment process will begin in late February or early March 2024 and should end ahead of peak hurricane season, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District.

Folly Beach Director of Public Works Eric Lutz said the renourishment is well-timed, due to severe erosion caused by storms such as Hurricane Ian in 2022 and the nor’easter in December 2023.

“The timing couldn’t be better, and we’re really hoping we don’t get too many more storms before they get started,” he said.

The National Weather Service forecasts a wet winter for Charleston, with above-average rainfall and potential for unseasonably strong storms such as the nor’easter that caught the region by surprise last month. That storm pushed Folly Beach’s sand dunes back as much as 20 feet.

During severe weather events, beaches and dunes provide communities a buffer from the wind and ocean. Lutz said they’re meant to be “sacrificial.”

“We know (the beach) is going to get eroded over time, but it’s either that or we lose buildings, houses or half of our economy,” Lutz said.

Lutz estimated that for every dollar spent on renourishing Folly Beach, or any of the state’s beaches, $30 is earned in revenue from tourism.

“The beaches generate tons of revenue for tourism,” he said. “(The beach) is a huge economic engine.”

Folly Beach has received five renourishments in the last three decades, costing $77 million, which came from federal tax dollars and local funds, The Post and Courier previously reported. The upcoming renourishment will cost $18 million and will be funded entirely by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Despite more than 15 years of conservation efforts to preserve Captain Sams Spit and five rulings from the S.C. Supreme Court that confirmed the spit’s importance as both a natural and public resource, the sandy piece of land still isn’t safe from development.

This time, it’s a potential loophole in a decadelong agreement between the town of Kiawah Island and the developer that brings Sams Spit once again under legal scrutiny.

The 2013 Amended and Restated Development Agreement between the town of Kiawah Island and developer Kiawah Resort Associates expired on Dec. 4, 2023. According to the town, the developer did not fulfill two obligations outlined in the contract. The developer disagrees.

The town, Kiawah Island Community Association, the Coastal Conservation League and the S.C. Environmental Law Project say the agreement requires the developer to:

These actions would protect the spit from development efforts.

Kiawah Resort Associates maintains that all requirements have been met and that these two obligations were contingent on development, which did not occur.

“When all the terms of this section are considered together ... the conclusion is inescapable that the entire provision contemplated that the development was to occur before the limited transfer to (the community association), yet that development was made impossible by the courts,” developer representative Jordan Phillips wrote in a letter to the community association.

The town of Kiawah Island issued a demand letter to the developer on Jan. 8, requesting the two obligations in question be fulfilled and reminding the developer that the town can prevent the sale of the spit to a third party. Town officials asked for a response from the developer by Jan. 15. None had been provided by press time, according to Erin Pomrenke, spokesperson for the town of Kiawah Island.

Amy Armstrong, executive director and general counsel at the S.C. Environmental Law Project, has been involved in cases involving Captain Sams Spit since 2008, representing the Conservation League. She said that while the developer isn’t legally required to respond to the demand letter, it would be in their best interest to do so.

“The developer needs to respond because the town is basically threatening a lawsuit against the developer for breach of (the) development agreement,” she said.

Representatives from the town and community association declined to comment at this time. The developer did not respond to requests for comment.

Rising Waters

Conservation v. money

It’s not unusual for conservation efforts like preserving Captain Sams Spit to take decades, Armstrong said. And the reason isn’t a mystery.

“It’s about money,” she said.

Captain Sams Spit is a teardrop-shaped piece of land on the southern tip of Kiawah Island located between the Kiawah River and Atlantic Ocean. It’s one of only three undeveloped, publicly accessible barrier island beaches in the state, and one of the last wild places on the South Carolina coast.

And it’s valuable.

“When there’s a development project like Captain Sams Spit, it would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to developers,” Armstrong said. “They’re not going to go away easily when they’ve got so much hanging out on the line.”

Armstrong added there’s a lot on the line for the public, too.

“Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever,” she said.

Coastal Conservation League program director Riley Egger emphasized the point.

“Captain Sams Spit is extremely valuable for the people of South Carolina and conservation,” Egger said. “We need to see it permanently protected and permanently conserved.”

From 2008 to 2022, developers attempted to secure permits needed to build 50 luxury homes on Captain Sams Spit and infrastructure such as roads, utility lines and walls to protect the area from flooding and erosion — the spit is constantly transformed by wind and tides and is vulnerable to storms.