Ocean-battered SC resort planning to rebuild protective wall as seas rise

In a state where new seawalls have been banned for 27 years, property owners at an exclusive South Carolina resort are moving ahead with plans for a new wall that could safeguard their homes from the ocean but erode the public beach one day.

The new seawall at Debordieu, a gated community south of Myrtle Beach, would protect a small row of houses that for years has been threatened by rising seas and big waves. An existing wooden seawall is crumbling and part of it needs replacement, the landowners say.

After months of arguments last year, the Legislature agreed to let the landowners build the wall -- in what was a departure from the state’s long-standing prohibition on new oceanfront bulkheads.

But the Debordieu wall technically still needs approval from state regulators, who last week put the construction plan on public notice. The public has until May 1 to comment on a permit application for the new wooden wall, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Nancy Cave, the S.C. Coastal Conservation League’s north coast director, said she hopes DHEC will look at the project critically before signing off on the seawall. The league, one of South Carolina’s leading environmental groups, opposes new seawalls.

“I don’t know how strong DHEC is going to be’’ in reviewing the plan, Cave said. “Will they challenge it? They should. I know the law in the past has said there wouldn’t be any seawalls.’’

Cassandra Harris, a spokeswoman for DHEC, said her department “will review and process the application in accordance with the law.’’ She did not elaborate.

Landowners who have sought a new seawall include aflluent corporate executives and small business people from South Carolina and the southeast.

Seawalls, like buildings, worsen beach erosion when pounded by the ocean. Waves that smash into seawalls dig out the beach and carry away sand. That leaves less dry sand beach for the public to walk on. Seawalls also block parts of the public beach.

Pressure to build seawalls is increasing among some landowners as ocean levels rise and increasingly threaten beach houses, hotels and condominium buildings. Seawalls can provide some protection from high seas, although scientists say that protection is limited because the planet’s climate is changing and ocean levels continue to increase.

Last year’s decision by the Legislature drew criticism from the Conservation League and many taxpayers. Changing state law for Debordieu could cause other seaside communities to seek exemptions to the statewide seawall ban that was adopted by lawmakers in 1988, critics said.

Lawmakers approved allowing a new seawall for Debordieu through an obscure budget proviso that passed as the Legislative session wound to a close in 2014.

According to the Debordieu plan, the new wall would extend 1,800 feet up the beach and possibly two feet closer to the ocean than the existing structure, which was built in 1981. The application for a replacement wall shows 22 lots would be protected by the new structure.

The wall won’t be as long as anticipated last year when the Legislature debated allowing for a new bulkhead because not all of the existing 4,500-long structure is in bad shape, records show.

But the new wall may rely on stronger pilings and it be higher than the existing structure, according to a project description document DHEC included with its April 1 public notice.

When the Legislature changed state law to allow for a new Debordieu sea wall, the approval was for one year. That’s apparently why the property owners applied for the permit in 2015, even though the application says they may not begin the work for several years.

Conditions at Debordieu have improved this year because property owners are paying for a private beach renourishment project to widen the shore, Cave said. The beach already is broader -- but she said that won’t last. Storms and natural erosion will wash the sand away, as has occurred in the past, which will again expose the wall to the ocean, she said. Erosion rates on the southern end of Debordieu have in recent years been eight to 12 feet per year, according to DHEC’s coastal division.

Attempts to reach a representative of the property owners, Sumter businessman Tyler Dunlap, were unsuccessful Friday. Dunlap is listed as the registered agent for the Debordieu Beach Bulkhead Organization, which applied for the permit for the new 1,800-foot wall.

Dunlap Properties is one of two owners of a house on the extreme southern end of the wall, where damage from the ocean has been significant.

Some property owners on the lower end of the seawall have seen their home values diminish in recent years. About two dozen houses behind the seawall were valued at $46 million five years ago, but their worth had dropped to $34 million by 2013, The State newspaper reported last year.

Records show that Dunlap Properties bought the 3,200-square-foot house and lot behind the seawall for $625,000 from Camden resident Lanning Risher last year. In 2009, the seaside property was worth $2.2 million.

This story was originally published April 5, 2015 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Ocean-battered SC resort planning to rebuild protective wall as seas rise."