Protect state's coastline

South Carolina needs to do a better job of protecting its beaches.

South Carolina should not look to the last 20 years to find a model for what it should do for the next 20 years to protect the state's beaches.

The state's 1988 Beachfront Management Act was a well-intentioned effort to prevent the encroachment of development on seashores and sand dunes that define the coast. But as a recently released study makes clear, the law largely has been a failure.

The study, requested by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, was prepared by a 23-member panel of scientists, college professors, business people and government officials. Their mission was to examine how the state is managing its coast and provide advice on how to improve those efforts.

The report concluded that the law “has not resulted in a broad-scale retreat from the oceanfront beach-dune system.” It further states that “continued coastal population growth, expansion of tourism industries and trends in investment homes and second properties have resulted in even greater pressure to develop or redevelop beachfront properties.”

One big factor has been beach renourishment projects themselves. By adding sand to beaches, the state extended the coastline seaward, thus enabling more development. New homes and other buildings along the coast not only threaten fragile dunes and beaches but also increase the cost to taxpayers when major storms damage seaside buildings. Taxpayers often have to subsidize federal flood insurance bailouts, as well as pay for emergency disaster funding.

The report offers 13 sensible ways to protect shorelines better. Foremost among them is a proposal to set back new development at least 50 feet from the beach and never move the state's oceanfront building restriction line seaward — as frequently has occurred over the past two decades.

The panel also suggests putting aside money for the state to buy oceanfront land to keep it from being developed and buying storm-damaged property. It also encourages local governments to establish their own beach building rules, as Hilton Head Island has done. And, the report said, the state needs to tighten regulations to protect marshes from development.

While most South Carolinians don't live along the coast, we all have a major stake in protecting beaches, dunes and marshes. The state's No. 1 industry is tourism, and our beaches account for much of that.

Allowing the over-development of beachfront property might seem attractive to local governments who stand to gain from new revenue sources. But that approach is shortsighted.

The 1988 law did not work as intended. South Carolina needs to do a better job of protecting this priceless resource over the next two decades.