Posted on January 19, 2022
A small group of affluent landowners, who bought houses on an erosion-scarred stretch of beach, have won a battle that could have reverberations for other oceanfront residents fighting rising sea levels that threaten their investments.
The politically appointed S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control board agreed this past week to let property owners at Debordieu Beach keep a wall of hard sandbags on the seashore, even though the department’s staff said the bags were put in illegally and were bad for the public beach.
Thursday’s 3-2 decision followed a two-hour hearing in which lawyers for the property owners argued that leaving the bags buried under a pile of sand on the beach would be a worthwhile scientific experiment.
Installed in 2020 without state permission, the sandbag walls stretch in front of four properties at Debordieu’s extreme southern end, where a wooden seawall is failing and high-dollar houses are increasingly threatened by the ocean.
A Coastal Carolina University scientist agreed to study how the sandbags would hold up, after he was approached by the property owners. Under state law, experimental scientific projects on the beach can be approved by DHEC if there is a reasonable chance they will work in the fight against erosion.
But DHEC coastal staff members ordered the bags removed, saying the experiment was nothing new. And leaving a wall of sandbags on the seashore could worsen erosion of the public beach, just like hard seawalls that have been banned for decades in South Carolina, agency staffers said during the hearing.
State rules allow property owners to temporarily install sandbags in front of their homes to fight high water, but require the bags to be removed when water levels drop.
DHEC board members Rick Lee of Rock Hill, Sonny Kinney of Kiawah Island and Robert Morgan of Greenville voted to overturn the staff decision requiring the bags to be removed. Board members Jim Creel Jr. of Myrtle Beach and Morris Brown of Lake City voted to support the staff decision.
Board member Seema Shrivastava-Patel of Lexington, who chaired the meeting, did not vote.
The board, a part-time panel appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster, did not explain why it was supporting the landowners over staff. The board voted against the staff decision after discussing the case in an hour-long closed door meeting that followed two hours of public legal arguments.
While Lee said DHEC staff members could continue with an enforcement case against the four property owners over installation of the bags, his motion that was approved also bars the agency from requiring the sandbags be taken out.
Creel questioned the argument that leaving the bags was a legitimate scientific experiment. He said he was not comfortable overturning a thoughtful staff decision.
“I support the concept of research and development, especially along the coast, but I’m just not comfortable that this is the right, appropriate place,’’ Creel said at the online board meeting. “I just have concerns about that – to overturn staff’s decision when they were clearly following the letter of the law.’’
State law allows for scientific experiments, but the one at Debordieu has been panned as an attempt to justify installing the bags illegally. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources have expressed reservations about the sandbags remaining on the beach, saying it could hurt sea turtles that nest in the area.
Attorneys for the property owners disputed that and said the wall of sandbags will help protect homes as sea levels rise. The bags would be covered up during a beach renourishment project that is starting this winter. They would lie under the new layer of sand until the renourishment project washes away, after which they would provide protection for the houses, supporters say.
Stephen Goldfinch, a state senator representing the property owners, praised the sandbag experiment. He said it’s time to look for new ways to deal with coastal erosion.
Coastal Carolina scientist Paul Gayes, who is conducting a larger coastal study, says he could gain valuable information if the sandbags are left at Debordieu. He wants to evaluate how areas with sandbags protect property, compared to properties without the sand bags, DHEC records show.
“Dr. Gayes’ proposal has the potential to further’’ South Carolina’s goal of having healthy, dry sand beaches that help the economy, Goldfinch said.
The board’s decision has potential implications on other stretches of beach where oceanfront homeowners are battling increasing waves and ocean levels as the earth’s climate heats up.
Critics say the board’s action could embolden others to illegally install sandbags or other structures in an attempt to hold back the sea.
This past week’s battle before the DHEC board is the latest in a series of disputes over how — and whether — the southern end of Debordieu should be protected from the ocean as sea levels rise.
Located south of Myrtle Beach near Georgetown, Debordieu is a gated community whose southern end is one of the state’s biggest erosion hot spots. The seawall protecting homes on the south end juts far onto the beach. It has been there for about four decades.
Property owners have been engaged for years in efforts to shore up the aging seawall, renourish the beach and install groins, rock-like structures that run into the ocean to trap sand. But they’ve drawn opposition from environmentalists, who have said property owners are seeking state approval for many measures that are either illegal or will hurt the public beach.
Leslie Lenhardt, an attorney with the S.C. Environmental Law Project, said the DHEC board may face a court challenge because of the decision. Her non-profit legal service represents the Coastal Conservation League, which had asked to speak at the hearing. But DHEC turned the request down.
In a legal filing seeking involvement in the hearing, the league said the property owners were trying to keep in place the sandbag walls they installed illegally by arguing that the installation is part of scientific research.
But “there is absolutely nothing new or experimental about putting sandbags on the beach or covering up those sandbags,’’ the legal filing said.
After the hearing, Lenhardt took aim at Goldfinch, the state senator and lawyer for the property owners. Goldfinch is a member of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, one of the primary legislative panels DHEC deals with on coastal issues. The legislature also approves DHEC’s budget.
During the hearing, Goldfinch, a Republican who lives in the area, scolded the DHEC staff for explaining the intent of South Carolina’s coastal management law. The law was amended several years ago, abandoning the state’s long-term policy of retreat of new coastal development from the beach to one of preservation of the beach.
“It’s unfortunate, in my mind, that they decided to concede to the political pressure,’’ Lenhardt said of the board. ”For a senator to be retained by these people and give testimony to the board about what the legislative intent was is completely objectionable.’’
At the hearing Goldfinch said that, as a legislator, he knew the coastal law well. He was not available after the meeting.
“I do not want to act smug in any way in saying this, but I do not appreciate a staff member telling me what the legislative intent of the act was,’’ Goldfinch told the board. “I just don’t. And I don’t think you should either. It’s just not right.’’
The wall of sandbags at Debordieu has been a lingering issue since 2020, when DHEC’s coastal division discovered the bags had been piled up without state permission at the extreme southern end of Debordieu.
The agency then started enforcement action against four groups of property owners after they refused to take out the sandbag walls. Sandbags are bad for the beach if left in place for long periods because they can worsen beach erosion, state regulators say.
Property owners filing the appeal are Price and Carolyn Sloan; Mark and Anne Tiberio; the Schulte Living Trust, whose trustees are Michael and Laura Schulte; and Northwest properties, whose owner is Rodney Cain.
Collectively, they have owned the oceanfront homes for less than 10 years, records show.
Georgetown County property records show all purchased the beach houses after 2013, some as recently as 2016, on Debordieu’s erosion-scarred south end. Their home addresses are in the Charlotte-Hickory area of North Carolina, property records show.
The four houses and one lot the North Carolina residents purchased at Debordieu collectively sold for more than $6 million. The Sloans paid the most – $1.89 million – for their beach house in 2014, according to county property records.
