rss
mobile
Feeds
Now the town is formalizing that policy through its beach management plan, a document it updates every few years to provide guidance for creating laws and other actions intended to regulate activities on the shore.
Most of the changes in the latest update, which the Town Council unanimously endorsed Tuesday, are minor.
But two major revisions have been added.
First, the policy says property owners should not be allowed to take advantage of island beach renourishment activities by building closer to the beach.
Second, the policy says the town should take action to protect itself against development creeping forward, even if state environmental officials change regulations to allow development closer to the ocean.
The beach management policy the council approved Tuesday doesn't create new laws or prohibitions, senior planner Shea Farrar said. But it does set the policy backbone for a major development restriction the town is pursuing: blocking anyone from building major structures closer to the beach than those that already exist.
If the Town Council approves that proposal next month as expected, the staff will begin drafting an ordinance to put the plan into action.
The town said the move is needed to preserve the beach and prevent overcrowded resort development.
It's also needed, town officials said, to preempt a move by the state's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. That agency is reviewing its baseline -- the line that acts as a stop sign for development along the beach -- and is proposing moving it forward in some areas, possibly allowing new construction.
Some lot owners in the Singleton Beach area would be happy with that move because the baseline location has prevented them from building on their lots for years.
"I don't think anybody should build closer to the beach," said Tad Segars, one of the lot owners. "(We) want to build normal houses for Hilton Head."
