Tiny bird presents obstacle for Hilton Head beach rebuild

Tiny piping plovers are throwing a kink in Hilton Head Island's plans to renourish almost eight miles of beach next year.

The endangered shorebirds winter on the island's heel, so federal officials are asking the town to avoid pumping about 260,000 cubic yards of sand onto about 5,000 feet of shoreline along the heel and Fish Haul Creek during the plovers' winter nesting months.

But the town also wants to avoid disruptions to its summer sea-turtle nesting and tourism seasons, so the window to complete the island's first comprehensive beach renourishment in nearly a decade is becoming more and more narrow, according to town public projects director Scott Liggett.

Finding that balance will require some compromise, Liggett said.

"Somebody's ox is likely to get gored in this scenario," Liggett said. "Everyone seems to recognize the importance of doing these renourishment projects, it's just about identifying the timing."

Now Liggett and town leaders are crafting a set of scenarios for Town Council to consider later this spring about which beaches to work on first and when. The scenarios will try to minimize disruptions to the plovers, turtles, tourists and the time that expensive dredging machines sit idle, Liggett said.

In all, the $20 million project will pump about 2.2 million cubic yards of sand onto four sections of beach.

The biggest renourishment will be about 5.4 miles, from the Marriott's Grand Ocean in South Forest Beach past Coligny to the northern edge of Palmetto Dunes, according to town plans.

Other sections include almost two miles along the heel in Port Royal Plantation, about 5,000 feet of South Beach in Sea Pines Resort and about 2,000 feet between Fish Haul and Mitchelville Beach parks.

Because of the restrictions for piping plovers, though, the projects in Port Royal Plantation and Fish Haul Creek must occur between April and August, Liggett said.

Town manager Steve Riley said that leaves a pair of most likely scenarios for Town Council to consider, but each comes with compromises:

• The town could start the renourishment at South Beach and mid-island sections late next winter and end with the northern portions in April 2016.

Either would comfortably avoid the piping plovers' nesting months and could be minimally disruptive to the busy summer seasons, Riley said. The town also has learned how to manage renourishment work around turtle nests in past projects, so it could handle any overlaps with the nesting season there in late summer, Liggett and Riley said.

However, either scenario is likely to cause some heartburn for residents and visitors, so Town Council will be seeking public feedback as it considers them early this summer, Liggett said.

From there, the town will be able to request bids and hire a contractor by the end of the summer, Liggett said.

Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.

Related content:

• Time draws near to bulk up Hilton Head beaches , Sept. 3, 2013
• Renourishing plans bring new challenges for endangered piping plovers , Dec. 26, 2009

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Tiny bird presents obstacle for Hilton Head beach rebuild."