These Hilton Head residents are furious about this part of hurricane recovery

Some North Forest Beach-area residents on Hilton Head’s south end are outraged about a cleared section of land within a town-protected forested area of their neighborhood.

CrowderGulf crews were at the corner of Gannet Street and Park Road on Monday morning clearing debris and cutting down trees in the process. Jeffrey Netzinger, assistant town engineer and storm water manager, said a stormwater drainage ditch needed to be cleaned out because of Hurricane Matthew, and that some living trees were removed to get debris-clearing equipment into the area.

Netzinger couldn’t say how many living trees were cut down. Piles of logs and shrubbery sat at the edge of the road Monday morning while a large mechanical claw moved it piece by piece into a massive truck labeled “Hauling Away.”

“This is crazy. It’s a travesty what they’re doing,” said Deborah Urato, a Park Road resident. “Once the trees are down, they’re down. How can you mitigate a whole forest?”

Urato said work crews were out on Sunday, but residents did not know trees were being cut down until Monday. She said she is concerned the cleared section of forest will lead to crime, such as underage drinking and smoking, and that it also could attract homeless people to the area.

“We’re not taking trees out that aren’t related to the storm drainage system,” Netzinger said at the scene Monday. “Normal maintenance on the ditch would be nothing like this. This is 100 percent Hurricane Matthew-related.”

Netzinger said he does not believe that town staff specifically notified North Forest Beach property owners that trees would be removed Monday as part of the hurricane cleanup. The Park Road site is only the third stormwater drainage ditch on the island that required trees to be cut down, he said.

Trees were being removed Monday to create an access point for equipment to take out hurricane debris within the Ibis Canal, a ditch that runs between Egret Street and Ibis Street, Netzinger said. He noted the pile of trees and shrubbery at the work site was mostly debris that had been pulled out of the ditch, not trees that were cut down.

“It’s just like having a pipe clogged,” Netzinger said. “The more debris you have in a ditch, the less water it can carry.”

Netzinger said the town might plant more trees in the cleared space.

Steve Riley, town manager, said Monday he didn’t think anyone is keeping track of the number of trees cut down. Instead, he said, town staff are tracking the volume of debris removed. Netzinger said since February, about 58,000 cubic yards of debris had been removed from ditches across the island.

Riley previously said drainage-ditch debris removal should be completed by the end of August. Netzinger said crews should be done clearing the North Forest Beach area within a few days.

The cleaning of drainage ditches is the last major phase of Hurricane Matthew recovery, Netzinger said. The recovery is expected to cost the town an estimated $65.9 million.

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 3:32 PM with the headline "These Hilton Head residents are furious about this part of hurricane recovery."