Hilton Head revives plan for pier at Shelter Cove Community Park

A pier may yet bring sweeping views of the Broad Creek marsh to visitors of Hilton Head Island’s newest waterfront park.

The town is working with developers of the Shelter Cove Community Park to secure a permit for an overlook, which was part of the park’s original designs but was deemed too complicated to pull off at the time. If the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control grants a permit, it will be up to Hilton Head’s Town Council to move forward with the pier, which would cost an estimated $800,000 to design and build.

That would put the park over budget, with the town footing most of the bill. But to some, it would be worth the investment.

“I think the Town Council wanted to do this to expand the experience you have at the park,” said Charles Cousins, community development director. “Currently, we have very few opportunities to get people out into the marsh anywhere.”

The town and Southeastern Development Associates, formerly known as Blanchard and Calhoun Commercial, split the cost of the $4.5 million park, and have $400,000 left in their joint budget, according to Cousins. If council approves the pier, both parties would pay their $200,000 shares, and the town would cover the $400,000 difference.

Preliminary designs, which were submitted to DHEC’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management about a month ago, show a 12-foot-wide pier extending about 560 feet into the marsh, according to town development review administrator Heather Colin.

It would be built at the center of the boardwalk and would likely include a small shelter at the end, like the pier at Fish Haul Creek Park.

The width and length of the pier is dictated by state regulations, which does not allow overlooks and requires that all docks go out to navigable waters. Because of those rules, the town decided to postpone the issue until the rest of the park was finished, town manager Steve Riley said.

“There was great debate about whether to abandon the idea, pursue it or fight OCRM,” Riley said. “Eventually the decision was made to proceed with the park without the pier for now and keep looking for ways to work with OCRM to find alternatives.”

Those discussions continue today, he said.

On April 19, the council unanimously voted to amend its budget to dedicate about $212,000 to the pier from general obligation bonds.

It’s not clear when the state will respond to the town’s permit application, but if the state and council approve the project, the pier could be open by late 2016 or the first half of 2017, Cousins said.

The park would remain open during construction, he said.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Hilton Head revives plan for pier at Shelter Cove Community Park."