Fourth year of Hilton Head Plantation beach renourishment funded in part by town
Several tons of sand are trucking through Hilton Head Island this week.
They’re heading to Pine Island — a small isthmus off the northwest corner of Hilton Head. It’s connected via boardwalk to the Dolphin Head Recreation Area and behind the Hilton Head Plantation gates. It’s also accessible to non-Plantation residents only by boat.
Taxpayers inside and outside the gates are helping to pay for the project.
This is the fourth beach restoration effort of Pine Island that’s been in part financed by the Town of Hilton Head Island, according to the town budget. The town has contributed $400,000 to the project, finance director John Troyer said Monday.
Hurricane Matthew washed over Pine Island in 2016.
At the time of Matthew’s landfall, the town was in the midst of a $20.7 million island-wide re-nourishment project. The project was completed in late 2016.
Hilton Head Plantation general manager Peter Kristian said he hopes Pine Island is included in future island-wide renourishment projects.
Funding for another year
The original plan for Pine Island approved by town leaders called for a three-year, $300,000 renourishment from public funds. The rest was paid by Hilton Head Plantation, Kristian said.
But the plan was controversial to citizens who considered Pine Island a private amenity to residents of Hilton Head Plantation, and town council members agreed in 2017 to reimburse Hilton Head Plantation for the project instead of paying up front.
“Anything over $100,000 [a year] is on our dime,” Kristian told The Island Packet in 2017.
Now, the town, as part of the recently adopted 2020 budget, is reimbursing the Plantation for another $100,000 for the fourth renourishment, Troyer said.
Kristian estimated the total cost for the most recent two-week renourishment will be around $200,000.
“We’re spending $200,000, and we would hope the town gives us some assistance,” Kristian said of the renourishment, which he called a joint financial venture.
Is it a private beach?
Pine Island is owned by Hilton Head Plantation, although the space from the ocean to the high-water mark belongs to the state, just like every other beach on the island.
Despite private access points on the eastern side of the island, beachgoers can walk the entire beach. The problem is that the rocky Dolphin Head area separates Pine Island from the nearest public access point.
Kristian said other private access points to the beach received beach re-nourishment funds, including Port Royal Plantation. But he maintains Pine Island is publicly accessible from Fish Haul, which is outside the plantation gates.
“You can walk right over at low tide,” he said of the 3-mile stretch.
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In 2018, Hilton Head Plantation financed a project to build a boardwalk to Pine Island from Dolphin Head — which is also accessible only by community residents and their guests.
Kristian said the public funds used for the renourishment make sense because of Hilton Head Plantation’s size.
“Who is the public?” he asked. “A majority of the island’s full-time residents live here.”
The community has about 10,000 residents. In March, in a community-wide referendum, residents banned short-term rentals.
This story was originally published July 29, 2019 at 4:30 PM.
