‘A great move forward’: Hilton Head approves wheelchair-accessible beach overlook
A covered beach overlook that is wheelchair accessible received enthusiastic approval from Hilton Head Island leaders on Tuesday.
The overlook, planned for Islanders Beach park, will be incorporated into the 2021 capital improvement project plan, which means construction is planned for next year.
It will provide shaded space for at least five people who use wheelchairs — and their caregivers — to enjoy the sights and sounds of the ocean. Town staff are planning a 25-by-15-foot wooden deck located in the line of vegetation on the mid-island beach.
Mayor John McCann said the project is “a great move forward” for the island, which is known as a premier retirement destination and where one in three residents is over 60 years old.
The project is estimated to cost $90,000. The money will come from the town’s Sunday Liquor Permit fee revenues, according to staff.
But for the overlook to be inserted into next year’s plan, another project had to be removed.
The overlook is replacing a picnic pavilion project at Barker Field Extension on the north end. That project was previously planned for construction this year, according to the memo from Town Manager Steve Riley.
The estimated costs of the two projects are similar, he wrote.
Ken Carlozzi, who pitched the idea to the Town Council this summer, was elated by the news.
“I was so lucky to have the support of some key people in the community, without which this project would not have gotten this far,” he said of council member Tamara Becker, Rose Fotia of the Childrens’ Relief Fund and Jeri Farren, formerly of The Foundation of the LowCountry.
The man (and woman) behind the project
As Ken and Kathy Carlozzi were growing up on Long Island, they flocked to the beaches to enjoy days at the ocean.
When the couple, then in their late 50s, moved to Hilton Head Island in 2007, nothing changed. The pair would spend entire afternoons at the beach with their dog and a crowd of eight grandchildren.
That all changed in 2017, when Kathy was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
She started to use a wheelchair to get around, and Ken Carlozzi noticed there was nowhere on the island where she could sit in the shade and enjoy the beach, much less where they could sit together without blocking traffic on Hilton Head’s blue beach matting.
“For someone who uses a wheelchair, an accident victim or military veteran, there’s no way for them to enjoy the beach,” he said in August.
On trips to the Mayo Clinic in Florida, the pair spent free time traipsing the coast and under a pavilion at the beach, watching the waves roll in. They agreed: Hilton Head needed one.
They began talking to friends and neighbors about how to build a structure at one of the island’s public beaches. They wrote the mayor. They dreamed together of the possibility.
In June, Kathy died. She had just celebrated her 70th birthday.
Ken increased his efforts to bring the wheelchair-accessible addition to the island.
“When she passed away, I revived my effort, even though she won’t be here to see it,” he said in August. “I want to see it through as her legacy.”
The project will be the first public place where people who use wheelchairs could leave the boardwalk and blue beach mats to take in the view of the ocean on Hilton Head.
No matter how it’s created, Carlozzi said he hopes the overlook will make life easier for generations of people who use wheelchairs. And their caregivers.
Even if his sweetheart won’t be here to see it.
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 11:53 AM.
