$40 million and a list of approvals are needed to replace sand on Hilton Head beaches
Those looking to plan their beach weddings and family vacations around Hilton Head’s beach renourishment will need to wait. The town needs the final permits and contractor before they can decide on an official timeline.
Time is of the essence, Mayor Alan Perry said during a Feb. 4 town council meeting. Hilton Head is not the only municipality along the coast that plans to renourish its beaches in 2025. On top of that, there are only three or four contractors that are able to take on a renourishment project of Hilton Head’s size and scale, Shawn Colin, the assistant town manager, said.
“Unless and until we get those bids back, and until we agree with them and understand them, would we put a shot clock on the construction start,” Town Manager Marc Orlando said during a Feb. 4 town council meeting. “We keep saying June, it might not be June because of this permit timing.”
The Town of Hilton Head Island plans to begin the first phase of the beach renourishment projects as early as June 2025. But the town can not secure a contractor for the project until they receive the final permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
“The sooner we can bid this out, the better,” Colin said. “We just can’t bid it out until we get the permits.”
Part of the permit from the Army Corps of Engineers is a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This analysis establishes a timeline so the project does not adversely affect endangered and threatened species on the island. The first of the three project phases is planned to occur between June and October 2025.
The island’s last beach renourishment project took place in 2016. The town approved the contractor in October 2015, and the project was supposed to start just over three months later in February. A series of contractor delays led to the project starting in June 2016 instead.
Myrtle Beach will also undergo its own beach renourishment project this year. The Army Corps of Engineers awarded Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company the bid for the $72 million dollar project in December 2024. The project will begin in spring 2025.
Neither the state nor the Army Corps of Engineers has approved the permits, but once they’re granted the town plans to move quickly to secure a bid, according to Heather Woolwine, the town’s communications director. The town believes the permits will be coming very soon.
June is the earliest that the town can start on phase 1, which includes The Heel and Fish Haul Beach. It’s possible that the project will start in July, but the details depend on the availability of contractors, Woolwine said.
If the timeline needs to change due to contractor availability, the town is confident they’ll be able to adapt. Beach renourishment is a small industry, and the town is keeping track of other ongoing projects with contractors, Woolwine said.
Hilton Head has been renourishing its beaches since 1997. This project will be its fourth, and most expensive project to date. The town’s accommodation tax overnight lodging will foot the estimated $40 million bill.
