Bulldozers spreading new sand on Hilton Head’s beaches. What’s the start date?
June, the critical beginning of the summer tourist season, was the initial date set to start pumping from the ocean to Hilton Head’s beaches.
According to town officials, that isn’t happening.
But the exact timeline for the trucks, bulldozers and, most importantly, sand arriving on Hilton Head’s beaches became a little clearer during a Tuesday town council workshop.
On Friday, the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued permits for the majority of the island’s 2025 beach renourishment project. Now that the town has those permits in hand, they can begin the process of selecting a contractor to carry out the work.
The town initially planned for the state and federal government to issue the permits by the end of 2024. This timeline would have allowed them to begin selecting a contractor in January and with an agreement finalized between the parties by April 1.
Now the town expects that they’ll complete the contract negotiations with the chosen contractor sometime in May, Shawn Leininger, assistant town manager of operations, said during the workshop. While the council and town staff have spoken in past meetings about starting construction in June when the permit opens, that will likely not happen.
“But the practical reality of it is, by the time we get a contractor on board and they decide how they want to sequence work from the north end down to the central section down to the south end, they are going to likely start sometime in late July or August,” Leininger said.
The federal permit specifies that the earliest possible start date for phase 1 of the project, which includes renourishment of The Heel, Port Royal, Fish Haul and Pine Island, is June 1. The second phase of the project will include sand placement on Central Island, South Island, and South Beach. The permit says this phase can occur anytime from October 2025 to May 2026.
What do the dogs have to do with birds and sand?
Negotiations between the town and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the dog ban on Fish Haul Beach delayed the permits from the Army Corps of Engineers, Heather Woolwine, the town’s communications director, said following the meeting. While the town tentatively planned to have the permits in hand by the end of 2024, the state and federal agencies issued them Feb. 21.
As part of the federal permits, the Fish and Wildlife Service issues a biological opinion to ensure that the project does not adversely affect endangered and threatened species on the island. In Hilton Head, that list includes two shorebirds, the rufa red knot and piping plover, as well as loggerhead turtles.
The biological opinion issued in August 2024 initially required that the town permanently ban all dogs on Pine Island and most of Fish Haul Beach. This requirement stems from research showing that dogs, which birds view as predators, cause shorebirds to flee their nests and expend more energy than they can afford.
Following negotiations with the town, the Fish and Wildlife Service amended that requirement so dogs will only be banned on a small section of Fish Haul Beach. The agency amended the biological opinion on Jan. 15. The town plans to change the town code, formalizing the dog ban on sections of Fish Haul Beach, in April or May, Leininger said. Per the permit requirements, the town will also need to put up signs that mark the beach’s dog-free areas.
