Listen to chorus fighting for the ecology: Say ‘No’ to Bay Point development | Opinion
Every day when the sun rises, songbirds greet the dawn with a melodious chorus described by Rachel Carson as “the throb of life itself.” Along our shorelines the chorus is joined by the cries of hundreds and sometimes thousands of shorebirds and seabirds that are as much a part of our beaches as the water itself.
In Beaufort County, there is another growing chorus: the sound of leading conservation organizations, joined by thousands of local citizens, saying “No” to the latest plan to develop Bay Point Island.
The Port Royal Sound Foundation. The Beaufort County Open Land Trust. The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition. The Hilton Head Island Land Trust. The Coastal Conservation League.
These organizations have been joined by some 20,000 people who have signed on to a petition opposing development on this fragile barrier island.
Hilton Head Audubon is proud to add its name to the list. Audubon has opposed every version of this project since 2016 and remains opposed for the following reasons:
▪ Inadequately formed plans for wildlife protection: Bay Point Island is certified by BirdLife International and the National Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area, a critical winter stopover for endangered Piping Plovers, and during spring and fall migrations, the globally threatened Red Knot. It is estimated that up to 8,000 shorebirds use Bay Point Island to rest and feed during the winter months, to say nothing of the Bald Eagles, Painted Buntings, and others that breed in the woods of Bay Point during the year. We don’t know precisely how many, since the current owner and his surrogates have never conducted a bird survey in the 20 years they have held the property.
▪ The highly erosional nature of Bay Point: Bay Point is regularly buffeted by storms and strong tides that shape and reshape its shoreline every year. Historic preservationist Beekman Webb, who first visited Bay Point in the 1960s, recently wrote that “Bay Point is constantly in a state of flux,” adding that over the years, “much of the island has washed away, built back up a little, and then washed away again.”
▪ Insufficiently defined emergency preparedness plans: The developers claim that a Bay Point Island resort would be self-sufficient. But who will pay for fire protection, emergency services, and the likely need for evacuations during a threatening storm?
Thus far, every proposal to develop Bay Point Island has been defeated in a triumph of common sense, only to be replaced by another mutation of the plan. Now it is back again — this time with flashy eco-tourism messages but very little evidence that the development will minimize its impacts to and protect the ecology and wildlife of the island.
The Bay Point project will go before the Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals on July 23. Public attendance at the hearing will be limited due to COVID-19.
Because of this limitation, it is more important than ever that concerned citizens express their opposition to County Council and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Their names can all be found on the Beaufort County website: https://www.beaufortcountysc.gov.
We implore our county leaders to listen to the chorus and ask the Zoning Board of Appeals to reject this unsound plan once and for all. Quite simply: it’s for the birds.
John Bloomfield is president of the Hilton Head Audubon and a member of the Audubon South Carolina Board of Advisors.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 5:30 AM.