Category: Folly Beach

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Folly Beach People

P&C: Gov. McMaster honors historian who found remains of 19 African American Civil War soldiers

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. — In 1987, just moments before bulldozers were about to plow a new road on the island, Charleston historian Robert Bohrn noticed something peculiar.

Sticking out of the earth were the skeletal remains of 19 African American soldiers of the Union’s 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

If it weren’t for Bohrn’s watchful eye, their stories could have been buried under asphalt. His act has been called by scholars one of the most significant finds in South Carolina history.

On Feb. 11, the 64-year-old Civil War relic hunter was awarded the Order of the Silver Crescent in Columbia by Gov. Henry McMaster and state Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Folly Beach, for his contributions to South Carolina history.

The 55th Massachusetts was the sister regiment to the 54th Massachusetts, the Union’s all African American regiment that stormed Fort Wagner on Morris Island. Their story was the inspiration for the 1989 Hollywood movie “Glory” starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.

The 55th Massachusetts was stationed on Folly Island in 1863 during the siege of Charleston where the unit built forts, cleared trees and maintained supply lines. Many of the soldiers, Bohrn said, died from painful illnesses such as dysentery.

Thinking back to 34 years ago, and with dozens of found Civil War relics under his belt since, Bohrn believes the Folly Beach find was the most significant moment of his career.

“I have spent my life using a metal detector,” Bohrn said. “As far as I’m concerned, in my mind it was meant to be. I was supposed to find them within moments of them being bulldozed.”

Wetmore, who is still in her first months as a legislator, said she wanted to honor Bohrn’s accomplishments.

Bohrn’s research and findings led the reburying of the remains with full honors on Memorial Day 1989 at the Beaufort National Cemetery. In 2009, the archaeologist launched the “Friends of the 55th Massachusetts” foundation, which raised private funds for a State of South Carolina Historical Marker.

On July 15, 2011, the marker was placed to honor the Black soldiers, and it is still located at the Folly River Park.

Bohrn had not been individually honored for his efforts. About three months ago, Wetmore began the process of nominating the historian for the state’s Order of the Silver Crescent, one of the highest civilian honors that can be given to a South Carolinian.

“The discovery happened in my neighborhood,” Wetmore said. “There’s nothing more important than preserving this type of history. This really tells the story in a way that people will remember and recognize it.”

McMaster said Bohrn has added to the history and culture of South Carolina with his findings.

“You’re quite deserving of this recognition,” McMaster said and cited his achievements.

Bohrn said he hopes more people will engage with Civil War history, especially the roles of African American soldiers. He believes their stories are more relevant now than ever before.

“You can’t forget history. These men didn’t have a whole lot to gain but a whole lot to lose,” Bohrn said. “They gave their lives for not just the Union, but also their families. Their contributions are not recognized as much as they should be.”

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Environment Folly Beach

P&C Editorial: Back Folly beachfront regulations to help guard against erosion

By the time Folly Beach codifies a set of beach- and marshfront regulations meant to bring development on the long-exempt island roughly in line with state law, it will have been almost a year since the Edge of America declared what was to be a six-month building moratorium.

A rising tide waits for no one, but as City Administrator Spencer Wetmore sees it, the pause will have been worth it.

“I think we’ve probably done a little more than a lot of our neighbors,” she says, referring to a nine-ordinance package put together since June. “We’ve been given this beautiful beach, and we need to take that responsibility (for preserving it) seriously.”

She’s right, of course. And City Council should approve the complete package. The plan covers not only the just-renourished beachfront, but the entire island including the marshes and the marsh islands. All new homes would have to be built at least a foot higher than now required.

Ms. Wetmore says the city has to base its land-use policy on reality, “not renourishment.” Climate change is real and “it would be irresponsible not to plan for that.” Again, she’s right.

In November, the owner of one “super-beachfront” lot donated his underwater property to the city, helping to help clear up the thorny issue of what to do about one of 17 such lots. The new regulations would rightly render them unbuildable.

New ordinances would more tightly regulate septic tanks to keep pollution out of the water, keep the dune system intact and restrict seawalls. Others would regulate marshfront developments, dock lighting along the Folly River and the development of marsh islands.

City Planner Aaron Pope said the city recently sent out a “state of the city” mailer to every resident about what to expect in the coming months. A Jan. 7 Planning Commission hearing would be the last best chance to get up to speed on beachfront management plans before the proposals are handed up to City Council, which will start the next day considering proposals related to dune management, marsh setbacks, docks and marsh island developments including one that would rezone Bowens Island.

So far, there’s been little pushback from homeowners or developers, and there shouldn’t be. All of the new regulations are on par with requirements elsewhere. Furthermore, Folly also would set a good example as the first sea island to have a marshfront management plan. Significantly, the new regulations should help improve the city’s flood rating and lower insurance rates.

Ms. Wetmore says the package is a “once-in-generation” chance to put into place a “progressive” management plan that strikes a fair balance between preservation and responsible development.

The extended moratorium is now set to expire in mid-February, and City Council is expected to start adopting the new ordinances from March through April.

Emily Cedzo of the Coastal Conservation League said her organization agrees with the direction the city is headed, and that the 40-foot dune management area proposed went above and beyond some state regulations. Some issues could lead to litigation – for example, a septic tank permit issued by the Department of Health and Environmental Control for a super-beachfront lot and regulations aimed at stopping super-beachfront developments – but she said most residents and groups such as Save Folly Beach support the city’s efforts. As they should.

Keeping houses off the beach and dunes, and keeping sewage out of the surf, isn’t too much to ask.

Categories
Environment Folly Beach

P&C Editorial: Folly has good plan to protect beach

Since declaring a six-month moratorium on waterfront developments in June, Folly Beach has come a long way toward what could become one of the state’s most forward-looking policies for regulating development and preserving beaches and marshes.

The timing is right. Folly’s City Council is expected to vote on a final set of recommendations in November, about the time beach renourishment wraps up and the moratorium expires.

Residents and council members should embrace the proposed changes meant to keep new construction off the beach and out of harm’s way.

A package of draft ordinances covers “super-beachfront” lots, septic tanks, dune protection, seawalls, marshfront developments and the future development of marsh islands, among other issues.

The Edge of America has long been exempted from important parts of state beachfront management law due to the Charleston Harbor jetties blocking the flow of sand that would normally accrete on Folly. That left the city with a mishmash of sometimes competing regulations and legal struggles over such things as super-beachfront lots, properties platted years ago and again becoming technically buildable due to renourishment.

Instead of trying to manage beachfront development from a single line of dunes, the planning staff wants to set up a “dune management area” at least 20 feet wide, compared to current setbacks of as little as 5-10 feet. No above-ground structures would be allowed seaward of the dune area. Only sand fencing, plantings, walkovers and seawalls would be allowed. Seawalls would have to be buried, filled to match the existing beach and planted with native shrubs or grasses. That’s the right approach.

Another ordinance would require the removal of any structure undercut by beach erosion and apply to new building permits. In other words, if the surf is lapping under your home, it has to go. No one wants homes obstructing the beach.

New septic tanks would have to be buried farther inland, and existing ones would be more closely monitored. In some cases, regular pump-outs would be required. Homes with overwashed septic tanks would be “shut down” until the system could be moved to higher ground.

Folly resident Matt Napier, who has followed the planning process closely, said the city was “playing catch-up” to some degree. Still, he was optimistic it was on the right path. Just one building permit was issued for a super-beachfront lot before the moratorium took effect, he said.

The marshfront plan, designed primarily to guard against sea level rise, is believed to be first of its kind in the state. It would require all new homes to be built at least 2 feet above the base flood elevation, instead of the current 1 foot. That should help improve the city’s flood rating and reduce insurance costs.

Marshfront setbacks would be increased from 10 to 20 feet and have to be planted to help filter runoff. Docks and seawalls would be regulated based on new standards being developed by the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.

A set of outdoor lighting requirements would help reduce light pollution along the Folly River. There’s also a plan for phasing out any signs erected in marshes and coordinating with Charleston County for the future development of marsh islands. Those are all good ideas.

Planning Director Aaron Pope was hopeful most of the recommendations would be approved. Compared to 20 years ago, he said, residents were more receptive to proposals aimed at restricting development.

Folly’s planning staff deserves high marks for making good use of the pause to come up with a balanced plan for protecting the island from storms, sea level rise and foolhardy development. City Council should codify the entire package.

Categories
Environment Folly Beach

NOAA: Investing in Flood Mitigation Pays Off

Summary

Known by locals as the “Edge of America,” Folly Beach, South Carolina, is a small barrier island with 2,400 residents and countless year-round visitors. “Being a barrier island means we deal with flooding on a weekly basis—flooding from high tides, rain, drainage, and storms,” says Eric Lutz, the city’s floodplain manager. A few years back the city made the critical decision to conserve a large portion of its natural resources to help reduce flood impacts.

“Almost every municipality can use zoning to help make their communities safer from coastal hazards,” says Spencer Wetmore, Folly Beach’s city administrator. Folly Beach conserved its marshes and beachfronts, which in turn helped reduce storm surge and other flooding impacts. This forward-thinking decision to conserve the marsh, among other flood preparedness activities, is paying off in a big way.

FEMA’s Community Rating System provides discounts on flood insurance for taking steps to reduce flooding and its impacts by implementing standards beyond the minimums of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). As of May 2018, Folly Beach is a Community Rating System class 4 community. This equates to a 30-percent reduction in premiums for each flood insurance policy. The city is now saving $1,041,103 annually on the cost of flood insurance for its policyholders—or an average of $652 per policy, which is twice the savings per flood insurance policy as before. Before becoming a rating system class 4, Folly Beach was a class 7, which equated to a savings for the city of $520,552 annually, or an average of $326 per flood insurance policy.

“Luckily we have an eco-minded community that wants to protect its natural resources and its sense of place. What’s great about this [conservation] is that it also protects us against flooding impacts,” says Spencer.

Lessons Learned

  • Use terms that resonate with people. Focus on “flooding” instead of “climate change” or “sea level rise.” For instance, “We know flooding is a critical problem that needs solutions now,” and “We have to address flooding, whether the sea rises one, two, or three feet over the next 100 years.”
  • Make the commitment to do flood mitigation and keep going. The city’s success hasn’t happened overnight. They committed to protecting the community through flood mitigation, which is also helping to protect Folly Beach’s sense of place.
  • Hire a professional to help with the Community Rating System documentation. Having someone who knows the ins and outs of the program and exactly which documentation is needed is well worth the investment.
  • Use land use zoning. Almost every municipality can use zoning to help make their neighborhoods safer from coastal hazards.

The Process

Folly Beach did the work, but it needed to put an application package together for the Insurance Services Office, Inc. specialist for South Carolina in order to get the Community Rating System credits. The system’s process requires specific and detailed documentation to support receiving credit for each activity. To help with the documentation, they hired David Stroud, a certified floodplain manager with the Wood Group, who has worked extensively with the Community Rating System program.

Eric Lutz, the city’s floodplain manager, had met David a few years back at a conference. Eric mentioned that they wanted to improve their rating, and David asked, “How far do you want to go and what do you want to achieve?” David guided the city through the mapping and documentation process. He reviewed each current Community Rating System activity the city was implementing, and how each had changed from the 2007 Coordinator’s Manual (the document that guides a community’s application into the program) to the 2017 Coordinator’s Manual. He also identified which documentation needed to change to meet the requirements, and what additional activities—or elements within existing activities—could be added to gain more credits.

The objective was to undertake activities that the city was already implementing or could easily implement. In addition to the points for a class 4, the city also had to meet the class 4 prerequisites. View prerequisites list.

“My role is to help the city maximize their efforts and get the most credits,” David says, “and it comes down to having the exact documents needed by the Insurance Services Office, which verifies a community’s Community Rating System program for FEMA. The city is great to work with. They are hard workers and have put forth the effort to get to this Community Rating System class.”

Folly Beach officials initially aimed to be a Community Rating System class 6, but in the end, they got to a class 4, which equates to a 30-percent reduction in premiums for each flood insurance policy. The city is now saving $1,041,103 annually on the cost of flood insurance for its policyholders, or an average of $652 per policy. Folly Beach is a great example of how mitigation pays off; a new study on the value of mitigation by the National Institute of Building Sciences reports that for every $1 spent on mitigation, a community can save $6 in future disaster costs and up to $7 for flooding. Folly Beach is leading by example.

Folly Beach’s Nature-Based Community Rating System ActivitiesFolly Beach is using Community Rating System Activity 420–Open Space Preservation to obtain credits. Folly Beach has already zoned land as open space. This means new development is limited to boat docks and other similar uses. Folly Beach received 882 points of credit for conserving marshland, beach frontage, and the county parks. This means that 63 percent of the special flood hazard area is open space. The maximum credit for Open Space Preservation is 1,450 points.

The city is also getting credit under Community Rating System Activity 420c–Natural Functions Open Space. “We worked with South Carolina Office for Ocean and Coastal Resource Management to certify that the marsh was providing natural floodplain functions like absorbing water, habitat for loggerhead sea turtle nesting, and buffering waves,” says Eric. As a result, Folly Beach received 132 points for this activity. The maximum credit for Natural Functions Open Space is 350 points.

The combination of Open Space Preservation and Natural Functions Open Space credits provided 1,014 points for Activity 420 before the Community Growth Adjustment Factor—a growth value applied to all 400 series activities. Conservation zoning and protecting marshlands helped the city achieve its lower Community Rating System classification.

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Folly Beach’s Community Rating System Activities to Achieve a Class 4

Other Flood Mitigation ActivitiesThe city took advantage of the 300 series activity–Public Information Activities (Education and Outreach), other 400 series activities (Higher Regulatory Standards), and 500 series activities (Flood Damage Reduction). (See the table of activities at the end of this report for more details.)

Folly Beach also benefits from flood reduction activities that Charleston County is already getting credits for under the Community Rating System. Folly Beach operates under Charleston County stormwater and its MS4 program (municipal separate storm sewer systems), and benefits from the countywide stormwater management plan and regulations, the countywide hazard mitigation plan, and the county Flood Warning and Response program. These activities helped the city meet the required points and program prerequisites. Charleston County is a class 4 Community Rating System community as well.

The city also has an ordinance that limits the amount of pavement used in driveways to decrease stormwater runoff, and an ordinance that all new and/or substantially improved critical development be elevated to the 500-year (0.2 percent annual chance) flood elevation, or the highest known historical flood elevation. Residents are tuned in to the dangers and are supportive of floodplain management actions. “We get more questions now about why we are not doing more,” says Eric.

Additionally, to help limit future development in high-risk areas, the city works closely with the South Carolina Office for Ocean and Coastal Resource Management on development setbacks. Spencer says they “do a good job with the critical line (setback), and we look to them to lead us on their setbacks.” The city has a moratorium on building within 20 feet of the state’s critical line on the beach and marsh.

Next Steps

In 2017, the city, with help from its planning commission, conducted a study to assess the impacts of both current and future flooding. The study identified three priorities: a drainage study, a marsh management plan, and a septic tank assessment. The study helped the council and residents realize the urgency to prioritize and fund the drainage study. Folly Beach will continue to focus on the marsh management plan and new ordinances related to setbacks and buffers.

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Table Source: FEMA Community Information System, May 2018. The table shows dollar savings in flood insurance premium reductions for various Community Rating System classes.
Categories
Economy Folly Beach

Charleston Regional Business Journal: Folly Beach Restricts ‘Formula’ Businesses

If you’re looking to buy a Big Mac, you won’t find it in downtown Folly Beach.

And that will continue to be the case after Folly Beach City Council voted to bar so-called formula businesses in certain areas of the municipality.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nationwide nonprofit that advocates for sustainable community development, defines “formula businesses” as stores and restaurants that look virtually identical in physical appearance and in the services and products they offer.

Stacy Mitchell, co-director at the institute, said “formula businesses” is used over “chain businesses” because restricting formula businesses doesn’t stop a chain from opening — but it does require the chain to open a business that’s distinct from its other outlets.

“Most chains have no interest in actually doing that, so most chains don’t bother to create a unique version of themselves in places that prohibit these stores,” Mitchell said.

Spencer Wetmore, Folly Beach city administrator, said Folly Beach’s ordinance is a logical next step from the city’s restriction on drive-through establishments.

“For a long time, every comprehensive zoning plan that we’ve had, every election that we’ve had, a theme seems to be keeping Folly funky,” she said.

Folly Beach’s ordinance is focused mainly on restricting formula businesses downtown, and allowing those types of businesses to continue populating the northernmost part of the city.

“Our corridor commercial district, which is what’s zoned along Folly Road, is intended to be a more intense commercial use,” Wetmore said.

“It’s intended to have larger retail like the Harris Teeter that’s out there. It’s not designed, or it’s not zoned, to have the same low-intensity commercial uses as our on-island uses are.”

The gas station and adjoining Subway restaurant are allowed to stay, classified as “legal nonconforming,” but Wetmore said if either of those establishments was to close down, it would take an act of City Council to reopen them as formula businesses.

“Obviously if a hurricane came through or something, the island is interested in having a gas station here; so if something were to happen, we could go back and give that lot permission to have a gas station there,” she said. “But we weren’t interested in having a whole bunch of gas stations.”

Lewis Dodson, president of the Folly Association of Business, said he likes that the ordinance requires formula businesses in Folly Beach to fit the community’s aesthetic.

“I like this idea that even if it is a Starbucks or whatever, it would be a Folly-centric Starbucks, and they would find a way to market it that way,” said Dodson, who also owns Drop In Bar & Deli.

He said he has “mixed views” on the ordinance overall, though: As a business owner, he wants to protect his business, but he generally believes in letting the market dictate what works and what doesn’t.

“It didn’t seem very necessary currently,” he said, adding that he hasn’t heard about an influx of chains coming to Folly Beach.

“Maybe City Council saw something coming down the pipeline that the business association hasn’t,” Dodson said.

‘One of the most effective tools’

The idea to restrict formula businesses was brought to Folly Beach by Lowcountry Local First. Operations Director Lauren Gellatly said the nonprofit first advocated for an ordinance against formula businesses in the Cannonborough-Elliotborough neighborhood of Charleston in 2016, because neighborhood groups had expressed interest.

“Our goal is to push this forward in communities that want it,” Gellatly said. “We want to make sure that residents and businesses are on board in an area before we’re really pushing it at a policy level.”

Ultimately, though, the efforts failed; Charleston city staff said they didn’t think it was legal, “which of course is not true,” Gellatly said.

More than 20 other communities have passed some type of restriction against formula businesses, including Sullivan’s Island, and an appeals court in California ruled in 2003 that because it requires every business to be distinct, it doesn’t violate discrimination or interstate commerce laws.

“The way that it starts to become problematic legally is if you are actually mandating local ownership,” Gellatly said.

Some municipalities’ restrictions allow formula businesses as long as community members are notified and don’t ask for a public hearing; others, like Folly Beach, ban them completely.

“This particular type of ordinance is really one of the most effective tools that we’re seeing around the country for creating and protecting unique, independent business districts,” Gellatly said.

Matt Cunningham, partner at Civic Economics, an economic analysis and strategic planning consulting firm, said that his research indicates independent businesses have a greater impact on the local economy, because they generally hire more local people, their profit stays local, and they participate in more charitable giving locally.

In a 2013 study sponsored by Lowcountry Local First and Kiawah Island-based Indigo Books, Civic Economics found that independent retailers in the Charleston area recirculated 57.8% of their revenue in the local economy, as opposed to national chain retailers recirculating 13.6% of their revenue locally.

The study found national chain restaurants support the local economy slightly more than retailers, recirculating 30.4% of their revenue, but that’s still less than half of the 68.8% of revenue that local restaurants recirculate.

Cunningham said one benefit of national chains, particularly niche ones such as Anthropologie, is that they can help revitalize a struggling retail district by drawing people in.

“But if you already have a retail district that’s drawing enough people, and it’s healthy, and you have normal rents and normal occupancy, you’d rather have them filled by a local independent business than a national chain,” he said.

Looking elsewhere

Gellatly said Lowcountry Local First is in discussions with businesses in the Park Circle area of North Charleston about trying to pass an ordinance restricting formula businesses there.

Matt Tunstall, co-owner of Stems and Skins wine bar, is one of the business owners leading the formula-free charge in Park Circle.

He said the idea came from discussions with Lowcountry Local First about ensuring residents and business owners have a voice in their neighborhood — especially as more movies and TV shows are filmed in Park Circle and the area becomes more popular.

“We think that keeping this unique vibe up here is very important, and when you start allowing big box stores to come in, whether it’s retail or hospitality or restaurant, you start to see kind of a dumbing-down of a neighborhood, or every neighborhood looks just like another one,” Tunstall said. “So that’s part of the motivation, I think, to keep this neighborhood unique.”

Tunstall said conversations with other business owners about a potential ordinance, which he said would most likely be focused on keeping out formula restaurants, have been positive so far.

“People in this neighborhood are proud of their neighborhood,” he said. “They’re proud of the uniqueness, the … controlled rate of growth, and they get a lot of say over what ends up here, whether they show up for it or patronize it.”

Gellatly and Tunstall said the next step is to get input from Park Circle residents about how they feel. Lowcountry Local First held a meeting with one of the neighborhood groups last month, which Gellatly said went well.

“We’re now going to be reaching out and doing some more coalition-building outreach to see if it’s something that’s really desired in the community,” she said.

Gellatly and Tunstall both said they’ve already heard about opposition from elected officials.

“We have heard from some elected officials in North Charleston that there isn’t necessarily an existing appetite for this, and there’s a feeling it is in conflict with property rights,” Gellatly said, “so we have heard that — hence our focus now on really talking to the community and the residents and the business owners and to see if there is a broad level of support. If that is the case, we’re hoping all of those residents and businesses would speak out and tell their elected officials that that is something that they do want.”

Tunstall said he’s hoping an ordinance could be passed sometime next year.

Gellatly said she could also see restrictions on formula businesses becoming part of the revitalization of West Ashley.

“There’s great areas already, like Avondale, but some of the areas do have more chains,” she said. “I think there’s a real applicability and opportunity to use this somewhere else because we’ve heard they want to replicate Avondale in other areas of West Ashley, and I think this could be a really great tool to do that.”

Categories
Folly Beach

Folly Council OKs ex-prosecutor Wetmore as new city manager

A familiar face is taking over the city administrator job at Folly Beach.

Spencer Wetmore served 18 months as assistant to Mayor Tim Goodwin, who recently recommended that City Council vote to promote her. Before joining the city, she was an assistant solicitor for the 9th Judicial Circuit.

Wetmore said that city management better fits her goal-oriented personality than her previous work prosecuting violent offenses and drug cases.

“The mayor and council really do have a great vision for the city. It’s my job to just implement that,” she said.

Wetmore said that she learned about city management on the job. She consults with her counterparts on Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island for their expertise. Her legal experience helps for evaluating contracts, new ordinances or personnel issues, she said.

Her starting salary is $70,000, Goodwin said.

“It’s an increase from what she was making working for me, and that gives her plenty of room to move up the line,” he said.

Goodwin said the city is blessed to have a young, vivacious staff working hard for the residents. “And that’s a great thing when you go to work and you’ve got people who are ready to work and they are excited about the jobs,” he said.

Wetmore, 32, and her husband, Burns Wetmore, moved to Folly in 2012. Their family includes two young daughters and three dogs. Burns Wetmore leads the Solicitor’s Office team that prosecutes North Charleston cases.

Spencer Wetmore questioned whether she was making a difference at the Solicitor’s Office because the same offenders showed up in court time and again.

“I was just starting to burn out emotionally over there. I would wake up in the middle of the night worried about a victim,” she said.

But the Folly job is a different story.

“I love it. Riding my golf cart to work is not a bad gig. I’m lucky. It’s a great fit for me,” she said.

Folly Beach has an annual operating budget of $5 million and some 30 full-time employees. The city sets aside $1 million annually for beach renourishment projects.

Folly’s last manager, Toni Connor-Rooks, served the city for more than 15 years before her retirement two years ago after clashing with Goodwin during his first term.

Folly has a strong mayor form of government, which means that Goodwin is the chief executive. Wetmore said that being the mayor’s assistant was like a city management apprenticeship for her.

“There was definitely a learning curve there. And I’ve gained a lot of experience over the last year-and-a-half in my ability to take a leadership role in management decisions,” she said.

Wetmore, who grew up in Charleston, is a graduate of Academic Magnet High School, Princeton University and Vanderbilt University Law School.

Categories
Environment Folly Beach

WCSC: Folly Beach officials worry Michael could cause more sand loss

Officials on Folly Beach are preparing for impacts from Hurricane Michael while still recovering from sand loss due to Hurricane Florence.

Although Folly Beach dodged bad weather conditions from Hurricane Florence, a portion of the beach suffered from a loss of sand.

“The sand served its purpose,” Folly Beach City Administrator Spencer Wetmore said. “We sacrificed sand, but didn’t have property losses.”

Sand loss from Florence came during a $10 million beach renourishment project, which is targeted at replacing sand lost on Folly Beach during Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Irma.

That renourishment project was originally supposed to put more than 700,000 cubic yards of sand back on the beach.

Florence washed some of that replacement sand away.

On Monday, Folly Beach officials announced the crew behind the renourishment project agreed to replace sand lost during Florence while they continue to replace sand lost during Matthew and Irma.

“So we actually were able to put back all of the sand we lost during Florence,” Wetmore said. “It wasn’t a lot, about a quarter of what we put in that area.”

As another storm threatens South Carolina, all eyes on Folly are on the beach.

“Definitely. It’s a worry for how it’s going to affect the landscape of everything,” Johns Island resident Maggie Fitzgerald said. “Hopefully, by the time it makes landfall, it won’t be too hard and we’ll just get a lot of rain.”

Officials on Folly Beach said the same option of replacing new lost sand may not be possible for Hurricane Michael.

“We’d be on a fourth chance at this point in terms of extending or modifying the contract,” Wetmore said. “I don’t know if that would be an option. We’re going to have to hope for the best on that one.”

Officials on Folly Beach said they have not distributed sand bags.

For now, city officials are just encouraging people to watch the weather and remain cautious.

“They’ll have the hands on it. I’m not worried about it,” Folly Beach resident Regina Smith said. “They’ll keep Folly safe and beautiful, and we’ll be fine.”

Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Categories
Environment Folly Beach

Carolina News & Reporter: Folly Beach reflects state’s battle to save coastal towns

By  | Apr 24, 2018

For South Carolina, Charleston’s Folly Beach is ground zero in the battle over coastal erosion.

“We never considered buying a house on the front beach because I figure, sooner or later, I will be front beach,” said Folly resident Joe Schmidt.

While erosion threatens many coastal cities, Charleston’s beaches face an additional factor in the equation – the Charleston harbor jetties.  The three-mile long rocky jetties that enable large commercial ships to enter Charleston’s harbor are also blocking sand deposits from longshore drift currents, resulting in many beaches around Charleston eroding at a highly accelerated rate.

The erosion has become so severe that parts of Folly have vanished permanently beneath the waves.

“That far end of the island, there are actually houses that are out there in the water,” Schmidt said.  “There’s one or two streets that are out in the ocean from many, many years ago that people are still paying taxes on.  They still hope that somehow, it’s going to come back.  They own the land on the street that’s in the ocean.”

According to a study done in the 1980’s, over 58 percent of the erosion experienced by Folly Beach is caused by the jetties, Folly town administrator Spencer Wetmore said.

To combat the erosion that threatens to sweep away the island community, Folly has implemented many projects and regulations.  Terminal groins – long structures of rocks and concrete – line the beach, holding sand in place that would normally be swept down the coast.  Residents are required to raise their lots to specific levels to fall in line with the most important part of combating the erosion process – beach re-nourishment projects.

Folly has a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that secures federal funding for beach re-nourishment.  These projects involve transporting sediment from the Folly River through a pipeline down to the beach, where barges will help move it up and down the eroded areas.  The amount of sediment needed for these projects is massive – roughly equivalent to 60,000 dump truck’s worth for the upcoming re-nourishment project in late April.

Dredging sand from environmentally sensitive areas like coastal ecosystems can be a tricky process.

“We do an extensive amount of geo-testing and sediment tests to make sure it’s beach-compatible sand, and that we get the depth correct,” Wetmore said of the dredging process.  “We want to treat it like the environmentally sensitive area that it is.”

Although the process is extremely expensive, in the eyes of many, the fight for Folly Beach is well worth it.  Folly is a highly residential area, and the loss of the beach would displace thousands of people like Schmidt, who has lived there for 12 years.  But sand re-nourishment isn’t just a fight for people’s homes; it is a fight for a highly productive economy.

Folly Beach is a very popular tourist destination.  According to studies done by the city of Folly Beach in 2014, the beach generates around $117 million in sales annually, providing over 1,200 jobs and $40 million in salaries in the process.  It also generates over $17 million in state taxes and $5 million in federal taxes.

The loss of Folly would therefore be more than just a devastating blow for coastal residents; it would be the loss of a serious economic asset that would harm the entire state.

“It’s everything,” said Wetmore of the beach.  “It’s at the top of our strategic plan, it’s at the top of our budget…it’s just everything.  It’s the reason we have an economy, the reason we have a community, it’s why people want to live and visit here.”

While beach re-nourishment is crucial to preventing Folly Beach – and the community, wildlife habitat, and economy that comes with it – from vanishing entirely, coastal erosion is a global problem that cannot be stopped entirely.  Rising sea levels will eventually eat away at what is left of Folly Beach, and the looming threat of the next inevitable hurricane or tropical storm accelerating the process hangs heavily over many coastal communities.

The arrival of tropical storms Matthew and Irma greatly worsened the erosional damage to many S.C. beaches.  Both storms stole thousands of yards of cubic sand from Folly.  The sand dunes in front of Schmidt’s house used to be one of the highest and largest on the beach.  Irma obliterated the dunes, leaving behind only small mounds of sand.

“I was shocked after Irma,” Wetmore said.  “The storm surge was just incredible. Old, established dunes that had been there since the 90’s were gone.”

While the fact that the erosion cannot be stopped entirely weighs heavily on the minds of many residents, some, like Schmidt, have additional concerns about what happens when the contract with the Army Corps expires.

“I think it’s just going to get to the point where they’re going to say ‘we’re not paying for this any more.’ It always boils down to money,” said Schmidt.

Wetmore said that renewing the contract after the 50-year term plays out is a viable possibility, and that steps will always be taken to secure funding to protect the beach.

“We live with erosion every day, and we just do the best we can,” Wetmore said.  “In the end, we’re no match for Mother Nature.  There’s no perfect solution.  But we’ll continue to do the best we can to preserve our community and fight for it.”

Categories
Environment Folly Beach

Live 5 News: Folly Beach working on drainage projects to mitigate flooding

By Paola Tristan Arruda | January 8, 2020 at 9:21 PM EST – Updated January 8 at 11:38 PM

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) – When you live in the Lowcountry, you can expect to see some flooding when it rains.

On Folly Beach, city officials say they also have to worry about the tides.

After applying for grants through Charleston County, the city now has funds for capital drainage projects.

Currently, they are working on raising the road bed and creating drainage outfalls on 9th Street West. Spencer Wetmore, the city administrator for Folly Beach, says the street is one of the worst flooding areas on the island.

“When it’s high tide, we really don’t have anywhere for the water to go because its on a barrier island. We have to keep that in mind at the forefront of everything,” Wetmore said. “The goal is to mitigate the flooding, especially in areas where you don’t have an alternate route.”

The city was also successful in getting a grant for the engineering and construction of a new drainage system.

The plan is to have it run from 2nd Street East to 6th Street East.

Engineers with Charleston County are in the process of engineering and permitting the project through the department of transportation. Officials say they are about a year out from construction.

For over a year, Charleston County and the city of Folly Beach have also been working on an island-wide drainage study.

In September officials held an open house, as part of the study, to hear residents’ flooding experiences.

“The goal is to make a priority list of capital drainage projects,” Wetmore said. “The projects on streets like 9th west and 2nd east are already in the hopper, so this study will create additional projects on top of that.”

City officials say they hope to have recommendations from that study in the summer of 2020.

They have already started setting aside funds for the potential projects.

Categories
Community Folly Beach

P&C: A vocal group of Folly Beach residents managed to get the speed limit lowered

By Chloe Johnson cjohnson@postandcourier.com

 

Drivers in Folly Beach will have to ease off the gas when speed limits on the island go down this summer.

The reduction to 25 mph was recently approved by the S.C. Department of Transportation and will affect the entire island.

There’s no set timeline for when the change will go into effect, but City Administrator Spencer Wetmore said the city will start to replace speed limit signs in the coming weeks.

A grassroots group of residents on the island advocated for the change for a while. Many people started to plant small, green men figures with “slow down” stickers in their yards, Wetmore said.

Last year, residents held a “Slow Down Saturday” event to create awareness around traffic safety.

“We’ve had petitions from hundreds of residents and emails and public appearances, and this is really important to them,” Wetmore said.

In 2015, the city asked DOT, which has authority over all of the roads on Folly, to lower the speed limit. The request was turned down because the state wanted a traffic study before it made any changes.

Folly was only recently able to complete a study with help from former Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority Director Howard Chapman and graduate students at The Citadel.

The results suggested many drivers were already traveling at around 25 mph, though the posted limit was 30.

Many residents preferred a limit of 20, but DOT stuck with the study’s suggestion, Wetmore said.

Mayor Tim Goodwin said the island has gradually changed to a place with more year-round families with young children, as opposed to its traditional status as a rental market. Those families were crucial in advocating for slower speeds, he said.

He added that the speed reduction will give drivers more reaction time when unaware pedestrians cross the street.

“It’s crazy,” Goodwin said of the walkers. “They think they’re in Disney World or something and just don’t pay attention.”