Ocean-battered SC resort planning to rebuild protective wall as seas rise
In a state where new seawalls have been banned for 27 years, property owners at an exclusive South Carolina resort are moving ahead with plans for a new wall that could safeguard their homes from the ocean but erode the public beach one day.
The new seawall at Debordieu, a gated community south of Myrtle Beach, would protect a small row of houses that for years has been threatened by rising seas and big waves. An existing wooden seawall is crumbling and part of it needs replacement, the landowners say.
After months of arguments last year, the Legislature agreed to let the landowners build the wall – in what was a departure from the state’s long-standing prohibition on new oceanfront bulkheads.
But the Debordieu wall technically still needs approval from state regulators, who last week put the construction plan on public notice. The public has until May 1 to comment on a permit application for the new wooden wall, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
This story was originally published April 6, 2015 at 1:53 PM.