Ask any IOP resident about local beach preservation, and you will likely hear an earful both supporting and questioning current methods to combat erosion.
But as IOP City leaders and consultants prepare for the island’s biggest sand renourishment project to date, hopes are running high not only for a successful outcome, but to implement other long-term measures that are anticipated to keep the island and its beaches around for a long time to come.
“The city is in the process of securing easements from 140 property owners in order to place sand and build dunes along sections of the beach that have experienced severe erosion,” said IOP Public Information Director Joshua Uys. “Sand placement will start on the north end in June and wrap up in September on the southern end. Our contractor is expected to move at a pace of 100 feet per day.”
The project will place up to 2.5 million cubic yards of beach-quality sediment along up to 19,200 linear feet of shoreline on the two ends of the island. Sand will be obtained from offshore borrow areas approximately 2 miles south of the pier.
“Both ends of the island have eroded at a higher rate over the past few years compared to historical trends,” said Steven Traynum, president of Coastal Science & Engineering in Columbia, and IOP coastal engineer consultant. “Since 2018, erosion has more than doubled the prior pace, and erosion occurring at the south end around 2022-23 was over 10 times the historical rate.”
He added that the east end of the island has lost about “254,000 cubic yards of sand per year since 2018” – an equivalent volume of approximately 78 Olympic-size pools.
The most recent attempt to combat erosion came from a beneficial use project, completed on April 20 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to dredge excess sand from an Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) shoal around the IOP Connector bridge. The effort moved about 700,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand from USACE’s routine maintenance of the waterway to nourish the Isle of Palms’ coastal system.
The area south of the pier gained nearly 300,000 cubic yards in just the past year alone. IOP City further benefited with sand being placed below the high-tide line at no additional cost, with the AIWW operations and maintenance program largely paying for the project. “It is likely we will work with the USACE again in the future on other beneficial use projects,” Uys said.
The 2026 project looks even more encouraging. For example, at the March 26 town hall meeting, IOP Mayor Phillip Pounds pointed out to a gathering of around 300 people that three of the five bids received for the work came in far under expectations.
The low bid by Marinex Construction Inc of North Charleston was $21.47 million – nearly $11 million lower than anticipated. “It’s certainly welcome news for 2.5 million cubic yards,” Pounds said. “And I think we’ll be guided by our coastal engineer if we should add more.”
A lingering question now for members of IOP City Council is whether to take the low bid and save the extra money, or, as Uys pointed out, to continue ahead with the original $32 million budget and “use the difference to place an additional volume of sand.”
“We may have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy some sand at a pretty cheap price,” Pounds said. “Those will be conversations we’ll be having over the next month or so to see what we want to do.”
Sand placement is not the only potential solution. At the town hall meeting, residents Corey and Sheri Hillis asked about two other possibilities: constructing a groin (a hard aquatic structure perpendicular to the shoreline) to trap sand in order to either build up the beaches or significantly reduce the amount of erosion; or a jetty to serve the same purpose and save even more money.
Councilman John Bogosian responded by saying that a city consultant is working on multiple beach management potentials “and a groin is absolutely one of them, especially on the south end. But they’re looking at a whole host of other things to recommend to us.”
Efforts have been further strengthened by:
- A recent $1.52 million grant from South Carolina Parks, Recreation & Tourism. This was SCPRT’s third grant to IOP for beach renourishment since 2017, and city leaders are expecting more.
“We have requested a total of $5.3 million in state grants,” Uys said. “When we select a bidder, we will be able to confirm the total cost.”
- A 2,500-foot shoal that began forming in 2024 directly in front of Beachwood East at Wild Dunes. Traynum said in April 2025 that while the shoal has created localized areas of severe erosion while it attaches, it was even then already adding “600,000 cubic yards of sand to the island.”
- Contracting with Foth |Olsen, a full-service science and engineering firm out of Jacksonville, Florida, to provide an alternative beach analysis. The firm will work alongside Coastal Science & Engineering. Findings and recommendations are expected to be ready by the May 26 council meeting.
Per recommendations from the Beach Preservation Ad Hoc Committee, council is considering hiring one full-time employee tasked with overseeing resilience efforts, including beach management.
Altogether, it’s a long way from 1983, when IOP City attempted its first beach nourishment. Since then, erosion control efforts have included sand scraping, sandbags to protect structures and several large-scale projects to keep Mother Nature at bay. But going forward, the new project could end up being the one that changes the island’s future from lingering uncertainty to a new era of sustainability.
“South Carolina’s beaches are the backbone of the state’s tourism economy, generating nearly $24 billion a year and supporting tens of thousands of jobs,” Pounds said. “Every dollar the state invests in beach nourishment returns over $1,200 in economic activity and $250 in taxes, while also protecting our coast from storms. Protecting our beaches means protecting one of South Carolina’s greatest assets.”
Leave a Reply