COASTAL OBSERVER

Property owners at Litchfield Beach are seeking state and federal permits to take sand from 26 acres along Midway Inlet to place on the beach in front of their gated community.

The Peninsula Property Owners Association wants to remove up to 75,000 cubic yards of sand from the inlet in two renourishment cycles over five years. Some of that sand is from a 2022 project that pumped about 450,000 cubic yards of offshore sand to the beach in front of the development, according to the application.

“The proposed project would recycle sand back to the project area to maintain a healthy beach while reducing the potential for excess sand to extend the spit into Midway Inlet,” the application states.

The project was designed by Coastal Science and Engineering, which designed the 2022 project and last year completed an assessment for the town of Pawleys Island of the jetty on the island side of Midway Inlet.

The permit proposes that most of the sand will be dug or scraped from the edge of the inlet closest to Pawleys Island. It includes an optional “harvest area” for sand closer to Litchfield Beach “for a secondary channel to be excavated that would divert some flow from the main channel currently abutting Pawleys Island. This will reduce erosion pressure on the northern jetty of Pawleys Island and create additional subtidal habitat for shorebird use.”

A biological assessment included in the permit application says that the work will likely have an adverse impact on two species of endangered shorebirds: the red knot and piping plover. 

But the application proposes to do the work between August and October, which it calls “periods of low biological activity,” to minimize impacts on shorebirds, sea turtles and other creatures that live in the intertidal zone.

Dredging another channel could potentially help the shorebirds, the application states, by creating shoals in Midway Inlet that won’t be accessible to humans. The channel would be dredged to a depth of 5 feet.

In addition, it states that maintaining the beach on the south end of Litchfield Beach will maintain habitat for sea turtle nesting and possibly allow shorebird nesting habitat to expand.

No mitigation is proposed to offset the impact of the project.

The application also examines three other options: do nothing, use upland sand or use offshore sand.

Doing nothing risks property damage from erosion or the need to use sandbags to  protect that property.

Scraping sand from the inlet is the least expensive way to extend the life of the 2022 renourishment without impacting other users of the beach, the application states.

“Georgetown County is actively exploring options to fund and to pay for a nourishment project along Litchfield Beach in the future as part of their updated Beachfront Management Plan,” the application states.

Coastal Science helped prepare that plan.

The state Department of Environmental Services is taking public comment on the project through Feb. 9. The application and comment form is available online.