COASTAL OBSERVER

The town of Pawleys Island doesn’t claim ownership of the jetty that defines its northern tip. But its stake in seeing that the 72-year-old structure remains in place is greater than that of the state highway department, which built it but doesn’t claim it either.

Repairing the structure at a cost of $286,000 ranks sixth among the 22 priority projects for Georgetown County’s proposed capital project sales tax that is up for voter approval in November. It is one of two projects that the town has on the list.  At No. 10 is $2.08 million for drainage improvements that the town is now working to identify.

This is the third time Georgetown County has put a 1-cent capital projects tax before voters. One failed in 2012. One passed in 2014. Neither had any projects for the town of Pawleys Island.

This time, the six-member commission that solicited projects, ranked them and drafted the referendum ballot was chaired by a Pawleys Island appointee, Mark Hawn.  The appointment was made possible by shifting population that had previously assured Georgetown and Andrews of having the three municipal seats on the commission. The county had the other three.

Although he lives on the island’s north end, Hawn ranked the jetty project a lower priority than four other commission members. So did Gary Cooper, a county appointee who has a second home on the island.

Hawn said the commission agreed at the start that projects in their own areas would receive extra scrutiny from the individual members.

“I took a particularly challenging look at that, as did Gary,” Hawn said of the jetty project.  

The jetty was built by the highway department, now the Department of Transportation, between 1950 and 1952. It was extended after Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Since 1985, it has marked the south side of Midway Inlet, according to a survey conducted for the town by Coastal Science and Engineering.

The cost to repair and stabilize the structure is based on that survey, which noted that getting state and federal permits for work within the footprint of the existing jetty would be easier than getting permits that expand it.

The study also found that while deteriorating and “slumping” in places, it was not in immediate danger of failure.

Former Mayor Bill Otis looked for ways to repair the jetty for years. Because the structure falls within the federal Coastal Barrier Resource System, federal funds can’t be used for repairs.

“It came down to the width of a line on the map,” Otis said.

Concerned that the town would be held responsible if the jetty failed, the town required that the deeds for four lots created in 2004 in a subdivision on the north end included language to absolve the town of responsibility for the jetty.

“It wasn’t that the town wasn’t concerned. The town was concerned,” Otis said.

As a north end resident, Hawn is concerned about the state of the jetty.

“I see it every day, but when you compare the number of people affected, it doesn’t stand out,” he said.

Pawleys Island doesn’t have a municipal property tax. During the first two sales tax referendums, the town only had one infrastructure project: beach renourishment for which it had set aside funds from a tax on short term rentals in hope of getting additional federal and state funds.

In 2020, the town adopted a strategic plan that called for addressing other infrastructure issues.

“We don’t have a lot of money in our budget to do that,” Mayor Brian Henry said.

In addition to the possibility of funding two infrastructure projects, Hawn’s role was an opportunity for the smallest of the county’s municipalities to play a role in an initiative outside its boundaries, Henry said.

“You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who said it wasn’t fair,” he said. “It’s important, these capital projects around the county.”

Drainage is the town’s top priority. It hired a consultant in 2022 to create a plan to address sea level rise and the “sunny day flooding” that comes from high tides.

It used a state infrastructure grant this year to hire the engineering firm SeamonWhiteside to conduct a drainage study to identify and prioritize improvements.

They started this summer “taking a look at every single pipe,” said Aaron Aikin, a project manager. “We took a look at everything we could find.”

The firm will create a model for tides and rainfall to identify “high impact areas,” he said.

The study is due to be completed by next summer. The town received $250,000 in the state budget to start work of some sea level adaptation projects, but the sales tax, if it passes, “that’s taking us to a whole other level,” Town Administrator Dan Newquist said. “This will certainly be a long-term initiative.”

With over 30 drains on the island, there is probably more that $2 million worth of projects that need to be completed, Henry said.

Still, “that’s significant money,” he added. “The return and the benefit for the 1-cent sales tax for us makes sense.”