COASTAL OBSERVER

It took just 30 minutes to install a plastic mat over the dune at the First Street beach access on Pawleys Island. It replaced a wooden walkway that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian nearly a year ago.

Raymond Kobermann of Columbus, Ohio, arrived from a house across Atlantic Avenue with a beach chair and a cooler right after the town maintenance crew had unrolled the 50-foot-long Mobi-mat on Monday morning. He’s been vacationing on the island for 30 years.

“It was very easy. Very convenient,” he said of his inaugural crossing of the mat. “I think handicapped people will find it very convenient.”

Those who followed were also impressed.

“It’s so nice,” one woman said. “Fantastic.”

Some wondered whether it was permanent.

Dan Newquist, the town administrator, assured them it was, unless there is a hurricane pending.

The mat is held in place with galvanized metal spikes. It can be rolled up and stored ahead of a storm. In fact, one of the conditions of the state permit authorizing the town to use the Mobi-mat requires that it be moved.

The mat must also be kept free of loose sand.

Town Council gave its approval to buy the $5,500 mat in April. The town had to get approval from the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. That arrived last month, but the mat itself had been sitting under Town Hall all summer.

One of the permit conditions was that the mat had to be sand-colored rather than the light blue that is also available. Newquist said he had to double-check to make sure that he had ordered the right color. 

“FEMA was very supportive,” he said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It was one of the first projects they approved.”

With a survey and the permit application, the total cost was $7,500.

That was a quarter of the $30,000 that Newquist estimated a wood walkway would cost. And the walkway that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian was one that had been rebuilt after Hurricane Irma in 2017.