Estate Jewelry in Isle of Palms, SC

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCSC) — Isle of Palms leaders said the completion of Phase 1 of a major infrastructure project is marking a meaningful step toward relief.

Flooding has long been a concern for residents along Waterway Boulevard on Isle of Palms, but this marks a major milestone in an effort nearly seven years in the making.

The roughly $1.1 million project is funded through two primary sources: about $157,000 from the Isle of Palms Capital Projects Fund and nearly $1 million from a FEMA Hazard Mitigation grant.

City officials said Phase 1 focused largely on infrastructure below the surface. While the Wild Dunes Golf Course was closed for renovations, crews moved large amounts of earth, built new cart paths, constructed berms and installed drainage improvements designed to better move stormwater away from Waterway Boulevard and toward the Intracoastal Waterway.

Much of that work is not immediately visible, according to Mayor Phillip Pounds.

“Right now, the work that’s been done isn’t in your line of sight,” Pounds said. “It’s all behind the houses and on the golf course and kind of goes with the flow. What started out as redoing the multi-purpose path turned into this huge project of drainage infrastructure and protection against the tides.”

Pounds said that focus became even more critical after a major nor’easter in 2023 pushed water onto the island from the Intracoastal side.

“That’s what a lot of this is protecting against,” he said.

Pounds said completing Phase 1 is a significant step toward safeguarding nearby homes and a key transportation corridor.

“This one protects so much of our island and so many houses and the Waterway Boulevard road itself,” he said. “It’s such a huge win for our residents and guests who come at any time of the year, and it also provides another mode of transportation to get around.”

City leaders said the most noticeable changes are still ahead.

Phase 2 will focus on the multi-use path itself, which has not yet been altered. Plans call for the path to be widened and elevated in certain areas, along with new drainage features installed alongside it. The path is intended for pedestrians and bicyclists only; golf carts will not be permitted.

“We haven’t even touched the path yet,” Pounds said. “It will be wider, elevated in some spots and there will also be drainage infrastructure along the path, including inlets, pipes and tidal control valves.”

Pounds said while Phase 1 was significant because of the amount of earth moved, Phase 2 will be both more disruptive and more visible to residents along Waterway Boulevard.

“It will affect some residents, especially with their driveways,” he said. “But hopefully it will go fairly quickly and be done before the season starts for us.”

Beyond flood mitigation, city leaders said the project is also designed to improve mobility during peak traffic months.

“We’ve finished the 21st Avenue sidewalk. This will be a huge swath when we finish this multi-purpose path,” Pounds said. “In the summer, it can be complete standstill out here. This should give people an alternative way to traverse the island.”

Longtime residents said the improvements that are already completed are making a difference.

Doug Truslow, who has lived near the start of Waterway Boulevard for about 50 years, said the city’s investments have improved both safety and accessibility.

“We’re so pleased with everything the city has done to improve the sidewalks, especially going to the beach,” Truslow said. “It helps with tourism, people with disabilities and children riding bikes. It’s good all the way around.”

Phase 2 of the project is currently out for contractor bids. City leaders hope to finalize that process and begin construction in early 2026, continuing work they said is essential to protecting the island and improving how residents and visitors move through it.

ISLE OF PALMS — As the city works to defend the island against major erosion on both ends, officials are looking to get a handle on long-term solutions for managing the beach, and they want to get the right engineering firm on board to help.

The focus on future planning follows a year in which the city put hundreds of thousands of dollars toward emergency measures following king tide cycles and storms that ate away at the shores. The barrier island saw fleeting sands in hotspots historically prone to erosion and in new areas at the southern end of the island.

Reports from coastal scientists for the Isle of Palms reiterated that the beach is losing sand at an unsustainable rate, leading city leaders to consider new ways to strengthen the island.

Two coastal engineering consultants will craft proposals for the city to help tackle persistent erosion at the north and south ends of the Isle of Palms. City Council selected Coastal Science and Engineering and Foth Olsen Associates, a Florida-based engineering firm, on Dec. 9 to explore and analyze several ideas for strengthening beach conditions.

Coastal Science and Engineering and Foth Olsen were two of four firms to respond to the Isle of Palms’ request for qualifications published in November.

The city has worked with the two engineering consultants in the past. Recently, Foth Olsen offered a second opinion on the Isle of Palms’ beach management strategies. CSE has documented the Isle of Palms’ shoreline and erosion patterns for many years.

Looking for long term solutions for erosion

Much of the city’s efforts in 2025 to strengthen the beach was in response to storm damage or sand loss from extremely high tide cycles. After Hurricane Erin, the city spent over $550,000 on emergency sandbag deployments for highly-eroded sections of the island.

The Army Corps of Engineers pumped 60,000 dump trucks-worth of dredged sand onto Breach Inlet early this year, too, as part of the agency’s work to dredge the Intracoastal Waterway.

And on the north end of the island encompassing Wild Dunes, the city partnered with the resort to harvest sand from an incoming shoal in 2024. Those efforts are finally showing early results: a portion of the sandbar attached to the shore near Beachwood East and Dunecrest Lane. With the shoal joining the existing sands, the beach is significantly wider where high tides sometimes reach the foundations of the homes there.

While it’s a promising development, the shoal will only provide temporary relief to the island’s north end, the city wrote in a Dec. 5 project update shared to Facebook.

“The long-term erosion in this area will continue, and a major beach renourishment project will still be necessary to restore and protect the beach in a lasting way,” the social media post read.

That major beach renourishment, the first one the city has planned since 2018, is on the horizon. Construction on the project is anticipated to start in late 2026.

City leaders want to pair these projects with a number of “back of the napkin” concepts to strengthen beach conditions. City Administrator Douglas Kerr told city council on Dec. 9 that engineers with the two firms will conduct a deeper study on several loose concepts that have been discussed throughout the year.

“This would be an effort to get a deeper study on each of those, identify the pros and cons, cost estimates, and hopefully give council the tools you all need to make some choices about if and how you would like to create a more durable beach,” Kerr said.

These ideas include conducting regular beach renourishments, either alone or in conjunction with erosion control structures. These structures could include adding groins to the beach, building breakwaters, or placing geo-tubes on the shore, which are sand-filled fabric tubes designed to support dune growth. These additions would absorb the blows from waves and high tides and trap shifting sands by physically fortifying the beach.

CSE and Foth Olsen will also turn their attention to the conditions at Breach Inlet and Dewees Inlet to “alleviate erosional currents,” the RFQ states. They’ll explore other methods that could include physically changing the inlets through realigning the channel or creating an offshore sand trap.

These ideas were included in Foth Olsen’s September report. The firm wrote that the methods could “provide more consistent beach conditions and shore protection” as well as “increase the time between required large-scale renourishment.”

Engineers with Foth Olsen and CSE will present their proposals in early 2026. From there, city council will decide which firm they want to move forward with.

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Seawall on Isle of Palms order to be destroyed by SC judge

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ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCIV) — The legal battle over an allegedly illegal Isle of Palms Seawall reached another turn. READ MORE: https://abcnews4.com/news/local/judge...

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ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCIV) — The legal battle over an allegedly illegal Isle of Palms Seawall reached another turn.

Judge Ralph King Anderson III ruled on Tuesday, Dec. 30, that a seawall, constructed by Isle of Palms property owner Rom Reddy, must be removed. The decision upholds an earlier order from October, which required the dismantling of the seawall. The South Carolina Environmental Law Project and Coastal Conservation League claim that, if left up, the seawall would block public beach access and accelerate erosion.

“This order affirms that illegal seawalls disrupt natural beach dynamics and harm public access," said Amy Armstrong, the executive director of the South Carolina Environmental Law Project. "South Carolina’s coastline is a precious public asset that must be preserved."

The seawall was first constructed in 2023. It has since been the main character in a lengthy legal battle between Reddy and the state.

Reddy, at the time, claimed he was building the wall to protect his property from heavy weather conditions.

“What was happening is the waters were coming in so severely that the soil in my yard was unstable," Reddy said in early 2024.

Now, Reddy is looking at a specific timeline and detailed requirements for a Corrective Action Plan for the removal and restoration of the affected beach area.

Judge Anderson's order mandates that Reddy submit the plan within 60 days, outlining removal methods, schedules, beach stabilization measures and the use of beach-compatible sand for restoration that complies with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Marine Turtle Conservation Program.

Removal of the seawall must commence within 90 days of the plan's approval and be completed within 30 days after, according to court documents. In Reddy's favor, the judge vacated $289,000 worth of civil penalties and claimed that he did not violate "any permit" or "regulation, standard, or requirement" under the S.C. Coastal Zone Management Act.

However, Judge Anderson did rule that the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services has the authority to order the removal of seawall structures – a portion of the ruling Reddy found disappointing.

“Allowing an agency to have unilateral authority on private property is unconstitutional," Reddy said in a statement to News 4. "However, the administrative court is prevented by law from ruling on Constitutional issues, which is a travesty."

As a result of the ruling, Reddy said the Pacific Legal Foundation – a law firm that "defends Americans' liberties" when threatened by government overreach – is joining the case on his behalf as he plans an appeal.

Environmental protection advocates, on the contrary, are viewing the judge's decision as a victory for public beach access and coastal ecosystems.

“Illegal seawalls may seem like a solution for individual property protection," Armstrong said, "but they ultimately lead to a loss of the dry sand beach humans enjoy and wildlife depend on."

ISLE OF PALMS — A South Carolina judge has again directed two beachfront property homeowners to remove a seawall they constructed behind their house.

A month after S.C. Administrative Law Judge Ralph K. Anderson took back his decision ordering Rom and Renee Reddy to get rid of the ocean-facing seawall behind their Isle of Palms home, the judge has reverted to his original ruling.

Rom Reddy, who had the wall built in 2023, vows the fight is far from over.

This week, Anderson reversed his order from November after both Reddy and the Department of Environmental Services filed separate motions to reconsider the ruling. On Dec. 30, Anderson issued an amended order in the lengthy legal battle between the couple and the state.

In that order, the judge reaffirmed his original decision that the Reddys must tear down the erosion wall behind their house and restore the beach to its original condition.

The $289,000 worth of civil penalties levied by the state against the couple were also vacated. In his order, Anderson wrote that the homeowners were not “in direct violation of any permit” or had “violated a regulation, standard, or requirement” under the S.C. Coastal Zone Management Act when the state agency issued the fines in July 2024.

The judge did conclude DES does have the authority to order the removal of hard structures in the coastal zone “whether or not they are in the beaches critical area or landward of the setback line.”

He noted the wall had been built without any review by DES, and its installation had accelerated erosion of the beach.

He ordered Reddy to craft a plan to remove the wall and any non-beach compatible materials used for its construction within 60 days and submit the plan to the state’s environmental agency. Once DES approves that effort, the homeowners will have roughly four months to complete the work.

A DES spokesperson said the agency appreciates the removal timeline the judge laid out in his order.

In a written statement, Reddy said he plans to appeal the decision, saying he is displeased with the finding that DES can order removal of erosion control structures anywhere in the state’s coastal zone.

“Allowing an agency to have unilateral authority on private property is unconstitutional,” he said. “However, the administrative court is prevented by law from ruling on constitutional issues, which is a travesty.”

Reddy continued that given what he called the “constitutional issues at stake that will impact every property owner in this state, the Pacific Legal Foundation is joining this case on our behalf and will lead the appeals process.”

The Pacific Legal Foundation is a national public interest law firm. According to the foundation’s website, the law firm “defends Americans from government overreach and abuse.”

Leslie Lenhardt, an attorney with the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, said Anderson’s decision protects the public’s access to the beach.

“This order affirms that illegal seawalls disrupt natural beach dynamics and harm public access. The Court has protected the public interest in mapping out a clear timeline for Reddy's seawall removal,” Lenhardt said.