Beachfront Construction

On March 31, 2004, Judge Markley Dennis granted permission for JoAnn Schultz to build a seawall at her home on Folly's front beach. Dennis also agreed to prevent the city of Folly Beach from enforcing its seawall regulations.

According to the April 1st article in the Charlestson Post and Courier, "both measures are temporary pending the outcome of a suit filed by Schultz in Frebruary against the city and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management [OCRM] which regulates beachfront development."

It's obvious to most folks that structures should never be built where Schultz's house sits -- virtually on the spring high tide line, at very high risk of damage by storm tides.

Thanks to weak and unenforced (or unenforceable) ordinances and regulations, new homes are continuing to be built in front of existing "front beach" homes -- ever closer to the ocean.

A seawall has already been built in front of the empty lot next door to Schultz -- that's right, empty lot.

The dunes, already undermined by the natural erosion of the ocean waves, are being attacked from the "rear" -- a land-side invasion of home and sea wall construction.

Just because "we can" build, should we?

The answer seems so simple ... NO. Haven't we learned our lesson yet?

In the words of Douglas Wood's Old Turtle, "STOP!"

In the words of Folly's turtles, "STOP!" ... not only for the sea turtles who emerge from the ocean and search for fewer and fewer nesting sites on Folly each summer, but for the general health of the beach environment.

Imagine all of Folly's beachfront property "protected" by seawalls and rock piles.

Now imagine no sea turtles nesting on Folly Beach.

1st Seawall -- "Next door" to 2 Summer Place
Folly Beach, April 2004