Revetment

Friends of the Kiawah River is working with the Coastal Conservation League and the South Carolina Environmental Law Project to halt the building by Kiawah Development Partners (Leonard Long and Buddy Darby) of a 2783 foot log bulkhead with a revetment that stretches at least 40 feet into the Kiawah River (see cross-sectional drawing.) This would enable KDP to build a road and then place up to 50 houses on Captain Sam’s Spit. DHEC issued a permit that authorized a 270 foot long revetment/bulkhead system to protect what is now the Beachwalker parking lot. But even the shortened revetment structure will harden the shoreline and affect the movement of water and sand.

Leonard Long and Buddy Darby appealed the decision, and asked for the additional 2,400 feet of revetment/bulkhead, so that they could commence development. Currently, there are no structures on the Spit, and it is home to the federally endangered piping plover, as well as the diamondback terrapin. Along this shoreline, bottlenose dolphins strand feed--a learned behavior, which is extraordinary to watch and is unique to this small part of the world.

The spit is protected under the federal Coastal Barrier Resources Act and is part of a dynamic inlet system that constantly migrates. The proposed bulkhead/revetment would prevent this natural flow of water and movement of sand and could have serious unintended consequences on the River, marsh, and adjacent lands, including the shoreline of Inlet Cove.

As an interim measure, KDP requested permission from DHEC to drive steel piling into the high ground of the narrow part of the Spit, to protect it from erosion. It was claimed that this had nothing to do with development. DHEC staff approved this structure, but the DHEC Board reviewed the decision and decided that the structure was indeed to assist development and therefore reversed the decision.

The SC Administrative Law Court upheld KDP’s appeal for the original structure, but imposed some constraints on the size of the revetment. Friends of the Kiawah River took the case to the SC Supreme Court. The hearing was held on January 18th 2011, but no decision has yet come down.

Their drawing - our colors