Decades-long Daufuskie marina struggle ends
BY PETER FROST, The Island Packet
Published Thursday, May 25, 2006
DAUFUSKIE ISLAND -- A planned inshore lock-harbor marina on Daufuskie Island has been scaled back significantly in a compromise reached by developer Plantation Land Properties and the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League.
The deal ends a nearly four-year legal battle between the two groups over the validity of a state-issued permit for the marina and clears the way for construction to begin on the project.
The planned marina, on the 730-acre Webb Tract on the north end of the island, has been in the works for more than 20 years.
"We've worked a long time on getting this straightened out," said Pete Lang, managing partner for Plantation Land Properties, the company that also owns the Oak Ridge Tract on the south side of Daufuskie and 90 percent of the undeveloped land on the island.
When asked Wednesday how soon construction might begin on the marina, Lang declined to give a timeline, but said: "Let's put it this way -- the gateway for development has been opened on Daufuskie. I would just say: Stay tuned."
As part of the agreement, which was reached outside the courts:
. The planned 280-slip marina has been reduced to 50 slips.
. A planned inland lock-harbor will be replaced by a dam located 2 feet below the water during high tide, allowing for daily tidal exchange of clean water but restricting the size of boats allowed. The dam would help create a 5- to 56-acre saltwater lagoon and marsh system that will aid more natural water flow and help improve water quality.
. The removal of about 80 percent of the bulkheads, which are like railroad ties, projected to line the waterway in the original plan. Under the new plan, the bulkheads will be replaced with naturally sloping sides of vegetation to better filter pollution from stormwater runoff.
. Plans for a separate 94-slip intracoastal marina and a 400-slip dry-stack storage facility will remain as permitted.
"We're very pleased; it was a good compromise," said Nancy Vinson, water-quality program director for the Coastal Conservation League. "It's a mutually acceptable agreement that doesn't harm the environment and avoids setting a dangerous legal precedent."
The Coastal Conservation League was concerned about how permit extensions are granted by the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, the agency in charge of issuing permits for development in coastal areas.
Vinson said the construction of a lock-harbor marina would have threatened water quality, and wakes made by large boats would have caused erosion and other damage to the sensitive tidal creeks.
"We were concerned that every time you'd open that lock to allow a boat in or out, you'd have a slug of pollution and nonoxygenated stagnant water rushing out into the Intracoastal (Waterway)," Vinson said. "The elimination of the lock-harbor marina is very, very significant."
The project initially called for digging a marina in an upland area beside the water and installing a lock system to keep the water in the marina at a consistent level, which would allow for larger boats.
The state issued a permit for the lock-harbor marina in the mid-1980s. In 1999, Plantation Land Properties purchased the Webb Tract from International Paper, and it was granted a five-year extension on the permit in 2000.
In 2003, the Coastal Conservation League sued, saying that work directly related to the permit had to be done in order to justify renewing the permit. But in December 2004, a Beaufort County court found that enough work had been done to justify the permit's renewal.
"We're very pleased to have this finally settled," Lang said.
He said the company has long had the goal of creating an environmentally sensitive development. Earlier this year, Lang's Conservation by Design planted some 40,000 sea oats along 3,000 feet of beach beside the Oak Ridge Tract to prevent erosion.
"Our property owners are more worried about the environmental integrity of the island than we are about the development of the property," Lang said. "Everyone should welcome this change with open arms."
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