Update 9/24/20: GREAT NEWS!! The Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-0 to reject the proposed Bay Point development. Thank you to all who spoke up for the vast amount of wildlife that depend on our barrier islands for their survival!
09/24/20 – Board denies controversial plan to put luxury resort on barrier island – Post and Courier
Bay Point Island, a vulnerable barrier island bordering Port Royal Sound in Beaufort County, is the site of a proposed “ecotourism” development which will include fifty beach bungalows, four spa and wellness centers, several restaurants, and areas for listening to music and watching movies—all to be constructed on the island. A solar field is included in preliminary designs, however it is insufficient to generate the amount of electricity the resort indicates it will use. Ten septic fields are also planned on the small island, along with stormwater ponds – and 33,000 gallons per day will need to be withdrawn from a local aquifer, straining already depleted groundwater resources and exacerbating saltwater intrusion.
Development on barrier islands in general is short-sighted, as they are highly erosional. This island is also a nationally-designated “Important Bird Area,” holding up to 8,000 shorebirds at some times. It provides critical habitat for threatened Loggerhead Sea Turtles and adjoins sensitive salt-marsh areas which are a nursery ground for shrimp, crabs, oysters, and many species of bony fish which are important to South Carolina’s seafood industry, as well as being extremely valuable to the culture and livelihood of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
Bay Point Island, in its natural state, is ecologically essential for its wildlife habitat value, economically valuable to the seafood industry in South Carolina, and culturally significant to the people of the Gullah/Geechee Nation as well as the people of Beaufort.
You can learn more about the proposed development at the Coastal Conservation League’s website here, and see links above and below to sign a petition opposing this project.
How can you help save bay point island?
Please sign the petition linked below – we are hoping to get 35,000 signatures before the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday!!
In addition, you may attend the next meeting of the Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals where they will discuss this issue – details below. Also below is a letter from SCWF Executive Director, Sara Green, to the Zoning Board members urging them to deny this application.
Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals meeting
September 24, 2020 at 5 pm
Burton Wells County Park Gymnasium
1 Middleton Recreation Drive
Beaufort, SC 29906
MASKS ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND.
The County will be providing socially-distanced seating and hand sanitizer.
UPDATE 9/23: This meeting will ALSO be live-streamed over Beaufort County’s Facebook Page HERE. Virtual attendees can submit comments using Facebook’s chat feature during the live stream. While attending in person is the best way to ensure your comments are heard, this option provides a way to comment for those who don’t feel they can attend safely.
Related News Stories:
09/20/20 – Editorial: Don’t let Bay Point Island fall – Post and Courier
09/16/20 – Beaufort County should reject Bay Point development – The Island News
09/14/20 – Gov. McMaster’s Bay Point Island letter – Post and Courier
08/19/20 – Gov. McMaster calls for luxury ‘ecoresort’ plan for SC barrier island to be rejected – Post and Courier
07/21/20 – Contested SC eco-resort plan, flagged as ‘greenwashing,’ up for key decision soon – Post and Courier
07/07/20 – Commentary: Bay Point Island is no place to put a resort – Post and Courier
05/11/20 – Editorial: Oppose barrier island development – Post and Courier
05/06/20 – Resort plan for SC barrier island advances with county now saying it’s ecotourism – Post and Courier
12/20/19 (updated 04/24/20) – $100M resort plan for undeveloped SC barrier island isn’t ‘ecotourism,’ county staff says – Post and Courier
Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals
Attn: John Chemsak, Kevin Mack, Mark McGinnis, William Cecil Mitchell, III, Bernard Rivers, Chester Williams
September 21, 2020
Dear Sirs:
On behalf of over 10,000 supporters of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, I write to you today to urge you to deny the application to build an “ecotourism” resort on Bay Point Island.
Barrier islands, such as Bay Point, serve to protect our coastline and our communities from the impacts of major storms and sea level rise. In this case, Bay Point Island is acting as a natural buffer to Parris Island Marine Base and other Beaufort communities. Alteration of this barrier island could result in less protection for these communities.
The very nature of barrier islands is highly erosional, often “migrating” on shifting sands. To see the intense natural erosion of barrier islands, you can look at the undeveloped Pritchards Island nearby as an example. Having spent much time there several years ago as a marine science undergrad at the University of South Carolina, I can testify to how much it has changed since then. The research station facility (my home for a summer), which now stands precariously in the surf, used to be approximately 100 yards from the dunes, situated deep in the maritime forest.
With the increasing intensity and frequency of hurricanes recently, scientists anticipate faster erosion on barrier islands in the future. If any structures are built on Bay Point Island, you can be assured that Beaufort County will be investing a significant amount of money in erosion control measures. Those measures will absolutely destroy valuable habitat for federally threatened sea turtles, as well as nesting shorebirds, and many other species which depend on the fragile ecosystem of our coasts.
Bay Point Island is a nationally-designated “Important Bird Area” sometimes holding up to 8,000 shorebirds! Wilson’s Plovers have been observed on the island – these shorebirds are listed as federally threatened. The natural areas on our coast are also a critical stopping point for Red Knot shorebirds on their 19,000 mile roundtrip migration from the southernmost tip of Argentina to the tundra of the Canadian Arctic. They stop to rest in South Carolina and fatten up on the eggs of Horseshoe crabs which come up on our beaches to spawn. Undisturbed areas like Bay Point are critical feeding grounds for this bird on its incredible annual journey.
In addition to the certainty of erosion issues and disturbance of important habitat for vulnerable wildlife on the island, the transportation of supplies for, and waste from, this resort would assuredly go through sensitive estuary/marsh habitat which is an important nursery area and critical habitat for shrimp, crabs, oysters, and many species of bony fish which are important to South Carolina’s seafood industry, as well as being extremely valuable to the culture and livelihood of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
The amount of water that developers plan to extract from the already depleted groundwater in the area would also exacerbate saltwater intrusion already happening as evidenced by the loss of 50% of the island’s former tree canopy. Any disruption to the natural balance of the salinity of the marsh could have disastrous effects on the plants and animals which depend on this fragile environment.
Bay Point Island, in its natural state, is ecologically essential for its wildlife habitat value, economically valuable to the seafood industry in South Carolina, and culturally significant to the people of the Gullah/Geechee Nation as well as the people of Beaufort. The South Carolina Wildlife Federation urges you to protect this valuable natural resource from development.
Thank you for your consideration of this very important issue.
Sincerely,
Sara Green
Executive Director
