The County park was a wonderful amenity to Folly and sounds as though it will return. It brings a little more traffic in the summer, but the traffic is mostly families and not crazy drinkers. That end of the island was really a beautiful place. However, when the park comes back I guess I will have to surf fish at the east end.
Mike, you are absolutely right. An entire culture is disappearing on Hatteras/Ocracoke Islands.
Its sad there, but there might be some light at the end of this expensive and time wasting crusade, it seems the Congress and Senate are getting into the act with the “access to public” being their weapon.
Its sad that this all started with a speeding ticket. Now 60% of the beaches I used to surf fish are closed because a Piping Plover “may” nest there.
I think that if they dredge the Folly once again, the sand is just gonna migrate (again) into Stono Inlet, erosion on the beach is gonna get worse and then the Folly will fill in (again )
Mike Crouch
Sea Tow Charleston
843-881-8949
Looks like Bonzo was right:
Coastal Conservation League drops opposition to groin at Folly Beach park
FOLLY BEACH Both sides gave ground, finally, and the Coastal Conservation League now says it wont oppose a permit to build a groin at the severely eroding county park here.
The environmental advocate league has reached a compromise with Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission that clears the way to try to restore lost beach and protect sand renourishment to rebuild the Folly Beach County Park that has been closed for more than a year.
The project now awaits state and federal permits. The state permit is under review.
Once the Army Corps of Engineers has the state permit in hand, deciding on the federal permit will become a priority to us, said Glenn Jeffries, Charleston district office public affairs officer. Well do it as quickly as possible.
It cant be too soon. The sands that formerly were the park grounds now sweep into the marsh behind it. The parking lot is eroded away. The former dune walkovers and park offices have been removed.
If the league had opposed the permits in court, the protracted fight could have doomed the popular park, one of only three sizable public beach parks in the Charleston area. The compromise ended a three-month stalemate over negotiations that occasionally angered both sides and at times was reduced to position papers drafted by an attorney.
It seemed like once we stepped away from that process, we got right back on track, said Katie Zimmerman of the league.
I really think that they wanted it resolved. I know we wanted it resolved, and at the end of the day the process will be fair, said Tom ORourke, commission executive director. The winners in all this are the people who live here.
The league originally opposed building a 700-foot groin that would have stretched 250 feet or more into the ocean, but w