By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Russ Point Boat Landing on Hunting Island did close on April 1, but it will not be staying closed due to efforts from local elected officials and pressure from the community.
A sticker saying “TEMPORARILY” has been placed over the word “PERMANENT” on the sign posted at the landing announcing the closure.
The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT) they have now had approval from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) and the Army Corps of Engineers to implement a temporary fix as a first phase to allow the ramp to reopen to the public while a more permanent solution is worked out, according to SCRPT spokesperson Sam Queen.
SCPRT will add rip-rap and gravel to temporarily fix the road, thanks to a permit that they applied for months ago, well before they decided to close the boat ramp to the public.
Currently, the office of state engineers is reviewing everything, but Queen said that she expects the project to go out for bid in the next few weeks, starting the state’s procurement process.
SCPRT is hopeful that the landing will be back open for use in a few months, said Queen, but a lot of that is dependent on the schedule of the contractor that they hire.
Beaufort County Council Member York Glover held a community meeting on Thursday, April 4, to discuss updates regarding the landing’s closure.
He read a letter from S.C. Sen. Chip Campsen, whose district includes Hunting Island and Fripp Island, about the closure issue. S.C. Representative Shannon Erickson spoke to the gathered crowd of concerned citizens, as well.
Roughly 120 members of the public attended the meeting at the St. Helena Branch of the Beaufort County Library.
Campsen said that he had conversations with SCPRT Director Duane Parrish about the importance of the landing, as it is vital to many who live and work in the Lowcountry.
Erickson said that what the temporary fix does is buys time to try and find a more permanent fix to the problem.
“We’ve got engineers working to try and give us different scenarios to try and keep this from reoccurring,” Erickson said.
Options that are being considered are moving the boat ramp to a different area of the landing to shorten the road, or adding a full seawall down the access road that would take the brunt of some of those waves, among other options.
“Now that DHEC is on board and they see what is going on, I think we can take the permit that we have and amend it,” Erickson said. “So that way we don’t have to start from scratch.”
She also said that having all the agencies working with one another is the key piece that has fallen into place.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
