Junk Removal in Folly Beach, SC

For TALK Greenville

Just 11 miles from downtown Charleston, Folly Beach is known as one of America’s last authentic beach towns. At times, this seaside town on a barrier island feels like a discovery – a slice of a simpler time when going to the beach meant lazy, flip-flop days filled with salty breezes and fresh-caught seafood. It’s this lifestyle that distinguishes Folly Beach from other beaches.

Head to the Beach at Folly Beach County Park

The Folly Beach County Park features six miles of wide, sandy beach on the island's west end. Take a stroll and search for beach treasures like shark teeth, shells and sand dollars or just watch the lapping waves. The park is open from 8 a.m. until sunset. Lifeguards are on duty and beach chairs and umbrellas are available to rent. There’s also easy access to restrooms and outdoor showers.

Catch the Sunset at Folly Beach Pier

A landmark, Folly Beach Pier once attracted shaggers along with famous bands, such as The Drifters and The Coasters. After a two-year renovation, the pier reopened last year with many upgrades. The new pier now stretches 1,049 feet into the Atlantic and is one of the longest fishing piers on the East Coast. It’s worth a stroll down to the platform at the end to catch a sunset. Grab a seat under an umbrella at Pier 101, the pier's new restaurant and bar, and enjoy a cold brew or a casual meal with ocean views.

Catch a Wave

Folly is recognized as one of the best surfing spots on the East Coast. Surf by the pier or test your skills at The Washout, a popular surfing spot with a reputation for the area’s best waves. You can rent a board or sign-up for a lesson at one of the many surf shops, like local favorite McKevlin’s, one of the oldest surf shops in the country.

Explore Center Street

Just steps from the beach is Center Street, the hub of downtown Folly, where you’ll find come-as-you-are dining spots, rooftop bars, indie stores and local surf shops. Be sure to check out Folly Beach Adventures, a popular place for all types of rentals, like paddleboards, e-bikes, and more.

Beach Eats and Cold Sips

While local seafood is the star, there are many restaurant options to satisfy every taste. Here are a few local favorites. A beach staple, Bert’s Market is a 24-hour go-to for sandwiches, snacks and beach gear. Popular Taco Boy features a lineup of inventive tacos with fresh ingredients. Dig into local seafood, burgers, and fresh cocktails on the deck at Loggerhead’s Beach Grill. For more than 20 years, The Crab Shack has been an island go-to for fried seafood baskets and steamed buckets. Get to Rita’s Seaside Grille for frozen black cherry crushes, fresh oysters, shrimp, and live music. Snapper Jack’s Seafood and Raw Bar offers three levels of patio dining with an ocean view at the top and a menu packed with everything from oysters to sushi. The Washout Out has affordable beach eats, like crab cakes and burgers, and summer cocktails like the Midsummer Mojito. Lowlife Bar serves brunch options daily and great local shrimp rolls at lunch. Chico Feo has a small but tasty menu; try the goat curry and cucumber-lemonade sake.

For more info, visitfolly.com

50 YEARS OF FOLLY

Folly Beach celebrates 50 years as a city with a fun-filled anniversary festival, September 22 through October 1, 2023. The celebration kicks off with a 1920s-themed gala at The Tides and continues with daily events such as street parties with food and live music, a classic car show, carnival rides and a shagging party on Folly Pier. For more info, visit visitfolly.com

FOLLY BEACH — It’s been an expensive task for this beach city to keep its head above water in recent years.

Fresh loads of sand have been dumped five times on Folly Beach in the last three decades, a feat totaling $77 million in federal tax dollars and local funds arranged from the city, according to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The federal government has allocated another $27 million for the emergency replacement of the equivalent of 90,000 dump truck loads of sand here in early 2024.

A number of factors have contributed to the frequent erosion seen on the beach. Scientists believe climate change, sea level rise and increasing storminess is at play.

But Folly Beach is a special in the eyes of the federal government because it is located down drift of the Charleston Harbor and its federally created jetties. These underwater rock walls span three miles into the water from the shorelines of Sullivan’s and Morris islands. They trap sand around Sullivan’s Island which prohibits the sand from flowing naturally down to Folly Beach, said Nicole Elko, president of Elko Coastal Consulting.

“For that reason, the only addition of sand that Folly receives is from renourishment,” said Elko, who is working as a consultant for Folly Beach.

The last few coastal storms to reach South Carolina took a toll on Folly Beach, too. Emergency renourishments were done in 2005 because of destruction from Hurricane Ophelia and in 2018 because of hurricanes Irma and Matthew.

Folly Beach lost a good bit of sand during Ian last year, too. And the city had already hit its renourishment triggers prior to the storm.

How it works

The process for renourishment is tedious and includes several steps. Engineering and design plans need to be on par before crews begin the work.

But once ready, contractors use a vacuum-like drill to agitate sand down at the seabed of a body of water. The sand then makes its way through the dredge itself. And depending on the distance from the selected seabed to the shore, the sand can be pumped directly on the beach.

Earthmoving equipment, primarily bulldozers, are then used to settle and shape the sand based on the desired design, said Jeff Livasy, the head of civil works for the Army Corps’ Charleston District.

Sand can come from several “borrow areas,” but it has to be compatible with the beach. The Folly River has been used in the past for Folly Beach.

There have been hiccups with this, though.

Rocks or cemented sands were deposited on the beach during a previous renorishment. It is unclear what year it happened.

“We assessed it and it looked like the right type of material,” Livasy said. “But how much of it was cemented together and how, yes, it can come through in large chunks like it did in that renourishment cycle, was unfortunate.”

The next renourishment project is now in the design phase, and Livasy said the Corps will try to avoid a repeat of the last mishap.

“But at the end of the day, we have the borrow sites that we have, and we will make use of them the best we can,” Livasy said.

Preserving new sand

Renourishment projects are part of the bigger beach preservation plan on Folly Beach, Elko said. Putting the sand back on the beach is the most important part.

“But then dune restoration, which includes sand fencing and native vegetation planting, is another piece of that preservation project,” Elko said.

Another important method is land management, or not building structures on the beach. This pertains to homes built on super beachfront lots that sit further out toward the shore than others.

“You want to build your houses behind the dunes,” Elko said. “You don’t want them out, exposed to wave energy, and you don’t want the environment to be affected in that way.”

Elko said the city is currently trying to stop such construction.

After the 2018 renourishment, the South Carolina Environmental Law Project filed a lawsuit challenging the ownership of newly created land on behalf of the city, Coastal Conservation League, Save Folly Beach and a group of homeowners.

The law project said a group of homeowners of super beachfront property claimed ownership of the new dry ground and took steps to pursue development there before the property reverted back to beach and ocean.

Houses on these super beachfront lots have been condemned repeatedly and add to the erosion issues.

“Are we really okay with people building houses that we know are going to be underwater within a year or two after a renourishment?” asked Amy Armstrong, an attorney with the law project. “Is that a good policy for the state?”

Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin said although the case is very involved, it’s meant to protect the city’s natural resources.

Oral argument for the case were heard before the S.C. Court of Appeals on May 11.

The federal government says the party’s over for a floating island moored in a tidal creek near Folly Beach, and it wants a judge to order the charter boat business that rents the structure for festivities to permanently remove it and pay for any damages.

The roughly 1,000-square-foot Hooley Island, operated by Hooley World Wide Inc., is an illegal obstruction in navigable waters and a violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a lawsuit filed July 14 in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

The government alleged that Hooley, which does business as Huckfin Charters, did not have permission to install the manmade wooden deck, which sits in the middle of a creek that flows into the Folly River.

The company did not respond to a request for comment July 19. It had not filed a response to the lawsuit as of Wednesday.

Hooley rents the 32-foot by 32-foot floating island to partygoers for rates starting at $600 for two hours. Guests are shuttled by boat to and from the structure, which includes lounge chairs and a grill, according to the company’s website. Customers can also purchase shotgun shells, clay targets and biodegradable golf balls “to hit off Hooley Island,” the website states.

“Looking for an exclusive island experience to get away from the crowds and your busy lives, our one of a kind floating island located in the Folly River is for you,” according to the website, which urges potential customers to “experience what all the hype has been about.”

“To make your stay comfortable for hours on end the area is equipped with shade cloths and a grill for your summer cookout, lounge chairs and lots and lots of water floats to easily cool off,” the website states.

Christian Schlebach, Hooley’s owner, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Schlebach, a former Olympic sailor and South Africa native, owns a home in Charleston, according to the federal government and public property records, but his Hooley World Wide is based in Newport, R.I. Huckfin Charters operates at 9th Street West in Folly Beach, according to the lawsuit.

Schlebach did not respond to a request for comment.

Hooley installed the floating island in March 2019, court documents show.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control tried to have it removed it shortly after it was installed, but the company refused, saying it was not a permanent structure that can be regulated by the agency.

After a small fire broke out on the structure on New Year’s Day 2020, inspectors learned Hooley had affixed a motor to the party platform and registered it as a watercraft.

As part of its lawsuit, the federal government wants Hooley to account for the money that’s been made operating the structure as a commercial venture and turn those proceeds over for use in waterway remediation projects conducted by the Army Corps.

The complaint is the second in recent months targeting floating structures in Charleston-area waterways that operate as commercial businesses.

In May, the federal government asked a judge to force the removal of a tiki bar that’s been moored in the Ashley River for several years. Hydrofly LLC, the owner of the floating hut, has not yet filed a response to that complaint and the case is listed as pending.

Samuel George Pannier, the company’s owner, told The Post and Courier in May that he believed the issue has already been settled.

Charleston County and Folly Beach have scored the largest flood insurance discounts in South Carolina, and few local governments in the nation have had more success in the FEMA incentive program that provides the savings.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Rating System rewards property owners with lower flood insurance rates when their governments take steps to reduce potential damage and raise awareness.

More than 1,700 governments participate nationwide, but only two have a score better than Charleston County’s, and only nine have a score better than Folly Beach’s.

The reward is a 40 percent discount on flood insurance policies for property owners in unincorporated Charleston County — the areas that aren’t part of any town or city in the county — and a 35 percent discount for those on Folly Beach.

“It’s financially helpful, and also makes us a more resilient community,” Folly Beach Administrator Aaron Pope said.

Charleston County’s CRS score improved this year and the 40 percent insurance discount, increased from 35 percent, will be effective Oct. 1.

“I’m so proud of my team,” said Hakim Bayyoud, the county’s director of building inspection services. “A lot of other jurisdictions reach out to us for help.”

So, how did the county and Folly Beach score so highly, and why do most towns and cities in Charleston County have worse scores and lower insurance discounts?

In the county’s three largest municipalities, residents of the city of Charleston and Mount Pleasant get a 20 percent discount, and North Charleston residents get 15 percent off their flood insurance.

Part of the answer is that the best scores are usually related to more strict regulations dealing with flooding and building construction, and some governments aren’t willing to go that far.

Costs and benefits

“The more restrictions and requirements you put on development, and substantial damage and improvement (rules), the greater the discount you get,” said Matt Fountain, Charleston’s director of stormwater management. “There are other ways to get points but that’s one of the main ones.”

A good example is the “freeboard” rule that determines how high new buildings must be above base flood lines. Higher buildings mean less potential flood damage, but a sticking point comes when those rules apply to existing homes.

That’s the “substantial damage and improvement” rule Fountain referenced. If improvements or repairs to a building cost at least 50 percent of what a building is worth, it could be required to meet current building code rules, and that could mean having to elevate a home at great expense.

Charleston City Council in 2020 raised the city’s freeboard rule from 1 to 2 feet, but exempted existing homes that sustain damage equal to at least half their value. The council was responding to concerns about adding costs for homeowners who could have to rebuild after a flood or hurricane, but exempting those properties cost the city some potential CRS points.

“The potential for acute individual harm was not worth the widespread moderate benefit (of a higher insurance discount), for many council members,” Fountain said. “Once you’re down to a level six (CRS score) there’s no low-hanging fruit left.”

Charleston County adopted a 2-foot freeboard rule with no exception, and also reduced the damage threshold to 49 percent. Mount Pleasant also adopted a 2-foot freeboard rule, and on Folly Beach it’s 4 feet. All those measures help with CRS scores and flood resiliency.

Folly Beach calculates the value of building improvements over a rolling 10-year period, making the rule even stricter. And Folly Beach treats all property in the barrier island city as if it’s in a “V” flood zone, even where it’s not, which mean tougher building rules.

“The last 10 years or so, we’ve had councils that were willing, from the regulatory standpoint, to tighten up our flood-related rules,” said Pope. “It’s elevating buildings, decreasing damage from floods, and everyone on Folly Beach gets a 35 percent discount on their flood insurance.”

Fountain does not expect Charleston’s CRS score of 6 to change during an upcoming review, but said an ongoing rewrite of the city’s zoning code could help in the future.

“We just have not been as focused on points as we have been on flood reduction for our citizens,” he said, citing the city’s massive pump-and-tunnel drainage projects on the peninsula.

CRS scores range from 1, the highest, to 9, the lowest. Charleston County has a 2 and Folly Beach has a 3.

Seeking larger discounts

North Charleston and Mount Pleasant officials said they expect those municipality’s scores to improve after reviews in 2024.

“We’re hoping to go two or three stages better than we are now,” said Adam MacConnell, North Charleston’s senior projects manager. If that happens, the city’s CRS score could go from a 7 to a 5 or even a 4, which would be the third-best score in South Carolina, and flood insurance discounts could rise from 15 percent to as much as 30 percent.

“We understand that we have a lower rating than the county, and we are taking active steps to address that,” he said. “We recently set out a resilience working group in the city to address these issues, and have been doing some training with the CRS folks about improving our scores.”

MacConnell said Charleston County gets lots of its CRS points by restricting development in flood plains, and much of that comes from the county’s Greenbelt program. The Greenbelt program buys open space, but also purchases the development rights to large properties from willing owners.

Towns and cities in metropolitan areas tend to have less undeveloped land to potentially protect, but North Charleston has used county Greenbelt funds to buy or protect wetlands and watersheds.

High CRS scores also require enormous amounts of staff time and paperwork, to document all the things that can add points. The National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System manual is 641 pages long.

William Horne is Mount Pleasant’s deputy engineering and development services director, and before joining the town staff in the summer of 2021 he was Charleston County’s assistant director of building inspection services. Horne said his work for the county is one reason the county’s score is so good, and he’s confident Mount Pleasant’s score will improve when FEMA does a review in 2023.

Scores are only reviewed every three to five years. Each improvement in a score comes with an additional 5 percent discount on flood insurance. So, a community with a 9, such as Columbia, gets a 5 percent discount while a community with a 3 like Folly Beach gets 35 percent off.

“I don’t see a problem with (Mount Pleasant scoring) a five,” said Horne. “I hope to be a four.”

He said documenting the town’s efforts to control stormwater, such as tightening the rules for how much of a property can be covered by impervious surfaces that don’t absorb water, will help.

FOLLY BEACH – Those looking to book their future vacations on Folly Beach may need to start planning ahead after a recent vote capping the number of short-term rental properties on the barrier island.

Folly Beach residents voted “yes” on Tuesday to enact a cap on short-term rentals at 800 units.

The results came in 656-579. The vote is expected to change the course of Folly rentals, similar to what’s happening statewide as cities and counties react to an increase in short-term rentals.

Folly Beach residents have been divided for years on whether to cap short-term rentals.

The beaches of Charleston, including Folly, are largely responsible for the masses of tourists that visit the area each year.

Folly is a popular destination for Upstate, Midlands and Lowcountry folks looking for a weekend escape on the six-mile stretch of a barrier island.

“Tourism, in general, is crucial to Folly,” said Vince Perna, a sign-carrying Folly resident who encouraged people to vote “no” the morning of the vote.

Folly is not the first to see a change in rules and regulations.

The Town of Mount Pleasant capped short-term rental permits at 414 for 2023, half as many as Folly.

The City of North Charleston allows eight guests maximum at any rental, while the city of Charleston allows only four adults at a time in a short-term rental.

The South Carolina Policy Council, an unaffiliated think tank, studied short-term rentals across the state during the summer of 2022.

Folly Beach was included as a “positive example of short-term rental policy,” according to the study.

“The kind of general messaging that we’ve been trying to push to some municipalities is actually to look at the specific problem that your municipality has, and make regulations accordingly,” said Bryce Fielder, senior policy analyst for the Policy Council.

Some residents of Folly and surrounding areas had been campaigning on either side long before the Feb. 7 vote.

Yard signs were scattered across Folly and parts of James Island in support of either “Folly United” or “Save Folly’s Future.”

Before the vote, Folly real estate agent Carrie Rosen wanted the short-term rental cap to be greater than 800.

“If we start a cap north of the amount we have right now, I think we would be able to agree a lot more,” Rosen said. “We wouldn’t have such a divide.”

Rosen helped organize “Folly United,” which argued the cap on short-term rentals hadn’t been fully thought through and feared it would impact Folly’s businesses, taxes and property values.

The other side of the vote was “Save Folly’s Future.”

Its successful mission was to “save a disappearing community and way of life by reversing the island’s population decline,” as said on its website.

A group of residents about a year ago banded together to help create the Folly Beach Residents Association, which supported “Save Folly’s Future.”

The residents association was looking for a compromise, said Ann Peets, who helped the association with its marketing and communications.

“We’re not trying to push people off the island,” Peets said. “It’s a tourist island – everybody gets that. We’re really working together to strive for community balance and quality of life.”

Even though Folly residents have voted “yes” to limiting the number of short-term rentals, that doesn’t mean the issue is settled.

The 1,157 short-term rental licenses held can remain in use until there’s a change of ownership for those properties.