Edisto Beach surprised by building boom

Posted

By VICKI BROWN

vbrown@lowcountry.com

Edisto Beach is having an unexpected building boom, with new construction visible throughout the town.

According to Edisto Beach Mayor Jane Darby, all vacant lots within the town’s jurisdiction have been purchased, and building officials within the town are either anticipating construction or construction has already begun.

“Every lot has something going on,” said Darby. “And where existing buildings or houses are, there seem to be additions being constructed on many of them.”

While the mayor is surprised at the building boom due to the rapidly rising costs of construction materials, she is also concerned about the infrastructure within the town and how the town can meet the needs of more houses – and people.

In the last Edisto Beach Town Council meeting, which was held in April, town leaders discussed problems they are having with the existing water and sewage lines. This prompted the council to initiate an immediate moratorium on new construction on any property that has not already perked. Existing buildings with additions being constructed are allowed to continue. Construction on perked property may also continue.

The current construction boom is based on houses that do not require tapping into the town’s sewage system.

As of March, there have been approximately 35 new construction permits issued in the town limits, according to building permit information provided by town officials.

“Our situation is that the pipes have not been upgraded in years, even though the area has grown. A lot of contractors have just tapped sidelines into the pipes,” said Darby. “The pipes are too small, which causes a backup. Nothing can pump into the main pipe until the pressure is lower. This causes a back-up. We have to redesign the system to correct that.

“We have overgrown our capacity, and grown past what our two trunk lines could handle,” she added.

An engineer has been hired by the town’s council to look into the situation and to study ways to correct the problem. This is going to cost a lot of money, she said.

“We will have to finance this in phases,” said Darby. “This is probably going to cost almost a million dollars.”

Edisto Beach Town Council will meet again on May 6th to study the information provided by the engineer. That meeting occurred after this newspaper’s print deadline.