Roofer in Sullivans Island, SC

SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — It's been a long struggle between the residents of Sullivan's Island looking to preserve area trees and Dominion Energy's need for worker safety when working around power lines.

Last week the town voted to start a tree planting program with help from Dominion and SCDOT.

"We have some ideas of what this project could look like for the Town of Sullivan's Island, but certainly for the community at large as well," says Rebecca Fanning, Director of Resilience and Natural Resources for Sullivan's Island.

The Town of Sullivan's Island voted to match $25 thousand donations from SCDOT and Dominion to fund the tree planting program.

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"The $75,000 provided by the town, Dominion, and SCDOT, we don't have a clear agenda for that funding yet. The collaboration that has been formed between the utility company, the department of transportation, and ourselves is maintained and shepherds those funds," says Fanning.

Town officials say they've learned some lessons moving forward about where planting should take place.

"One thing that we've realized as a result of this project and collaboration is the need to consider utilities as a part of any planting plan. And just taking, for example, a relatively new construction of town hall and the fire station here behind me, we have young palmetto trees planted directly under power lines," adds Fanning.

The aftermath of Hurricane Hugo led to many trees being planted further away from homes, which meant closer to powerlines.

"After seeing trees crashing on roofs, people kept a safeguard zone between their houses and any tree plantings, and that's something that we need to reconsider carefully. There are trees like Palmetto trees that don't tend to bend and snap in storms at all, and could be planted very close to houses," Fanning says.

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Lessons learned as they plan for preserving the future.

"Ensuring that planting plans take into consideration the urban infrastructure and the various needs that folks have," says Fanning.

One current project underway is the relocation of 9 grand Palmettos from historic downtown to neighborhoods around Fort Moultrie.

They are still evaluating which trees can be relocated.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The construction of a multi-phase, scenic trail on Sullivan’s Island has left nearby homeowners with mixed feelings.

The existing trail at Station 16 has several entry points and boardwalks for residents and visitors to see the maritime forest, which spans close to 190 acres from Breach Inlet to Charleston Harbor.

“This trail has been used informally for decades by dog walkers, birders, nature lovers who are traversing through here,” neighbor Karen Byko said. “What we love about a formal trail is that it keeps people from traversing over those sacred dune areas.”

Town officials recently started building a new path, that would connect two historic monuments on the island. The trail would be ¾ of a mile long and between eight and 10 feet wide. It will also include ADA-accessible connections, boardwalks and benches.

Some homeowners felt the construction was “miscommunicated” by the town. Many say they stepped onto the trail one morning and the sight of a cleared, sandy path, came as a “shock.”

Town Administrator Joe Henderson said that the idea was pushed through the idea of a funding opportunity in 2022. In 2023, the town gained approval for a $100,000 grant from the South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department. Henderson said the trail design was discussed as early as 2012.

Henderson said the project has shown “ample opportunities for public comment” since its introduction.

“It was all there, every town council meeting has opportunity for public comment. Could there have been better communication from the town when construction began? Yes, of course. They could have said hey, we are starting this great project next week, you are going to start seeing signs and we’re going to start constructing the trail. That’s where I could see opportunity for improvement,” Byko said.

Several residents sent in complaints to the town, who addressed questions in a council workshop on Monday. Residential privacy and the impacts on coyote habitats were noted in the concerns. Others said they were worried about the use of equipment to cut the path, which is now littered with piles of cut overgrowth as construction continues.

Those with questions on the project asked it to be paused until a compromise was reached. As of Tuesday, Henderson claims the town intends to keep the plan on schedule. The project is set to be completed by the end of July.

The trail is meant to mimic the existing surrounding trails at low impact, connecting visitors from Fort Moultrie to the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse.

“People can walk through, see the birds and other wildlife. I’m enthusiastic that it will be handicap accessible on the lighthouse side,” neighbor Sarah Harper said. “I think people will understand what an important natural resource this protected land is. It’s highly valuable, but it’s more valuable as a natural resource.”

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SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Dominion Energy released a new plan to cut by more than half the number of Palmetto Trees it will remove from Sullivan’s Island.

The initial proposal called for the removal of 523 trees. But the new proposal would remove only 254 trees.

All over the island, there are hundreds of trees that have been marked with spray paint. Trees marked with a red spot will be cut down, but those marked with a white spot will be saved. The tweak in plans comes after town officials, residents and 8-year-old Keegan Novak rallied to protect the trees and got support from the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

“The Palmetto Tree is the State’s tree,” Secretary of Transportation Justin P. Powell said. “It is a symbol of our pride in our community and an iconic representation of what it means to be a South Carolinian. I’m proud of the work our SCDOT employees did to help navigate the safety issue at hand while ensuring we preserved as many of these historic trees as possible.”

Novak, with the help of his parents, placed signs that said, “Don’t cut ‘em down,” on hundreds of trees slated for removal. Members of the community and town government leaders rallied behind this effort. Novak is over the moon about Dominion’s new plan.

“I’m just really happy about it,” Novak said. “It’s more than I could wish for.”

Crews will remove the red-marked trees section by section starting next month as a part of Dominion’s routine five-year cycle to ensure safety and reliability with the trees growing too close to overhead power lines. Nine historic palmetto trees will now be relocated around Fort Moultrie.

“It’s just really important to our history and nature,” Novak said. “No trees, no humans. No human, no trees.”

Dominion and the town urge property owners to consider utility lines when planting trees in the future.

“There are ways to plant close to a rooftop safely and moving forward I would love to help folks plant on their lawns in such a way that trees with be safe from utility conflicts,” Director of Resilience and Natural Resource Management for the Town of Sullivan’s Island Rebecca Fanning said.

Mayor Patrick O’Neil said the timing of the decision couldn’t be more appropriate, as Friday is “Carolina Day.”

“Sullivan’s Island is the place where the palmetto earned its place on our flag and in our hearts from the Battle of Sullivan’s Island in 1776 on June 28, when the patriots when able to defend the island from an attack from the British fleet who were coming into the harbor, and they were fighting from behind a fort that was under construction but being built of palmetto logs,” O’Neil said.

The removal of trees will start next month. O’Neil said in the future for this process, the work will be done in the off-season.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — Dominion Energy announced earlier this year a project to remove more than 500 palmettos on Sullivan’s Island.

After collaborating with the state’s Department of Transportation and town leaders, that number was cut in half.

“I was not feeling hopeful that any of them would be saved,"said Rebecca Fanning, the town’s director of resilience and natural resource management. "I assumed that we may only save one or two that mistakenly wound up on the list."

Instead, that number quickly jumped to 269 trees saved.

READ MORE | "8-year-old's signs may change the future of tree removal on Sullivan's Island."

Sullivan’s Island residents were shocked when they heard Dominion’s original plan, pleading with town and state leaders to take a closer look.

“It does say to you that we perhaps should be asking more questions anytime Dominion says something needs to be cut,” said Karen Byko. “Whether it's a palmetto or a live oak tree, maybe there are ways we can get them to be more ecologically sensitive as they go about doing their work.”

And while the town is celebrating the number of trees saved, officials have their eyes on the future.

Dominion’s palmetto removals happen every five years, so, for now, the island has been given the gift of time to search for solutions.

“We have that now, and I hope that as a result of all of the resident support for this slowing of the process, that we'll use that time to get as many of these native sabal palmettos out of harm's way,” Fanning said.

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Sullivan's Island saves 269 palmettos from removal, plans to relocate historic trees (WCIV)

READ MORE | "Sullivan's Island group urges protection of Maritime Forest."

On top of the over 200 trees going untouched, nine of the island’s oldest palmettos are being recognized and relocated to Fort Moultrie.

“We're so excited that we'll be able to save those trees and put them into a prominent historical position here on the island,” Byko said.

The town is proud to preserve the palmetto’s history in the very place where they earned their spot on the state flag.

Work to remove the remaining trees starts July 8.

The nine historical palmettos won’t be relocated until the fall.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — Middle Street is giving off some definite California resort town vibes this fine Tuesday afternoon.

And it’s not just the traffic.

The sidewalks are filled with families eating ice cream and couples trudging toward the beach with their sunscreen and lounge chairs. The restaurants — all eight of them — are packed, even though it’s 2 o’clock.

The hour doesn’t matter much when you’re on island time.

These days, tourists outnumber the locals most weekends, and they’re doing a fair job on this particular weekday. But those locals are still around, and it’s not hard to spot 'em if you know where to look.

They’re walking their dogs past the bandstand where John Philip Sousa once performed, bellied up to the bar in Dunleavy’s … or hauling boxes out of Town Hall.

See, Andy Benke may be the most local of all: an islander from birth, a lifelong resident and town administrator for more than two decades. And on this picture-perfect afternoon, he's retiring.

In his time, Benke has seen a lot of change come to Sullivan’s Island. But there won’t be much more of it — and he's had a little something to do with that.

Sullivan’s is, in many ways, the absolute pinnacle for beach residents. It hasn’t had a hotel in a century and prohibits short-term rentals. The beach is actually growing, but its commercial district won’t.

You can chart the history of Sullivan’s Island by Benke’s family. His mom and dad bought a house here in the 1940s — for $5,500 — at a time when it was mostly a colony of summer beach houses for Charlestonians.

In those days, the full-time residents were decidedly blue collar. Benke still remembers when the island built its own wastewater treatment plant (a key decision), and his dad complained he had to pay $1,000 to tie in.

“It was like the frontier out here,” he says. “Lots of dads on the island worked at the shipyard. I had the good fortune to grow up here, bring my bride here in 1983 and raise my sons here. Somehow, the secret got out.”

A storm had something to do with that.

In 1989, Hurricane Hugo flattened a lot of the old homes. Bigger, newer ones replaced them — and prices began to rise quicker than the tide. That’s a common story, but the difference between Sullivan’s and many other islands has been local government.

Over the years, the town has taken particular care with important decisions. It banned hotels after its only one burned down in 1925. When the Army ceded all its local land, the town subdivided it into half-acre lots to control density.

In later years, the island capped the number of bars and restaurants, and it limited new construction to 5,200 square feet for aesthetics. Perhaps most importantly, Town Council banned short-term rentals before the Airbnb craze.

As Mayor Pat O’Neil says, at every turn Sullivan’s Island chose quality of life over profit. Which, as it turns out, made the island even more valuable.

Benke studiously avoided the politics of the decisions made on his watch. He and staff only presented options and carried out orders, Benke says. But O’Neil says Benke's input over the years has been invaluable.

“Andy looked at the island through a historical prism, and when you got his perspective you started to see the island differently,” the mayor says.

Benke had a front-row seat to debates over smoking in restaurants, dogs on the beach and what to do with the maritime forest — a debate that never really ends.

Most of Sullivan's issues today are problems of success. Its 2,000 residents are outnumbered by 5,000 visitors most weekends … and there are only 1,800 parking spaces between Middle Street and the ocean.

As real estate prices exploded, the longshoremen of Benke’s youth gave way to doctors and lawyers and, eventually, CEOs and movie stars.

Now, like many old-timers, Benke is moving on.

Two years ago, Benke moved off Sullivan’s for the first time. It wasn’t about cashing in, but the toll of all those hurricane seasons.

“I spent more time every August and September watching the Weather Channel than going out on the water,” he says. “So I moved to a part of Mount Pleasant that’s not in a flood zone, and I only have to walk up four stairs to my front door.”

You'll still see him around Sullivan's. He loves the fishing and surfing too much, and he and his wife go to church here. All the pluff mud in the world couldn’t keep him away.

“Sullivan’s Island is just a wonderful community,” he says. “I’m glad I’ve been a part of preserving that.”

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