Registered voters of Holden Beach will decide this November whether to approve a multi-million bond that would pay for construction of a new town-owned pier.
Holden Beach commissioners on Tuesday evening unanimously agreed to move ahead with plans to get a $7.3 million bond referendum added to the Nov. 4 ballot.
Supporter Spotlight
The board’s decision followed the second public hearing commissioners hosted within the past week on what remains a divisive topic since this Brunswick County town bought the old pier and accompanying property three years ago.
Shortly after the town’s $3.3 million purchase in 2022, officials, citing safety concerns, closed the pier and historic pier house to the public.
An engineering firm contracted by the town would later advise the town that the structures, originally built in the late 1950s, were in significant disrepair.
Last April, the pier house was demolished, leaving a vacancy on land that includes an 80-space parking lot, two public beach access points, an emergency beach access point, and a multisite campground. The property spans more than three acres and includes a 350-foot stretch of continuous oceanfront land.
A chunk of the old pier remains standing beyond the surf off the ocean shore smack in the center of the barrier island.
Supporter Spotlight
HDR Engineering Inc. of the Carolinas recommended the town tear down and replace that structure at a cost not to exceed $7.3 million.
Commissioners agreed to pursue a pier replacement option and gave the engineering firm the greenlight to research building a 1,000-foot-long timber pier with a T-shaped structure at the end.
“My bet is if we have a decent engineering company that’s going to construct that pier and it’s going to be wooden then it’s going to be standing here when a majority of us, and most of us in this audience are fairly old, are gone,” Regina Martin said during a public hearing held last Saturday. “But, guess what? My grandchildren and my great-grandchildren will still be here. And, guess what? They will still remember that I used to work at the fishing pier when I was 13, 14 and 15.”
Martin, who owns rental property on the island, reiterated her support for a pier replacement at the hearing late Tuesday afternoon, when those who spoke resumed a back-and-forth debate of sorts about whether the town needs another pier, especially one funded by its taxpayers.
“I hear you all telling me that people don’t want a pier, they don’t want this, they don’t want a tax increase. And, none of us want a tax increase, but we’re talking about a bond referendum here that we may or may not ever use. If we vote for it, it’s another option,” she said Tuesday.
Longtime Holden Beach resident Steve Jenkins said Tuesday that he too wants the town to replace the pier.
“I’ve always had it and I always hope we will have it,” he said. “I’ve always loved this place and I’d like to have it restored to the way it was before.”
But others argue that those who want a new pier are driven by nostalgia and that costs associated with building and maintaining a pier are too burdensome.
Bob Brown said that since he and his wife bought their Ocean Boulevard vacation home a little more than eight years ago, their use of the old pier “has never been too significant.”
“Here we are owners of something that is in a state of significant disrepair, which requires an even more significant investment of property owners, not just voters’ dollars to make what I consider to be slightly flavored water out of lemon,” Brown said on Saturday. “And what is the end here? If we got such a good deal then we should probably be able to see it and break even.”
Jim Bauer said the town’s decision to purchase the property “reckless” and “ill-conceived” and “the most undemocratic thing” because it went against a majority of residents’ wishes.
“We have been saddled with this collection of sticks, which has created nothing but angst, bad feelings and obviously inebriated social media rants that has taken up too much of the town’s time treasure,” he said Saturday. “The same wooden pier at the same location, subjected to the ever-increasing water levels and we are told that we shouldn’t expect the same result. We are told that we are not doomed to repeat the same. That’s nonsense.”
With interest calculated to be at a cost of more than $4.2 million, the cumulative total over the life of the bond is estimated to be nearly $11.6 million.
If voters and the town move forward with acquiring the bond to rebuild a pier, property taxes would increase annually by an estimated $31.60 per $100,000 valuation.
The town would have seven years to issue the bonds if approved by voters.
