S.C. Code Regs. 30-14 - Administrative Procedures
A. Procedures for
Local Beach Management Plan Approval and Amendments [Section
48-39-350(A)
].
(1) South Carolina local governments with
jurisdiction fronting the Atlantic Ocean shall submit to the Department by no
later than July 1, 1990, a local beach management plan after the local
government has afforded the opportunity for adequate public review.
(2) Upon receipt of the local plan, the
Department shall:
(a) Afford the public a
thirty day comment period;
(b)
Afford the opportunity for a public hearing on the local beachfront management
plan;
(c) After considering all
comments, approve, modify or remand the local beachfront management
plan.
(3) The Department
shall issue a public notice of the approval of any local beach management plan
or amendment thereto. The implementation date of the local beach management
plan or amendment thereto will be specified in such public notice.
B. Procedures for State
Implementation of Local Responsibilities [Section
48-39-350(B)
].
(1) If a local government fails to develop
and implement a local beach management plan as required by Section
48-39-350,
the Department shall implement the local government's responsibilities by:
(a) Issuing public notice that the Department
has found that the local government has failed to develop and implement a local
beach management plan as required;
(b) Carrying out the tasks enumerated in
Section
48-39-350(A)
(1-10);
(c) Providing a thirty day public comment
period for public review of the Department's proposed local beach management
plan;
(d) Affording the opportunity
for a public hearing;
(e) After
reviewing all public comments, modify and/or adopt and implement the local
plan.
(2) The Department
may delegate responsibility for the implementation of the Department sponsored
and approved local beach management plan to the local government, but the
Department shall have the right to assume responsibility for administering and
enforcing the plan if the local government fails to do so.
C. Procedures for State/Local Coordination
During and in Response to Emergency Situations (Section
48-39-320
& 350). The issuance of the Department emergency order automatically
supersedes any local emergency order for the same emergency
situation.
D. Procedures for
Determining Destroyed Beyond Repair (Section
48-39-290(B).
(1) The Department shall be required to make
a determination as to whether or not a structure is destroyed beyond repair
under Section
48-39-290
in any of the following cases:
(a) Upon the
written request of an owner of the structure or local government
official;
(b) Upon its own
election;
(c) As part of a damage
assessment effort conducted solely by the Department or in cooperation with a
local government in response to an emergency situation.
(2) The Department shall provide a copy of
its determination of whether a structure is destroyed beyond repair to the
property owner and the local government with jurisdiction over such
structure.
(3) The Department shall
employ the following procedures in determining whether a structure is destroyed
beyond repair: See also R.30-14(D)(4) and (5).
(a) Habitable Structure:
(i) Following a natural disaster, the
Department shall coordinate a post-storm damage appraisal with the affected
unit of local governments. Pursuant to Section
48-39-270(11)
the Department staff shall make the initial damage appraisal. When appropriate,
the Department may use the property owner's insurance adjustor's figures to
determine the damage.
(ii) If an
owner disagrees with the appraisal of the Department, he may obtain a second
appraisal to evaluate the damage to the building. An owner who disagrees with
the appraisal of the Department must notify the Department in writing, within
90 days of receipt of the Department's determination that he intends to obtain
an appraisal. If the two appraisals differ, then the two appraisers must select
a third appraiser. If the two appraisers are unable to select a third
appraiser, the Clerk of Court of the county in which the structure lies must
make the selection. All third appraisers must be registered, professional
engineers, registered architects or licensed adjustors. All third appraisers
must not have been involved in either the insurance adjustment of the property
or the first or second appraisal and the cost of the third appraisal will be
divided equally between the Department and the property owner. In no event may
the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing (other than emergency repairs)
a structure until the appraisal process described herein has been completed.
Nothing in this section prevents a court of competent jurisdiction from
reviewing, de novo, the appraisal upon the petition of the property
owner.
(b) Pools:
(i) Following a natural disaster, the
Department shall coordinate a post-storm damage assessment with the affected
unit of local government. Pursuant to Section
48-39-270(11)
the Department shall make the initial assessment.
(ii) If an owner disagrees with the appraisal
of the Department, he may obtain an appraisal to evaluate the damage to the
pool. An owner who disagrees with the appraisal of the Department must notify
the Department in writing, within 90 days of receipt of the Department's
determination, that the owner intends to obtain an appraisal. If the two
appraisals differ, then the two appraisers must select a third appraiser. If
the two appraisers are unable to select a third appraiser, the Clerk of Court
of the county where the pool lies must make the selection. All third appraisers
must be registered, professional engineers and the cost of the third appraisal
will be equally divided between the Department and the property owner. In no
event may the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing a pool (other than
emergency repairs) until the appraisal process described herein has been
completed. Nothing in this section prevents a court of competent jurisdiction
from reviewing, de novo, the appraisal upon the petition of the property
owner.
(c) Seawalls and
Bulkheads: In determining whether a seawall or bulkhead as defined in Section
48-39-270(1)(a) and
(b) is destroyed more than eighty percent
above grade through June 30, 1995, more than sixty-six and two thirds percent
above grade from July 1, 1995, through June 30, 2005, and more than fifty
percent above grade after June 30, 2005, the damage assessment shall be
accomplished as follows:
(i) Damage to
seawalls and bulkheads will be judged on the percent of the structure remaining
intact at the time of damage assessment. The portion of the structure or device
above grade parallel to the shoreline must be evaluated. The length of the
structure or device parallel to the shoreline still intact must be compared to
the length of the structure or device parallel to the shoreline which has been
destroyed. The length of the structure or device parallel to the shoreline
determined to be destroyed divided by the total length of the original
structure or device parallel to the shoreline yields the percent destroyed.
Those portions of the structure or device standing, cracked or broken piles,
whalers, and panels must be assessed on an individual basis to ascertain if
these components are repairable or if replacement is required.
(ii) If the property owner disagrees with the
assessment of a registered professional engineer acting on behalf of the
Department, he may obtain an assessment by a registered professional engineer
to evaluate, in the same manner set forth herein, the damage to the structure
or device. An owner who disagrees with the assessment of the Department must
notify the Department in writing, within 90 days of receipt of the Department's
determination, that he intends to obtain an independent assessment. If the two
assessments differ, then the two engineers who performed the assessment must
select a registered professional engineer to perform the third assessment. If
the first two engineers are unable to select an engineer to perform the third
assessment, the Clerk of Court of the county where the structure or device lies
must make the selection of a registered professional engineer. The cost of the
third engineer will be equally divided between the Department and the property
owner. The determination of the percentage of damage by the third engineer is
conclusive. In no event may the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing a
seawall or bulkhead until the appraisal process described herein has been
completed. The determination of the degree of destruction must be made on a lot
by lot basis by reference to county tax maps.
(d) Revetments: Revetments must be judged on
the extent of displacement of the stone, the effort to return these stones to
the pre-storm event configuration of the structure or device, and the ability
of the revetment to retain backfill material at the time of the damage
assessment. If the property owner disagrees with the assessment of a registered
professional engineer acting on behalf of the Department, he may obtain an
assessment by a different registered professional engineer to evaluate, as set
forth in this item, the damage to the structure or device. An owner who
disagrees with the appraisal of the Department must notify the Department in
writing, within 90 days of receipt of the Department's determination, that the
owner intends to obtain an appraisal. If the two assessments differ, then the
two engineers who performed the assessment must select a registered
professional engineer to perform the third assessment. If the first two
engineers are unable to select an engineer to perform the third assessment, the
Clerk of Court of the county where the structure or device lies must make the
selection of a registered professional engineer. The cost of the third engineer
will be equally divided between the Department and the property owner. The
determination of the percentage of damage by the third engineer is conclusive.
In no event may the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing a structure
until the appraisal process described herein has been completed. The
determination of the degree of destruction must be made on a lot by lot basis
by reference to county tax maps.
(4) Inventory: The following steps will be
taken by the Department in order to insure accurate and expeditious damage
appraisals can be conducted when necessary.
(a) Structures which are affected by the
setback line will be identified. If the line touches any part of the structure
or an attached deck, the structure is considered affected by the destroyed
beyond repair provisions of the Act and additional information must be
collected. By community (city, county) a list (addresses and tax map numbers)
of each structure that touches the baseline and setback line will be
prepared.
(b) Staff will prepare an
inventory file for all structures subject to the Department regulation within
their assigned community. The file will contain information relative to the
location, ownership, persons to contact, and assessed value of the property,
and a recent photograph of the front and rear sides of the structure. The
completion of this task should include an inventory of swimming pools and
erosion control devices where possible. An inventory of vertical erosion
control devices should include a measurement of the parallel length of the
structure and the elevation of the top of the structure. An inventory of a
revetment will require that the seaward slope of the structure be determined by
pulling a tape from the highest crest stone to the top of a representative toe
stone. This is to be referred to as a revetment transect. Revetment transects
are to begin at the northern property line and are to be repeated every 20 feet
across the revetment to the southern property line. The frequency of these
transects may be intensified to every 10 feet to encompass high or low extremes
in the rock elevations. A schematic drawing shall depict the revetment by its
transects. Beside each transect shall appear the letters (A) for adequate stone
amounts, (D) for deficient stone amounts, and (S) for surplus stone amounts.
Combinations of these letters on one transect will be separated by a short line
that will distinguish one depiction from the other along the transect. The
elevation of the top of the revetment must also be included.
(c) For habitable structures, the base value
of each affected structure will be determined by consulting the tax appraisal
records for each county. The values used by the Department will only be the
assessed value for the structures on the lot and will not contain any land
values. The Damage Assessment Coordinator will maintain a master list of all
impacted structures.
(d) The staff
person assigned the assessment responsibility for a particular beach community
will periodically review the assessment sheets and coordinate with local
communities. Assessments will be updated annually or as staff reassignments are
made.
(e) Immediately after a
damage incurring situation, the staff person will take the damage assessment
file, preliminary damage evaluation forms for one and two story structures, and
a camera and make a site visit to each property in their assigned area. The
properties will be photographed and a preliminary evaluation completed for each
property. This evaluation will be used to separate the properties into three
categories: minor damage, possible destroyed beyond repair, and completely
destroyed. At this time the person doing the assessment will try and locate any
houses missing from foundations, and note any problems with the assessment
process. Structures that are identified as having minor damage will be counted,
the addresses and tax map numbers verified and a list compiled to be given to
the Department offices and the local building official so that authorizations
to make repairs can be issued promptly.
(f) The structures that are identified as
possibly destroyed beyond repair will be listed, addresses verified and
duplicate copies of the assessment sheets sent to the Department
offices.
(5) Damage
Assessment:
(a) Habitable Structures and
Pools:
(i) The Damage Assessment Coordinator
will assign properties determined from the preliminary survey to be possibly
destroyed beyond repair to an insurance adjuster, or in the case of pools an
engineer, who is under contract to the Department. The adjuster/engineer will
make arrangements with the owner of the property to visit the site and prepare
an estimate of the cost of repairing the structure to its previously existing
condition. In the case of pools, the damage estimate will be determined by the
sum of the following costs:
(1) The area of
damaged walls and floor, multiplied by the unit replacement costs for the walls
and floor;
(2) Demolition and
removal costs;
(3) Site preparation
costs.
This estimate will be based on the amount of damage to various components of the structure, and the unit cost of repairing each component as supplied by a nationally recognized estimating firm.
(ii) The Damage Assessment
Coordinator will compare the repair estimates with the base value figures. In
the case of habitable structures, the base value is obtained from the tax
assessor or other sources deemed credible by the Department. The base value for
a pool can be obtained from any of the following sources: 1) Bills and invoices
submitted to the pool owner at the time of pool installation; 2) tax assessment
figures; 3) estimate based on the size of the pool and the unit cost of pool
construction as supplied by a nationally recognized estimating firm; 4) any
other information that is determined to be reliable by the Damage Assessment
Coordinator. If the repair cost is greater than 66 2/3% of the base value, the
structure will be determined to be destroyed beyond repair (DBR).
(iii) A list of those structures that are
repairable and those that are DBR will be maintained and distributed daily to
the Department field offices. Authorization to repair buildings not DBR can be
made as soon as the assessment process is completed. The owners of properties
listed as DBR will be notified by letter by the Permitting Staff. All records
and files pertaining to the buildings listed as DBR will be turned over to the
Department's legal staff as soon as the process is completed. There will be no
reassessments by the Department unless there is intervening damage.
(b) Erosion Control Devices
(i) Vertical walls: The following percentages
will be used when conducting the destroyed beyond repair assessments for
vertical walls: 1) pilings - 20%, 2) whalers - 20%, 3) panels - 60%. On walls
with no whalers incorporated into the design, the percentage is to be 25% for
the pilings and 75% for the panels. A vertical wall will be considered
functional if it is no more than 2 feet out of alignment or 30 degrees,
whichever is less. For concrete walls which have only one component, the intact
portion above grade, parallel to the shoreline will be compared to the original
shore parallel portion of the wall to determine if the structure is damaged
beyond repair.
(ii) Revetments: To
determine if a revetment is destroyed beyond repair, revetment transects must
be conducted as described in the inventory section, R.30-14(D)(4). The
post-damage transects will be compared to the original revetment configuration.
If the revetment has slumped or stone been lost to the extent that the
percentage of damaged revetment exceeds the percentages allowed in
R.30-13(N)(3)(e),
the structure is destroyed beyond repair.
(iii) Those structures which are a
combination of vertical wall fronted by rock revetment will be assessed using
both the method for evaluating walls and the method for evaluating revetments.
The percent of the wall which is destroyed will be determined then multiplied
by 50%. Likewise, the percentage of the revetment which is destroyed will be
determined and then multiplied by 50%. The sum of the two damaged percentages
is the percent of the complete structure which is destroyed beyond
repair.
(iv) The determination of
the percent of damage to an erosion control structure must be made on a lot by
lot basis as referenced by county tax maps which existed on May 23,
1993.
(v) Effective date of damage
appraisals: All appraisals are effective for 90 days from the date all
concerned parties agree on the appraisal, unless otherwise determined by the
Department. If the structure sustains additional damage prior to the 90 day
time limit, the Department may require a new assessment. If no work has begun
during that 90 days, a new damage appraisal may be required before the
Department will issue another permit or release letter.
E. Procedures for
Adopting Baselines and Setback Lines.
(1) The
Department must establish baselines and setback lines for all geographic areas
where baselines and setback lines were established on or before January 31,
2012. The baselines and setback lines must be established anew during
establishment cycles that are not less than every seven (7) years, but not more
than every ten (10) years following a previous establishment cycle and must be
based upon the best available data. Until the Department establishes new
baselines and setback lines for a geographic area, the existing baselines and
setback lines for the geographic area must be used.
(2) In each new establishment cycle of the
baselines and setback lines, the Department must:
(a) stagger the establishment of the
baselines and setback lines by geographic area and provide a tentative schedule
of establishment for each geographic area on the Department's website at least
one hundred twenty (120) days prior to beginning a new establishment
cycle;
(b) publish proposed
locations of baselines and setback lines for a geographic area on the
Department's website for public input at least one hundred twenty (120) days
prior to establishing the baselines and setback lines for the geographic
area;
(c) on the date of the
publication of the proposed locations of baselines and setback lines for a
geographic area:
(i) provide notice of the
publication in a newspaper of general statewide circulation and a newspaper of
local circulation in the geographic area; and
(ii) make readily available to the public,
including on the Department's website, the information and raw data that the
Department used to determine the locations of the proposed baselines and
setback lines and explanations for these determinations;
(d) hold at least one (1) public hearing in
the county or municipality of a geographic area at least ninety (90) days prior
to establishing the baselines and setback lines for the geographic area;
and
(e) accept and review data up
to thirty (30) days prior to establishing baselines and setback lines for a
geographic area to determine if a proposed baseline or setback line for the
geographic area should be revised.
(3) Upon the publication of the tentative
schedule established under R.30-14.E(2)(a), a municipality, county, agency, or
organization undertaking a beach renourishment project may submit a request to
the Department, within the one hundred twenty (120)-day notice period, to
revise the establishment date for the baseline and setback line in its
geographical area. The Department may revise the establishment schedule if
submitted information demonstrates the following:
(a) the municipality, county, agency, or
organization has an issued Department permit in effect for a beach
renourishment project, or an issued Department coastal zone consistency
certification associated with a federal beach renourishment project;
(b) the request does not extend the
establishment date outside of the establishment cycle timeframe set forth by
R.30-14.E(1);
(c) the municipality,
county, agency, or organization has encumbered funds to complete the beach
renourishment project; and
(d) the
municipality, county, agency, or organization will start construction of the
beach renourishment project within one (1) year of the initiation of the new
establishment cycle.
(4)
If the construction of the qualifying beach renourishment project under
R.30-14.E(3)(d) has not started within one (1) year of the initiation of the
new establishment cycle, the Department must establish the baselines and
setback lines using the best available scientific and historical data within
the required timeframes under R.30-14.E(1).
F. [Reserved]
G. [Reserved]
H. Damage Assessment. Not withstanding
Sections R.30-14(A)-(G), Section 8 of 1990 Amendments to the 1977 Coastal Zone
Management Act, states as follows. Except as otherwise specifically provided in
this act, the provisions of this act shall be applied only prospectively and
shall not affect any legal action commenced or any cause of action accruing as
a result of an event or events which occurred before the effective date of this
act. Any such action must be governed by the provisions of Sections
48-39-10
through
48-39-360,
as amended by Act 634 of 1988, and in existence before the effective date of
this Act.
(1) Assessment of damage to
seawalls and bulkheads that occurred between July 1, 1988, and July 1, 1990,
will be judged by the following criteria which shall be used to determine the
percentage of damage to the erosion control device:
(a) Seventy-five percent (75%) multiplied by
the length of structure remaining plus twenty-five percent (25%) multiplied by
the amount of backfill remaining equals the percentage of structure not
destroyed.
(2) The
following portions of the structure shall not be included:
(a) Wingwalls;
(b) Deadmen;
(c) Tiebacks.
(3) Assessment of damage to swimming pools
that occurred between July 1, 1988, and July 1, 1990, will be judged by the
following criteria. Swimming pools shall be considered destroyed beyond repair
if either of the following exists:
(a)
Undermining of the pool support which causes severe cracks in the pool walls
and floors.
(i) Severe cracks shall be those
which produce a loss of structural integrity causing a portion of a structural
element (i.e. wall or floor) of the pool to be replaced rather than
repaired.
(ii) Greater than ten
percent (10%) of any one structural element (i.e. wall or floor) shall render
the pool destroyed beyond repair.
(iii) If the addition of an insert is
required to make the pool functional, then the crack shall be considered severe
and the pool shall be declared destroyed beyond repair.
(iv) If a pool has been assessed and repair
procedures require the removal of ten percent (10%) of any one structural
element, then the pool shall be declared destroyed beyond repair at the time of
the removal of the element.
(b) Hydrostatic pressure beneath the pool
which causes the pool to be lifted up more than six inches. Hydrostatic
pressure beneath the side of the pool produces severe cracks as delineated in
(a)(iv) above shall mean that the pool is destroyed beyond repair.
I. Procedure for
Removal of Structures Located on the Active Beach: The Department shall employ
the following procedures for determining when a structure located on the active
beach must be removed: (Note: This section only applies to those structures
approved by the Department via special permit.)
(1) If a major storm event or chronic,
long-term beach erosion causes a structure to become located on the active
beach, as defined in R.
30-1(D)(2),
the Department will monitor the beach fronting the structure for a minimum of
one year.
(2) Monitoring of the
beach will include the collection and analysis of beach profile data, and
visual inspections.
(3) The
Department will consider all available information including pending
renourishment projects, long-term erosion/accretion trends for the area, and
shoal attachment cycles prior to determining whether a structure will be
permanently located on the active beach.
(4) Upon determining that a structure is
permanently located on the active beach, the Department will notify the
property owner and require that the structure be removed or relocated landward
by the owner.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.