The public is expected to enjoy some new amenities under a $375,000 May River project, which the town of Bluffton estimates will be ready in the first half of 2014.
But first planners will be subject to various approvals and environmental scrutiny in order to go to work in the ecologically sensitive waterbody.
Bluffton town officials said the pending work will include a new ground-out floating dock paralleling the existing boat ramp.�
Under the Oyster Factory Park Master Plan, the construction of a courtesy dock is included as part of the planned improvements for the park.
Town spokeswoman Debbie Szpanka said the existing boat ramp will be closed intermittently throughout the process.
State environmental documents describe the future floating dock as 150-feet-by-8-feet, ending with a 30-foot-by15-foot floating kayak and canoe launch dock. It also will require excavation in a 1,170-square-foot area in the floating dock’s footprint in order to place 65 cubic yards of bedding stone as a stable base for the dock.
Documents posted by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control also detail the addition of a wheelchair-accessible ramp leading to the shore and the construction of an observation deck. The deck is said to be accessible from the road by a 6-foot-by-22-foot walkway.
The project will affect 0.3 acres of estuary and wetlands used by various aquatic life in various life stages, including red drum, shrimp and snapper grouper, according to documents by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District.
But the Corps said its final determination about the need for any environmental remedies to address damage would involve coordinating with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The beloved May River has been the focus of intense environmental restoration and protection efforts. In 2011, officials announced Bluffton’s draft May River Watershed Action Plan, a plan to clean up the pollution and address the increased fecal coliform levels that closed shellfishing in the headwaters.
In 2009 contamination led to a downgrade in the river’s shellfish harvesting status. Two years earlier, state officials said fecal coliform levels in the headwaters were increasing. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agency then designated the May River a threatened watershed.
HOW TO BE HEARD
THE S.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL IS ACCEPTING PUBLIC COMMENTS THROUGH JAN. 4, 2014. CALL 843-846-9400 OR EMAIL WOJOSKPA@DHEC.SC.GOV. THE CORPS WILL ACCEPT COMMENTS FOR 15 DAYS AFTER THE DEC. 5, 2013, NOTICE. CALL 843-329-8044 OR 1-866-329-8187.