In June 2004, we successfully negotiated a settlement on behalf of the SC Coastal Conservation League, the League of Women Voters of Georgetown County, and the Sierra Club that ended our appeal in the Inlet Oaks case. We had appealed a permit to dredge a dead end canal and relocate a boat ramp on top of a healthy stand of marsh grass.

In the settlement agreement Inlet Oaks agreed to move the boat ramp to an area where no marsh grass would be impacted and to severely limit dredging to removal of a sandbar at the mouth of the canal. The sandbar is a remnant of an old dike, and the developer had claimed that it constricts water flow between the canal and the creek. The agreement allows removal of this constriction, but does not allow Inlet Oaks to perform any dredging to increase the depth of the canal.

We are pleased that the developer has agreed to the limits on the scope of the proposed project, and we believe that the settlement prevents harm to the salt marsh ecosystem in Murrells Inlet.