Hilton Head passes ordinance to remove unsightly and unsafe abandoned boats

From Hilton Head Island’s shoreline, looking out onto Skull Creek, gulls ride the same sea breeze that lightly ripples the channel. The wavelets lap at the green marsh grass. They float tiny sand crabs. But the water does not touch the around 25-foot-long sailboat beached in the sand.

The abandoned boat has been there for months. Someone painted hateful graffiti on its sides. The compass is missing. Cans litter its cabin. The sail? Torn.

As of Tuesday, the town can identify and remove abandoned watercraft, such as the sailboat, which can be navigationally hazardous and environmentally harmful, aside from an eyesore. The town council approved the “Hilton Head Island Boat Control Ordinance,” outlining its ability to regulate Hilton Head Island waterways.

The vote is a first step towards the town’s increased involvement in supervising its waters. The town has $36,000 to purchase a public safety boat in its proposed 2025 budget.

“Not only monitor more boats, but also to make sure that if one sinks we can respond quickly,” Perry said of the plan to buy a small boat. “Especially if it’s leaking gas or oil or diesel so that we can put buoys around it to protect the waterways.”

Previously it would have been a lengthy procedure to remove a boat. Someone would have to report it to the state, which would attempt to find the owners. If it was abandoned, volunteers could pull the boat to a landing, and Beaufort County Public Works could destroy it.

“There wasn’t a process,” Hilton Head Island Mayor Alan Perry said. “Private citizens (took) it upon themselves to follow proper procedures and remove boats from the waterways.”

In March Deputy Town Manager Josh Gruber said the town reported at least eight abandoned boats to the state for them to determine abandoned. Now, Hilton Head Island can make that call themselves alongside the state.

For a boat to be considered abandoned, the town or the Department of Natural Resources must investigate it, send written notice and make reasonable efforts to notify the last known owner, if any, of the boat’s status, according to the new ordinance. It’s not considered abandoned If the owner claims it within 45 days. A boat also isn’t considered abandoned if it’s legally moored or on private property.

The town’s push to clear it’s waterways of already abandoned vessels comes alongside the state’s proactive efforts. The Department of Health and Environment Control unveiled the “Vessel Turn-in Program” earlier this month for residents and businesses in Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry and Jasper counties to have unwanted, at-risk or end-of-life vessels disposed of before they become abandoned.

If a resident had used the program, maybe the dark blue sailboat wouldn’t be sitting in the mud in the first place. But now, with the “Hilton Head Island Boat Control Ordinance” the town can identify the barnacle-clad boat as abandoned and remove it more quickly.

Looking way, way, out, the town is positioned to be able to remove the other sailboat that has sunk into the water, too; its masts barely visible over the waves.