Stop work orders slowed construction of a $20M Surfside Beach pier. Here’s what happened.

Surfside Beach leaders are hopeful a redesigned $20 million pier will open this spring, but months of simmering tensions over who’s responsible for cost overruns and construction delays boiled over publicly last week.

At issue was the circumstances that led to a pair of stop work orders being written last month halting construction of three buildings and then the pier itself.

Town Council member Cindy Keating said internal reviews and more rigorous vetting of contracts should have caught the problems, while several of her colleagues blamed Myrtle Beach-based Consensus Construction for going off script.

“It’s time for us to stop worrying about covering our ass and telling a good story. It’s time for us to man up, stand up, take the accountability. If we screwed up, we screwed up. Everybody does. But admit it, fix it and get this thing moving,” she said Nov. 22.

The orders — issued on Oct. 7 and Oct. 17 — stemmed from design conflicts and licensing oversights. Both were lifted within a matter of days and weren’t expected to affect the pier’s April opening.

Work on new Surfside Beach pier resumes after stop work order rescinded. What happened?

Town administrator William Shanahan offered a detailed breakdown of what when wrong and when.

Three buildings were constructed without a permit

A routine review on Sept. 22 of schematics for three buildings on the pier showed discrepancies between documents on file with the town’s planning department and those on site.

Shanahan said town officials believed the structures would be constructed out of wood, but plans at the pier showed them being built from metal.

For the next two weeks, Shanahan and other town leaders swapped emails with principal firm Consensus and their subcontractors to amend paperwork and get revised blueprints.

On Oct. 7, Shanahan authorized a stop work order for the three structures based on conversations with town building officials and a review of project plans.

“The code official researched the computer permit program and found that permits had not been issued for the buildings, only the pier itself,” Shanahan wrote in his timeline made public Nov. 22.

It wouldn’t be until Oct. 20 that a new set of permits were issued to Consensus for ongoing construction of the buildings.

Consensus could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The pier itself was missing a vital permit

Shanahan said a “discrepancy” in Consensus’ documents that emerged during his review of its contract didn’t show a permit for marine construction.

According to a state Labor, Licensing and Regulation database, Consensus is qualified to perform work including:

• building

• grading

• boring and tunneling

• masonry

• structural shapes

• highway incidental

• interior renovation

• water and sewer lines

S.C. LLR requires a distinct classification for marine construction, and the agency said another stop work order would have to be issued.

Intercoastal Marine, a Mount Airy-based firm working with Consensus, is licensed through the state to do underwater construction.

Language in the project’s contract said if Consensus had completed more than 40% of work on their pier and Intracoastal was permitted, the stop work order would be lifted. It was roughly four hours after being issued, Shanahan said in his explanation to town council.

Keating said the orders never should have been issued at all.

“Stop work orders have a purpose of health and safety. Of significant conditions arising under contract,” she said. “They are never used because we didn’t issue the right paperwork ... We are so far in breach of contract and only by the grace of God that we have residents of Surfside building this pier for us, they’re not taking us to the cleaners.”

Councilmen Bill Kinken and Chris Stamey defended Shanahan and his team at the Nov. 22 meeting.

“I hold Consensus responsible, because they made the changes.. They had a set of drawings to go by and they did something different. This town approved it, they’re not out there by themselves, but those changes are affecting us now,” he said.

We’re sitting here with a building that’s been built for over six months, there’s not a window, there’s not a door, it’s open to all the elements, there’s rust. I’m so disgusted with everything that’s going on, I can’t tell you how mad I am.”

Surfside’s pier has been a part of the coastal town’s identify for a half century. Initially built in 1953, it was rebuilt three times because of storm damage.

In 2016, powerful winds from Hurricane Matthews sheared off half its 800-foot-long walkway and closed it indefinitely. FEMA awarded the town $15 million in 2021 to pay for the pier’s upgrades, but the costs have climbed to roughly $20 million.

To help make up the difference, the town implemented a new parking policy that put meters at all beaches and converted one-hour parking along Surfside Drive from Hollywood to Pinewood drives to paid.

Resident Harry Coleman said the town’s years-long effort at rehabilitating the pier has been frustrating to watch.

“The biggest mistake this town has made was buying this pier. It’s been a calamity of errors since then,” he told the council.