Water from the Atlantic Ocean flows around a palm tree, a slide, and dunes in Myrtle beach after hurricane Floyd passed by Myrtle Beach in 1999.

JASON CLARK File Photograph

COLUMBIA, SC A 26-year-old state policy that allows developers to construct high-rise hotels along flood-prone beaches faces scrutiny this year as South Carolina lawmakers examine the financial and environmental risks of building too close to the ocean.

Since the state adopted a sweeping beach management law in 1988, coastal regulators have interpreted the act to mean they could ease development restrictions when taxpayer-funded beach renourishment projects temporarily widen the seashore.

The Department of Health and Environmental Controls interpretation has allowed for construction of towering condo projects on some beaches and plans for mansions on others.

But the states stance on the law has drawn criticism from taxpayer groups and environmentalists.

Critics say DHECs interpretation violates the spirit of the 1988 law, which was intended to push new development projects back from the seashore over time. They say it is foolish to count on artificially widened beaches paid for by taxpayers to buffer new development from hurricanes and rising seas.

Now, state Sen. Ray Cleary is pushing to change the law, making it clear that new buildings can no longer be developed closer to the ocean than the existing line of beach development.

A bill the Murrells Inlet Republican introduced last month would prevent state regulators from ever moving the states building restriction line closer to the ocean. That would affect new buildings, including hotels, as well as new golf courses.

Regulators now will shift the line toward the ocean if communities renourish beaches, but critics say the sand will eventually wash away.

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New SC beach hotels could face stiffer building rules