Sea Island couple says over-700-foot docks obstruct marsh view
Margaret and William Sovey bought their marshfront property on Sea Island more than a quarter century ago, the AP reported, captivated by the view of unspoiled saltmarsh. Today, Margaret said she must crane her neck to avoid seeing the row of six dock walkways that slice through the green marsh grass to Village Creek.
“I sit at the kitchen table, and I just look straight out. I don’t look this way anymore,” Margaret, 84, told the AP, pointing south toward the docks.
“And you know, my blood pressure goes up every morning when I look out that window, and I see these docks and boat houses. It just galls me to have to look at this, and have this little bit of waterway left,” said Margaret, who is German-born. Her husband William, a Hartwell native and Georgia Tech alumnus, built the couple’s custom house in 1996.
The AP reported that a proposal to allow larger private docks in the public marsh has intensified the already-contentious issue of balancing private access to saltmarsh waterways with conservation of the saltmarsh ecosystem.