ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) - Officials and local leaders met for day one of the SC Beach Advocates annual meeting. Many stakeholders said "sand is gold." This comes as the costs are piling up for combatting beach erosion and sea level rise for coastal communities that are being proactive. The eleventh annual meeting covered updates from federal, state and local officials about beach management. "Specifically IOP, we've had significant erosion this year. Some unprecedented, some we're used to for years," Phillip Pounds, mayor of Isle of Palms, said. "This is the only group where the coastal community has a unified voice whether at state legislature or federal level. Lot of our partners in the room today. It is the place, in my opinion, to get your voice heard." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led as the keynote speaker, addressing projects they have completed and are in the works. Many of their projects are done in order to protect infrastructure, maintain the economy, and are a matter of national security for these communities. "A lot of the ways that we analyze of projects of whether its worth the federal investment is how are we protecting infrastructure. And so our beaches, while they are a great place to recreate, they're protecting our infrastructure - just like the areas we're standing in the roads and everything," Jeff Livasy, chief of civil works in the Charleston District, said. "We also look at economic impact, if a storm comes in and devastates an area - there's dollars not being spent, the tourists aren't coming in." The latest project was the completion of Folly Beach's beach renourishment, which was 100% federally funded. Sullivans Island is also working on replacing the sand in their inland breach. However, since Isle of Palms is not federally managed, they are funding their own renourishment project next year. "So, we're kind of on our own to figure out the next beach renourishment that we hope to do in 2026. It's a 20 million dollar project, I feel comfortable that we have that one covered. It's the next one after eight more years and the next one after eight years. We just can't build revenue fast enough to do 20 million dollar projects that turn into 30 million dollar projects with inflation as time marches," said Pounds. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues on a Lowcountry study involving the Charleston peninsula, which will turn into a project once a solution is found. "So, those of us who work downtown just like us, we drive through floodwaters very frequently just through our office. So, what you'll hear engineers emphasize is sunny day flooding. Normally people associate flooding with rainfall events or storms, but sunny days is tidal. Those king tides that used to be, people would say less frequent. They're not less frequent, they're just getting into areas that didn't because of sea level rise," Livasy said. SC Beach Advocates will meet for the final day around 8 a.m. on Jan. 17.