The Coastal Conservation League is in full support of the proposed subdivision moratorium for the unincorporated Charleston County historic settlement communities. While the amendments to the Historic Preservation Ordinance leave these communities vulnerable, a moratorium will offer temporary protection while more permanent safeguards can be put in place.
“Refining the Historic Preservation Ordinance tools will enable the County to meet the charge of protecting the character, culture, and way of life in our traditional settlement communities,” said Faith Rivers James, Executive Director of the Coastal Conservation League.
The Conservation League thanks the members of Charleston County Council who listened and heard the voices of these communities and recognized the need for additional protections over these valuable cultural landscapes that continue to tell the history of our Lowcountry.
Councilman Larry Kobrovsky said it best in his comments during the council meeting:
“I feel we’re saving and preserving an important part of Charleston, who we are,” Councilman Kobrovsky said. “Every day, we see what’s special about living here disappear… [With this moratorium we are] preserving what’s unique and a sense of place. Because no amount of money in the world, if people are displaced from there, could recreate the bonds of family and land and history and struggles and sacrifices of maintaining that.”
In order for this subdivision moratorium to reach full efficacy, we must be diligent in the work we do while it is in place.
One way to do this is for Charleston County to create its own cultural overlay zone using the Beaufort County Cultural Protection Overlay as a template, that could be applied as a foundational framework to establish overlay zones much more efficiently in historic settlement communities.
Additionally, forming a committee or task force to think creatively on other ways to protect the cultural and historical significance of these communities and provide meaningful resources would be a useful way to add in other safeguards during the subdivision moratorium.
The Conservation League looks forward to offering its full support during the next steps.
Faith Rivers James taking in the views during a visit to historic settlement community Ten Mile with our partners at the South Carolina Environmental Law Project.
This building moratorium will protect the three historic settlement communities currently designated by Charleston County: Phillips, Beefield, and Ten Mile. It is the result of the amendments to the historic preservation ordinance, an issue the Conservation League has been engaged on since last summer.
Ten Mile finds itself surrounded by building moratoriums in both Mt. Pleasant and Awendaw, and Phillips and Beefield also face increasingly encroaching growth pressures.
In Beaufort County, a Cultural Protection Overlay was designed and adopted in the late 1990’s to protect the historical cultural landscape and Gullah culture of St. Helena Island. A similar solution would be prudent in Charleston County.