Wednesday, May 14, 2025
As of today, the Chelsea property in Jasper County will be permanently protected. This is a monumental win for conservation, rural land use planning and maintaining the character of Jasper County.
Read more from the Post and Courier
Over the past years, the Conservation League played a critical role in preventing this property from being annexed and intensely developed, partnering with, informing, and rallying community members to advocate against annexation, which would…
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
The I-526 Mark Clark Extension project is officially no more!
The I-526 Mark Clark Extension project is officially no more. The S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank Board voted unanimously yesterday to end the three-way funding contract. This is one of the final pieces to affirm the end of this destructive road project. Read more from the Post & Courier.
After many years of community opposition, including voting down a sales tax that would have funded the…
Thursday, May 8, 2025
The US Army Corps of Engineers will hold public meetings to present and discuss the draft purpose and need being prepared as part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed South Carolina Highway 22 Extension project.
These will be the first set in a series of community meetings as
Thursday, May 8, 2025
This week, the omnibus energy legislation House Bill 3309 was approved by the General Assembly. The bill includes sweeping policy changes that will significantly impact electric utility investment decisions, the environment, and our electricity bills.
In April, the Senate approved numerous amendments that improved upon the version of the bill initially passed by the House in February. While some of those amendments remain, the House unfortunately stripped three key provisions: energy efficiency program savings targets,…
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Beaufort County Planning Commission unanimously recommends denying
After a four-hour meeting last night, the Beaufort County Planning Commission unanimously recommended denying the application to remove Pine Island from the Cultural Protective Overlay, or CPO, to allow for developing a private gated community and golf resort.
The Planning Commission cited the planning staff’s recommendations to deny the…
Monday, May 5, 2025
This week, Conservation groups secured a legal victory for transparency and accountability, ensuring that decisions about large, dense subdivisions relying on septic systems are not made behind closed doors.
The Circuit Court Judge issued an order in favor of the Coastal Conservation League and Charleston Waterkeeper that public notice of individual septic tank applications is necessary. The Judge ruled that public notice is needed for due process so that those impacted have the right to…
Friday, April 18, 2025
In September, the community in Pamplico, South Carolina lost their only local access to fresh food. Earlier that month, the local IGA, the only grocery store within a 15-20-mile radius, gave a month’s notice to the community that they would be closing their doors. This has essentially created a food desert for the community, leaving over 5,000 families without access to fresh or local produce or food supplies for nearly 6…
Friday, April 11, 2025
Earlier this week, during multiple Beaufort County committee meetings, an attorney representing the Pine Island developers reintroduced plans for a golf resort on the Pine Island property on St. Helena Island.
Yet again, the representative of Pine Island Property Holdings, LLC is requesting permission to remove Pine Island from St. Helena’s long-standing Cultural Protection Overlay (CPO) zoning. This latest proposal substantially mirrors the original proposal that was first introduced in 2022 and soundly rejected…
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Nearly three years ago, Jasper County Council enacted a 9-month moratorium on development in an area along Highway 462. This bought time to protect the 4,400-acre Gregorie Neck property (pictured above!) at the headwaters of the Port Royal Sound, marking a monumental conservation win.
The county’s moratorium, which was twice extended, also provided a window to craft new zoning regulations known as Rural Preservation-10 (RP-10) along…
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dale Morris, Charleston’s former Chief Resilience Officer, friend of the Coastal Conservation League, and champion for our Lowcountry. His expertise and contributions will forever be present in conversations about what resilience means in Charleston.
Dale came to the Lowcountry in 2019, charting a new era of how Charleston thinks about water, leveraging his extensive career in policy and drawing on international relationships as the co-creator…
