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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Last Thursday, the Town of Hollywood held a Q&A session to hear both concerns and hopes from residents regarding the future of the town. These meetings are meant to give the community an opportunity to weigh in on updates to the comprehensive plan and zoning ordinances to better regulate how the town addresses future growth and development. The community has been showing up to meetings and…
A proposed sandscraping project on the beach at Midway Inlet/South Litchfield could endanger sea turtles during nesting and hatching season and disturb migratory birds along the beach. The project would place up to 75,000 cubic yards of sand – about the equivalent of over 6,200 dump trucks – in front of the Peninsula Community up to two times over the next five years. These scraping events are proposed for August through October, during…
Did you hear? The birds are making national headlines! Earlier this month, we shared our excitement about strengthened regulations for Deveaux Bank. To close out South Carolina Shorebird Celebration Week, shorebird advocates gathered to celebrate Deveaux’s recent designation as a SCDNR seabird sanctuary, the culmination of decades of working to protect migratory and nesting birds. The significance of this victory was featured last weekend on CBS Sunday Morning. Check out this clip! 🌞 [video width=”1280″ height=”720″…
We’ve had quite the cold spell this winter and as we enter into April, the Lowcountry stirs back to life. As an organization dedicated to our open space and wildlife, we celebrate the spring by getting outside (join us for some of our events!), welcoming the…
