This afternoon the Charleston County Planning Commission ruled on changes to the Zoning and Land Development Regulations (ZLDR).  Several of these changes would have made Charleston County Public Works (CCPW) "above the law" by allowing them to:

• Cut down grand trees without going before the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) for approval which would severely limit public input,

• Be exempted from going through the site review process which provides critical peer-review of their designs, and

• Unilaterally decide that any project would not have to produce a traffic study despite the immense traffic issues we experience every day.

The County received 4 emails in favor of the changes and 116 in opposition. 

At the meeting no one, other than CCPW staff, spoke in favor of the changes while 16 Charleston County residents spoke against them, including a developer.

Thank you for the time you spent registering your opposition to these proposed changes.  Way to go concerned Charleston County residents! 

County staff did not do themselves a favor when they admitted that the last time the BZA turned them down was over 20 years ago!  This certainly seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Key concerns included:

• Removing critical checks and balances which are key to the democratic process.

• The lack of public insights into CCPW projects.

• The apparent push by the County to decrease transparency rather than increase it.

• Putting road builder in charge of land planning issues.

• The county exempting themselves from requirements they impose on others.

• Without the check of the BZA and site reviews, CCPW would not be inclined to pursue solutions that minimize tree removals.

It was also expressed that this is NOT about stopping projects.  It is NOT about never cutting down trees.  It IS about innovative approaches to road design that minimize the number of trees that need to be removed ... and checks and balances that ensure this.

Thankfully the Planning Commission listened to the residents and recommended disapproval of these changes!

The Planning Commission only makes recommendations.  County Council will make the final ruling and they don't always listen to the recommendations of the Planning Commission.

The next event in this process will be a public hearing on November 14th at 6:30 pm.  Please put this event on your calendar.

We will keep you informed as we get closer to the hearing.  In the meantime, don't hesitate to reach out to all of the Council Councilmembers to express your concerns.