AWENDAW, S.C. (WCSC) - A petition has been filed at the state court level against a home development near a Class I Wilderness area in Awendaw.

Pulte Homes LLC proposed 208 homes to be built on 182 acres of a portion of land called the White Tract in Awendaw. includes developing 27 homes that would fill in two acres of wetlands.

The Department of Environmental Services granted permission for the first phase to begin in December of 2024.

The construction raised concerns for environmental advocacy group Friends of Coastal South Carolina. The group’s executive director and Awendaw resident, Grace Gasper, says the high-density development will impact the protected Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge and the quality of life for surrounding neighbors.

“That’s an awful lot of traffic to put on a little two-lane road in Bull Island and Sewee,” Gasper says. “There’s safety concerns, quality of life concerns, and how will development and land disturbance affect flooding and drainage for surrounding residents.”

Gasper says another concern is the development plan to rely on septic tanks. She says the number of septic tanks that would be placed in the area will impact residents’ reliability on groundwater as their water source.

Friends of Coastal South Carolina challenged the permit through the Southern Environmental Law Project. The work put a pause on the permit that slowed down any construction in the area.

The South Carolina Administrative Law Court lifted the permit pause on Aug. 8, according to a recently filed petition by the law firm.

Southern Environmental Law Project Executive Director Amy Armstrong says the petition brings the potential of irreparable harm that could happen to the land. She says the action was a high-stakes attempt to protect the rights of Friends of Coastal South Carolina and the surrounding community.

“They wouldn’t have a say if we didn’t take immediate action and ask the South Carolina Supreme Court to intervene and reimpose that stay and stop construction until we have that opportunity for administrative and judicial review,” Armstrong says.

Director of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Thomas Mullikin, Ph.D., provided an affidavit as detailed in the petition.

“A portion of the project site is located within FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area Zone AE, which means the project will be constructed in a high-risk flood area where there is at least a 1 in 4 chance of flooding during a 30-year timespan. Floodplains function to support groundwater recharge, filter pollutants and abate floodwaters. Development within floodplains and the associated wetlands, including the placement of structure and fill, reduces flood-carrying capacity, increases flood heights and velocities, and increases flood hazards in areas well beyond the encroachment itself. Continued development of these critical areas can magnify documented flooding issues and cumulative effects should be considered. The SCDNR has raised concerns that the applicant has failed to consider vulnerabilities and sea level rise and storm surge scenarios in siting of the proposed project.”

South Carolina Senate District 43 Sen. George Campsen III also provided an affidavit in the petition.

“The permit and certification currently before the Administrative Law Court allow the Respondent Pulte Home Company, LLC to irreversibly eliminate almost two acres of wetlands, and the highly dense development will result in runoff that will negatively impact the precious resource of the Refuge. … I support the Court’s preservation of the status quo while my constituents exercise their right to meaningful review allowed under the state’s constitution.”

Live 5 News did reach out to Pulte Homes LLC for a comment. No comment was received.

Armstrong says the developer has around 15 days to respond to the petition after filing. She says the court should have documents in weeks.

AWENDAW, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Department of Environmental Services held a virtual public hearing Monday night about a large Awendaw residential development that is facing opposition.

The 48.9-acre development would be called Seewee Landing and would include a single-family residential subdivision consisting of 65 homes. The development would be located at 6578 Seewee Road in coastal Awendaw, right off Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, with 39.6 acres of proposed land disturbance. The development would impact about 0.480 acres of wetlands.

The meeting focused on stormwater permits requested by Mungo Homes.

SCDES says construction stormwater discharges from the development will likely contain sediment and other potential pollutants. Since the site is in a coastal county, the project must be reviewed to ensure consistency with the South Carolina Coastal Zone Management Plan.

However, the development is already facing opposition from environmental groups, including the Coastal Conservation League and the Friends of Coastal South Carolina, because they are saying the project doesn’t align with the state’s coastal protection policies.

“This proposal is in direct contradiction to the priorities laid out in South Carolina’s Coastal Zone Management Program, which discourages high-density development in sensitive coastal and wetland areas and prioritizes low-impact development and the protection of water quality and natural drainage patterns,” Anna Kimelblatt, communities & transportation program director with the Coastal Conservation League, says.

The application for the development shows stormwater runoff during construction activities is proposed to be managed by a construction entrance, sediment basins, a silt fence, inlet protection and appropriate placement of portable toilets. These controls would limit sediment and erosion. Proposed permanent features include wet detention ponds and sheet flow.

The Coastal Conservation League says they are also concerned about the possibility of a high number of septic tanks in the area. Experts say numerous septic tanks in a small area can contaminate groundwater and surface water with pathogens.

Grace Gasper, executive director of Friends of Coastal South Carolina, says policies like the Coastal Zone Management Plan are supposed to protect the coast and discourage numerous septic tanks, but have not been the case in previous permits that have been approved in the area.

This comes after various environmental groups filed a against another Awendaw home development that is proposed to build 208 homes on 182 acres of a portion of land called the White Tract.

“Anything they approve or permit is supposed to enhance or maintain water quality,” Gasper says. “And we don’t believe that some of these things that have been permitted will do that.”

Those who oppose the project also believe the high-density development would have negative environmental impacts, including water quality, drainage patterns, damage to buffer zones around wetlands and overall land disturbance.

“They’re supposed to discourage development in flood-prone areas,” Gasper says. “They’re supposed to protect the natural resources, and there are areas that are designated as areas of geographical concern, and Cape Romain is certainly one of those, and we don’t feel like all of that has been adequately considered.”

Residents also voiced concerns about not knowing the full extent of the flow of water in the area and asked officials to do more groundwork on inspecting the site.

On deciding whether to approve or deny the permit, the SCDES will be looking at the water quality control during construction, the rate of stormwater runoff and the quality of stormwater runoff.

No permit decision was made at the meeting, and those who attended or submitted a request for notification will be notified of the decision. The SCDES review clock is 20 business days.

“We urge SCDES to deny this permit and uphold the goals and priorities associated with our state’s coastal zone policies,” Kimelblatt says. “Once these pristine coastal areas are altered or destroyed, we can never get them back.”

AWENDAW — Construction on a development in the town’s White Tract might soon be put back on hold.

Two environmental groups are asking the S.C. Supreme Court to reinstate a freeze on the project while a legal challenge against the subdivision’s permits pushes ahead.

The Tract is located at the intersection of Sewee and Bulls Island roads just off Highway 17, where it abuts the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge on one side and the Francis Marion National Forest on the other.

A planned subdivision in the White Tract has been the focus of a yearslong battle between conservation and construction. In the latest entry in that dispute, the South Carolina Environmental Law Project and Friends of Coastal South Carolina in February filed a challenge to the development’s stormwater and regulatory permits.

The two groups say the project could harm the nearby wildlife refuge. A previous hold on the project stemming from that challenge was lifted by a court in mid-June.

Amy Armstrong, the executive director of the Law Project, said that weighing the environmental impact of a project after it’s already been partially constructed is essentially putting the cart before the horse.

“Protecting the status quo until the court can hear and decide the case is essential — otherwise a permit appeal would become moot before a judge could decide whether the permit is lawful,” Armstrong wrote in a news release.

Atlanta-based Pulte Homes plans to eventually build more than 200 homes across 182 acres on the Tract, according to the Law Project.

A spokesperson for Pulte Group, Pulte Homes’ parent company, did not respond to a request for comment on the latest legal move.

The environmental groups contend the homes’ septic tanks could illegally discharge human excrement into the refuge — a common issue in other septic tank developments across coastal South Carolina.

“If Cape Romain is not worthy of the highest level of protection, no place is truly protected,” Grace Gasper, executive director of Friends of Coastal South Carolina, wrote in a news release.

State officials are lending their support to the non-profits’ cause.

“These valuable wetlands, in their present condition, must be preserved and the site left undisturbed so as to prevent irreparable harm pending resolution of the contested case proceedings,” Tom Mullikin, the director of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, wrote in an affidavit accompanying the groups’ Sept. 16 petition.

Mullikin noted that the project falls within the refuge’s congressionally approved acquisition boundary, meaning the feds have highlighted the area for future inclusion in the refuge. That means it’s also a conservation priority for the state, he wrote.

“Commencement of construction, including clearing, grading and filling of the wetlands, would permanently eliminate a resource of significant value to the State of South Carolina,” Mullikin added.

State Sen. Chip Campsen, who represents the area in the Statehouse, wrote in a separate affidavit that the pause should be reinstated while the legal battle continues. Campsen, R-Isle of Palms, said that allowing construction to continue before a court can formally weigh in on the merit of the environmental groups’ allegations, “set(s) a dangerous precedent for further degradation of our coastline in these environmentally vulnerable areas.”

Federal officials also have expressed concerns about the project. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees Cape Romain, previously wrote that human waste, silt, fertilizers and other chemicals from the project could impact the area’s shellfish beds, potentially harming fish, wildlife and humans in the area who depend on the bedrock bivalves.

The cape is a critical habitat for nearly 300 bird species, several of which are federally listed as threatened or endangered. The area also is among the most important nesting sites on the East Coast for loggerhead sea turtles and can host more than 3,000 sea turtle nests per season, The Post and Courier previously reported.

The threat of leaky septic tanks in coastal South Carolina likely will increase in coming decades. Rising sea levels can push up the groundwater beneath septic drainage fields, disrupting the process that allows soil to filter all of the excrement out of waste water expelled from the drainage field.

AWENDAW — The county is advancing plans to add an extra layer of protection for the historic Ten Mile community, aiming to preserve its rural character and deter large-scale development.

The proposed zoning overlay district — a set of customized zoning regulations tailored to the area — is the result of more than two years of collaboration between Charleston County staff and Ten Mile residents.

A historically Black settlement community near Awendaw, Ten Mile residents have spent years working to preserve its rural nature amid growing development pressures. In 2022, Charleston County Council voted to designate Ten Mile as a historic district. That was followed by a zoning change in early 2024 that reduced density in part of the community from four homes per acre to three. Later that year, council also implemented a two-year moratorium on large-scale residential development in all historic districts.

Now, after several meetings with community members that began in 2023, county staff came up with community-specific guidelines outlining new rules for housing styles, zoning density, permitted businesses and more, all shaped by residential input.

Emily Pigott, county historic preservation officer and community planner, said the meetings were a great opportunity to engage with residents who previously weren’t involved in the community. She emphasized that the final proposal reflects Ten Mile’s priorities.

Residents like Ed Pinckney are glad to see the zoning overlay district come to fruition. He previously told The Post and Courier it was a long-term goal for Ten Mile that would help the community retain its rural lifestyle and character while also protecting residents from being displaced due to large-scale developments.

He said they were just eager to see the zoning overlay district protect the community.

But not all changes aim to limit development. One of the proposed amendments in the new district is to increase density in part of the community.

Ten Mile is split by the Urban Growth Boundary, a line established around 2000 that separates urban and suburban uses from rural uses. Residents want to increase the density in the rural part of the community from one dwelling unit per three acres to one dwelling unit per acre.

Pigott said community members wanted this change because they wanted the freedom to split the land with a family member who can build a home of their own. Pinckney said it was a way to balance development without pushing out residents.

Pigott added that while there would be an increase in density, it’s still rural zoning.

Other guidelines in the overlay include requiring neighborhood association approval for street names, maintaining similar architecture styles for future homes (most homes in Ten Mile are ranch-style), allowing for more flexibility in the size of an accessory dwelling unit and a more stringent threshold for traffic impact studies when developments begin.

County Councilman Larry Kobrovsky has long been an outspoken supporter of historic preservation and the Ten Mile community’s efforts to retain its character. He said the new zoning guidelines are a great way to deter development while the Charleston area continues to grow.

“This is the line in the sand for stopping over-development and changing the rural community that people love and treasure,” he said.

Pinckney said the Ten Mile community has more long-term goals in mind after the district is implemented, like getting an area character appraisal, a document that details the architectural style of the community. They’d also like to get the settlement community listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an official list of historic places in the country worthy of preservation since 1972.

He added while the overlay district is an extra layer of protection, the community prefers to keep the moratorium in place or even extend it another six to eight years. The moratorium protects all historic districts from the threat of subdivisions and not Ten Mile exclusively, Pinckney said. Ten Mile residents plan to work with other settlement communities in the county to help them earn the historic district designation and add more protections, he said.

The proposed zoning overlay district will go before the county’s planning commission Sept. 8.

Off the southbound lane of Highway 17 on the edge of Awendaw sits an old rustic building that was constructed as a general store in 1929. Local Mary Rancourt purchased the business in 1960, and around 1995, she converted it into the Seewee Restaurant. Over the decades, the establishment has become a local treasure because of the beloved family who runs it, the food and the people who make and serve it, their contribution to the community and the history of the space itself.

Although Rancourt isn’t as involved in the day-to-day operations as she used to be, she often makes the rounds to visit with the regulars. Rancourt’s son, Tim Penninger, who manages the business now, said he came on board with the restaurant about five years ago when his mother started thinking of retiring. Before that, he worked as a heavy civil marine contractor with Cape Romain Contractors. As senior inspector building the Ravenel Bridge, he was in charge of constructing the towers.

“I climbed 568 feet to the top to take a look at the engineering,” Penninger recounted. “While I was up there, I noticed how amazing it is to see so far with the naked eye. The Seewee Restaurant is 20-ish miles from Mount Pleasant. I couldn’t see the restaurant, but I could see the marsh right before you get to it.”

Penninger remarked of Sewee, “We stake our fortune on fresh veggies and shrimp, which we get from Carolina Seafood in McClellanville.” Crowd pleasers include the fried shrimp and she-crab soup, made from his great-grandmother’s recipe. “The portions are absurd,” he said. “If you leave here hungry, it’s your fault.”

Some of Seewee’s waitresses have worked there for over 20 years, Penninger said. “We also employ high school and college students to work the floor and cash registers.”

The most rewarding part of the family business, Penninger said, is being able to give back to the community. “Sometimes people come in hungry but they don’t have any money. But nobody’s going to come here and be turned away.”

Like an antique, the building itself has weathered with time. Penninger said, “The old counter and shelves are still there. They were part of the general store, just like the flooring, ceiling and doors, which are all original. The threshold is run down and the finish on the brick steps has worn off. These are more than just the bones of a nearly 100-year-old building, though. No one could ever replicate this; it’s evolved on its own over time.”

Two giant frying pans adorning one wall whisper stories of the Lowcountry’s soulful past. “The pans are a little under 200 years old,” Penninger explained. “They’re between 25 to 30 inches in circumference and have long handles for cooking over a fire. They were definitely handmade, probably on the nearby Fairlawn Plantation. My grandfather was friends with the builder of the general store, who lived at Fairlawn, and he gave these pans to him as a gift.”

To learn more about experiencing their iconic Southern fare, visit seeweerestaurantinc.com.