Board of Zoning Appeals votes to affirm decision to not permit Citadel concert series

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Plans to bring a concert series to the Citadel’s Johnson Hagood Stadium came to a halt on Tuesday after a vote from the City of Charleston’s Board of Zoning Appeals.

The board voted in favor of affirming the decision of the Zoning Administrator who previously ruled the concert series was not permitted, pointing to the level of intensity and the “lack of connection between the concert series and the approved school use.”

The military college filed an appeal.

“Nobody over the course of 100 years thought concerts were not allowed at Johnson Hagood because we had them and all kind of other things from 1923 until January,” said Mark Brandenburg, the general counsel for the Citadel.

Compelling arguments were made by both sides of the matter in a packed meeting room.

“We’re talking about a living, breathing downtown neighborhood where these houses are 100 yards from that stadium,” shared Jim Myrick, a resident in the Hampton Park neighborhood.

The stadium falls under a school overlay in a Diverse Residential or DR-1F zone district. Many of the neighbors who live nearby have openly opposed the concert series since its announcement back in January.

“I’m definitely opposed to it. I think most people in the neighborhood are as well just with the traffic that it’s going to bring. It’s hard enough to find parking whenever there’s events at the Citadel and, you know, if they were to fill that stadium the traffic would definitely get a lot worse,” said Hampton Park resident, Robert Bray.

As stated in the BZA meeting, the Citadel can come back with a request for a special exception to expand school use within the residential zone. Meanwhile, Citadel officials are holding out hope concerts aren’t completely out of the question.

“They did indicate that the Citadel can have a concert at Johnson Hagood Stadium. They expressed some concerns about a series of concerts, but they did not question the ability to have a concert. So, we’re going to look at that,” Jonathan Hoffman said after the meeting.

He serves as the Vice President of Communications for the Citadel and also went on to say they plan to meet with the neighborhood in the future.