Charleston County passes 2-year building moratorium in historic preservation districts

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Three African American settlement communities in Charleston County will be temporarily protected from large developments under a newly-approved building moratorium.

On Tuesday, Charleston County Council voted 5-3 to approve the third reading of a 24-month moratorium on processing and acceptance of major subdivision applications in the county’s historic preservation districts.

The Beefield, Phillips, and Ten Mile communities are all considered historic preservation districts.

“Developers will come in and they’re being overran. No water, no sewer, no drainage, and so we need to, you know, take a step back and allow them to tell us what they want in their community and go from there,” said Charleston County Councilman Teddie Pryor Sr., who represents District 5.

Richard Habersham, the President of the Phillips Community Association, spoke in favor of the moratorium during a public hearing on the matter.

“I’ll tell you why this is so important to our community. Just like, in Phillips, we got four houses going up, $800,000 per house, 800,000. And without this ordinance, we would’ve had 10-20 houses going up in the community. Something that the community can’t afford,” Habersham told council.

Councilman Pryor brought forth the idea for the moratorium at the May 7^th council meeting.

He told News 2 on Tuesday, the 24-month period will give the communities time to work with staff to come up with a long-term plan to protect the areas, an idea supported by the Preservation Society of Charleston.

“These residents in the communities, the people in these communities, say that they’re feeling the pressure, and they need the help and the tools that the county has to regulate its land use,” said Sam Spence, the Director of Public Affairs for the nonprofit.  

Councilman Pryor said property owners will still be able to subdivide their properties which is what some council members who voted against the move, initially, expressed concern about. He said the moratorium goes into effect immediately.