Environment
Changes to tree regulations seen as clash of cultures
Stiffer fines for cutting or damaging protected trees are still awaiting final approval from Georgetown County Council after months of delay while staff looks at ways to ease restrictions in the rural area. Amendments to the tree regulations within the zoning ordinance received the second of three required readings last month. The measure will be deferred this week by county staff.
“This has the potential to basically destroy lives,” Council Member Raymond Newton, who represents District 5, said. “This could actually cause a family to go through bankruptcy.”
The current fine of $500 per violation would increase to $500 per inch based on the diameter of the tree. In addition, the county would withhold permits for two years on projects that violate the rules on tree protection.
On the Waccamaw Neck, occupied single-family homes would no longer be exempt from the tree protection regulations that currently apply to commercial and multi-family projects.
In the rural area, the rules don’t apply to occupied single-family homes. The list of protected trees is also shorter and those trees have to be larger before the protections apply.
Newton told his colleagues last month that he thinks the penalties are too harsh and that the rules reflect difference between long-time residents and newcomers.
“The generational families have much more connection with the land,” he said. “That land has sustained that family.”
Even when revisions that he proposed were included in the amended tree regulations, Newton said the folks he talked to in his district were against it. Some expressed their opposition in language that Newton said he couldn’t repeat in the council chambers.
“Our culture is totally different from the ones that move in here,” he said. “We want to be able to maintain our culture like we always have.”
Newton said he could envision a scenario where someone cuts a “grand tree” with a diameter of 24 inches or above, either accidentally or in ignorance of the ordinance, and is fined $12,000.
“We’re using a 16 pound hammer to solve a problem a 4 pound hammer could have solved,” he said.
Jay Watson, the county attorney, said he understood the concern, but noted that the goal was to deter tree cutting for development.
“When you have multi-million dollar developments, as we have here, the current fine structure simply has no teeth. It is no deterrent at all. It is merely the cost of doing business,” Watson said.
The amendment was proposed after a 24-inch live oak was cut on an undeveloped lot at North Litchfield. The tree rules were previously amended in 2021 to increase protection for trees that size.
The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the current amendment in June. Proponents say it will help protect the native landscape and reduce the impact of stormwater.
The council approved the second of three readings 6-2 with Newton and Council Member Everett Carolina opposed.
“We’re trying to close the loopholes, because quite frankly we’ve seen a lot of them,” Watson said.
Update: This article was updated from the print version to reflect that this week’s council agenda calls for the amendment to be deferred.
