Warehouse in Sullivan's Island, SC

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — Two homeowners have taken their fight to cut down parts of the island's maritime forest back to court.

The latest appeal heard Oct. 8 brings the legal battle into its 15th year.

In 2023, a judge tossed out a settlement that residents Nathan Bluestein and Theodore Albensius had reached with the town agreeing to remove an unprecedented number of trees from the forest behind their homes in a detailed maintenance plan.

The trees stand between their property, as well as their neighbors’ land, and the ocean.

The S.C. Court of Appeals heard arguments Oct. 8 in Columbia from the plaintiff’s attorney, James Hood, and Greenville-based lawyer William Wilkins, who represents the town.

“We're hopeful that the Court of Appeals will order the town of Sullivan's Island to do what it agreed to do,” Hood told The Post and Courier.

The lush forest that spans more than 200 acres of accreted sand on Sullivan’s Island is relatively young. The forest took hold in the 1950s and has been left to its own devices ever since. This untamed growth became a sticking point for residents living behind it.

The property owners, Bluestein and Albensius, sued the town in 2010 for failing to manage the forest. They argued the overgrowth brought mosquitos, raccoons, snakes and coyotes and created fire hazards. In their initial complaint, the homeowners claimed the thick forest’s growth had deprived them of ocean views and breezes and lowered their property values.

In 2020, the homeowners settled with the town. Under the terms of the agreement, Sullivan’s Island would selectively thin zones of the forest and remove more trees than had previously been allowed before. Any future town council would be bound to this agreement, too.

Shortly after the agreement was executed, Sullivan’s Island elected an entirely new town council, save for Mayor Pat O’Neil, who voted against settling the litigation in the first place. The compromise also drew criticism from some residents, including a local environmental advocacy group called Sullivan’s Island for All, who decried the impending tree removals.

The newly elected council sought to overturn the agreement and in 2023 were successful.

Charleston County Circuit Judge Jennifer McCoy ruled the settlement unenforceable because a previous town council had agreed to its terms. The agreement restricted council from adopting future regulations preserving or maintaining the land as public interests change, McCoy wrote.

Wilkins argued this point again Oct. 8.

“A prior council may not tell a future council what it must do or what it may not do regarding the exercise of its governmental powers,” Wilkins said.

Hood disagreed with that assessment. His clients are asking to reverse the 2023 judgment that voided their agreement with the town.

“What they did in this case was they settled a lawsuit, then they turned around and sued the people they settled with and forced them to go back to court to defend a settlement agreement that the town had agreed upon,” Hood said. “My clients’ hope is that the town of Sullivan's Island would recognize its obligation to do the work of its constituents, and that would include living up to the promises it makes.”

FOX Weather Meteorologist Steve Bender breaks down everything you need to know for the nor'easter anticipated to slam the eastern U.S. this weekend, with heavy rain, high winds, and coastal flooding expected.

SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, S.C. – The Carolinas are bracing for coastal impacts from a powerful nor'easter expected to blast the East Coast beginning Friday.

Gusty winds, heavy rain and coastal impacts such as flooding and beach erosion are possible.

(Bayne Froney / FOX Weather)

For areas in both North and South Carolina already battered by recent rough surf from hurricanes Humberto and Imelda, the threat of more flooding and beach erosion presents a danger to homes already impacted by erosion.

Nine homes collapsed in just a few days along the beach in Buxton and Rodanthe, North Carolina, from late September into early October. In total, 21 homes have collapsed along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore since 2020.

Several other homes at risk of collapse sit abandoned along those beaches.

The impacts from this nor'easter will stretch from the Carolinas into New England through Tuesday.

A Level 2 out of 4 flash flood risk has been issued for coastal North Carolina on Saturday.

FOX Weather Meteorologist Bayne Froney reported from Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, on Thursday, where King Tides were still impacting conditions, bringing rough surf and causing beach erosion.

A cold front brought a drastic temperature shift to the East Coast on Thursday morning.

"We've been dealing with these conditions all day, thanks to that cold front," Froney said. "The surf has been intense all day long."

Overall, rainfall closer to the coast looks to amount to a widespread 2-3 inches through Monday, according to the FOX Forecast Center. Localized rainfall amounts closer to 5 inches are possible as well.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Sullivan’s Island town leaders are breaking ground Friday morning on a major project to ease flooding in some of the town’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.

Crews are expected to begin work at drainage basins on Station 28.5 and Station 31, two of the worst-functioning systems on the island.

Crews will need to close some roads while installing new pipes and infrastructure but residents will still have access to their homes. Town officials say contractors will notify property owners in advance if work may affect them directly.

The project is set to break ground at 10 a.m. at the corner of Jasper Boulevard and Station 28.5.

The project is funded through the South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program grant, which also covers upgrades at Stations 16 and 25 in a later phase.

Officials say the improvements will increase the capacity of main stormwater lines, make upgrades to lateral lines and install tidal backflow prevention devices at each outfall.

Filtration devices are also being added to storm drains to ensure cleaner water flows into the creeks surrounding the island. In some areas, crews will also need to remove and replace road pavement and sidewalks.

Town leaders say the basins selected for this work are among those with the most severe drainage problems, affecting the greatest number of residents. These locations lacked the major trunk lines and lateral lines needed to move water off streets, a problem outlined in the adopted earlier this year. The plan found that a majority of Sullivan’s Island’s drainage systems were outdated with some being more than 100 years old.

A South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program grant is providing $10 million in funding for the project. The town contributed $1.1 million for design, permitting and planning, mostly from federal American Rescue Plan funds.

Construction is expected to be substantially complete by June 2026.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C (WCBD) – Some homeowners on Sullivan’s Island are challenging a South Carolina Circuit Court ruling protecting the maritime forest.

The forest is once again at the center of a decades-long legal battle, as the residents being represented in case are appealing the 2023 decision in the South Carolina Court of Appeals. The judge ruled in favor of a settlement agreement protecting the 190 acres. Sullivan’s Island for All, a local grassroots organization, advocates that it serves a natural barrier.

“The most important thing is that it is a barrier to protect the island, both the people and the property from big storms,” Howard Holl, president of Sullivan’s Island for All, said. “If you notice what’s been happening recently in Charleston, they’re going to spend a billion dollars for a seawall, and we have this natural seawall here that protects the island.”

In 1991, the town put the area in a deed-restricted land trust belonging to residents. However, those homeowners said they are upset as the forest was not there when they bought their homes. Now it has grown, obstructing what would be oceanfront views.

“They also have the negative consequences of the unmaintained maritime forest that has resulted in a lot of species there that never used to exist, and it sort of changed the nature of front beach living for those folks,” James Hood, attorney for Sullivan’s Island homeowners, said.

The attorney added the maritime forest has created issues with wildlife for his clients.

“It also has an impact on the pests, the rodents, the vermin, the coyotes now that are in front of their yards and have deal with that with their own pets and children, and things of that nature,” Hood said. “So, what’s happened is that the town has created a nuisance that these folks have to live next to while other people don’t.”

However, Holl said the forest serves as a habitat for island wildlife, keeping them out of people’s yards, which is critical to island’s ecosystem.

“We are just dedicated to preserving the forest and cutting down the forest just for views is not something that we see as a possibility,” said Holl.

The attorney said the homeowners believe the forest needs maintenance and ask the court to honor the original contract.

“It entered into a contract to resolve a lawsuit that involved specific, limited maintenance of the maritime forest and accreted land. That’s all we want, is what the town promised to do in the settlement agreement and to go forward and get that permitting and let the work continue,” Hood said.

The South Carolina Court of Appeals may issue a ruling in 2026.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The town of Sullivan’s Island is working to reduce the effects of flooding with projects in the works and a study that forecasts sea level rise and offers solutions to combat it.

A working stormwater system on Sullivans Island is no longer just a pipe dream, Mayor Patrick O’Neill said.

“This is the exciting beginning to a project that’s been years in the making,” he said.

The existing storm drain system is failing, leading to flooding.

“We’re going be removing and replacing some of the existing storm drains and putting in new,” Golf Stream Construction Senior Project Manager Cam Cooper said.

Crews are working on adding massive pipes starting with Station 28.5 and Station 31. O’Neill said the pipes will make it easier for rainwater to get collected and flow out to the marsh. That is one of several flood related projects the town is prioritizing.

Town council will look at a sea level adaptation and resilience plan, which highlights nature-based solutions, on Tuesday.

“What we’re really trying to do with these practices as is mimic predevelopment hydrology, so water moves across the land like before we built upon it,” Weston & Sampson Team Leader Kim Morganello said.

The plan will recommend ten adaptation strategies including redesigning Middle Street, a main road on the island. Researchers looked at where street level rain gardens can be added and where permeable parking would be possible.

The study also looked at open space around the island, researchers identified 33 specific locations that could have nature-based solutions. One of the projects is already moving into implementation, a rain garden will be going in at the Sullivans Island Elementary School.

Morganello said the plan serves as a guidebook through 2050 for the town to reference among anticipated increases in high tides and storms. A model allowed researchers to simulate what the future on the island could look like.

“We increased the title storm search value to almost two feet to show what it would look like in 2050. We also added an increase in rainfall depth to simulate some stronger, more frequent and more intense storms,” Weston & Sampson Senior Project Scientist Lucas Hernandez said.

Hernandez said the models and research provides the town with information that will allow officials to begin to address some items on the community rating system through FEMA.

“That system actually feeds into the insurance premiums for a community standpoint,” Hernandez said.

O’Neill added being proactive on anticipated flood concerns is the best strategy for the town.

“We’re definitely planning for tomorrow’s needs and not today because we do expect sea level rise will continue, we expect there to be more extreme rain events, so we’re trying to plan ahead for that,” O’Neill said.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, members could accept the sea level adaptation and resilience plan document, but they will not be voting on anything in it. O’Neill said as the town considers those solutions there will be opportunity for community involvement along the way.

Click here to review the draft plan.

Click here for the latest on Sullivan’s Island Town Council meetings.