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Stakeholders urge prompt adoption of Natural Resources Element; council remands revisions to planning commission
Summary
Environmental groups and stakeholders urged council to adopt the updated Natural Resources Element; staff recommended minor edits and council voted to remand the amended document back to the planning commission for review and a December third-reading public hearing.
Three speakers representing local conservation groups and legal counsel — Dwayne Draper (Keep It Green), Monica Whelan (South Carolina Environmental Law Project) and Cindy Person (Keep It Green) — addressed the council during public comment to urge support for the November 2024 revisions to the Natural Resources Element (NRE) of Georgetown County's comprehensive plan.
Speakers praised planning staff and collaborators for incorporating stakeholder input and said the most recent edits preserved the substance of the planning commission's recommendations. Monica Whelan, staff attorney at the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, said the revisions preserved the goals, objectives and strategies the planning commission originally recommended. Keep It Green representatives recommended the council approve the NRE with the November changes and forward it to the planning commission for review and eventual third-reading approval.
Staff later summarized proposed minor amendments, noting clarifications where goals involve other agencies and recommending courtesy referral of the changes back to the planning commission so it may review the edits and return a recommendation for a third reading in December with an associated public hearing. Council later moved and voted to remand ordinance number 22-44 (the NRE) back to the planning commission for further consideration and scheduling of a public hearing at the December meeting.
