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Kiawah Island Council adopts beach overlay zoning ordinance after months of debate
Summary
Council approved Ordinance 2025‑21 on second and final reading, creating a 100‑foot beach overlay across the island to protect dunes, vegetation and nesting habitat. The Planning Commission recommended the measure after extensive public workshops; council amended the ordinance to measure certain heights from natural grade and accepted state agency edits.
The Kiawah Island Town Council voted unanimously June 2 to adopt Ordinance 2025‑21, establishing a Beach Overlay Zoning District intended to protect dunes, maritime forest and coastal habitat across the island.
Planning Commission Chair Joanne Hennessy told the council the overlay is the product of roughly 16 planning‑level meetings and public workshops, and was developed to align with the municipal comprehensive plan's call to protect natural resources. Planning Director John Taylor reviewed revisions since the ordinance's first reading, including a reduction of the overlay boundary from 150 to 100 feet, survey‑confirmed boundaries, and new nonconforming‑structure rules to govern maintenance, repair and like‑for‑like replacement.
Opponents from Eugenia Avenue said the ordinance remains vague about what qualifies as a nonconformity and how administrative relief will operate for homes currently under construction. O'Kelly and other property owners pressed councilors to clarify whether partially built projects would be grandfathered and who would measure botanical percentages and tree diameters when replacement rules apply.
Council discussion focused on the ordinance’s statutory authority and the Coastal Science & Engineering reports on dune position and habitat change. Mayor (speaker 1) and several council members cited the CSE findings showing landward shift and diminished vegetated buffers along certain reaches of Eugenia Avenue as a rationale for island‑wide standards. Council members also emphasized that the ordinance preserves the right to continue use of existing nonconforming structures and allows for repair or reconstruction after storm damage.
During final action the council adopted two amendments: changing the buffer‑zone B maximum building height measurement to be taken from natural grade and incorporating recommended minor edits from the South Carolina Bureau of Coastal Management. After those amendments the ordinance carried on second and final reading.
What happens next: The ordinance is now part of Kiawah’s municipal code. Planning staff and the commission will be responsible for implementing survey‑based boundaries and processing administrative relief requests and variances according to the ordinance’s criteria.
