The Town of James Island is holding a public hearing on Chapters 8 and 9 of the Zoning and Subdivision Regulation Ordinance on Thursday, September 19 at 7:00. After the public hearing, there will be a first reading of ordinances making changes in those two chapters. To see drafts of the two chapters go here.
If the chapters pass without amendment, then homeowners in the Town of James Island will be forced to submit to more Town regulation of the trees in their yard. The Town requires homeowners get permission to remove or heavily prune any "grand tree." Currently, "grand tree" is defined as any oak tree with diameter greater than 24 inches (a trunk 2 feet wide.). The new, more restrictive regulation, is to require permission for any tree other than pine, sweet gum, or Chinese Tallow with diameter greater than 18 inches.
I don't think the Town should reduce the minimum diameter to 18 inches. In my view, "grand" should mean something, and calling average trees "grand" to impose more regulations and fines on homeowners is wrong. The James Island Way isn't about over-regulation and big government. What is a grand tree? To see my view, go here.
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Removing or heavily pruning a grand tree in your yard requires permission from the Town's Board of Zoning Appeals. They don't have to give permission. They can just say no. Keep the tree in your yard. If they do give permission, they must require inch-for-inch mitigation. They can make the homeowner plant the trees they choose in the homeowner's own yard. But the Board can also make the homeowner plant the trees wherever they want. The expense for mitigating an 18 inch tree will be at least $2,000, but it could be more like $5,000. Just this spring, the Town's BZA required that 11 six inch trees be planted to replace two water oaks on Camp Road. The cost of that is estimated to be nearly $20,000.
Before the Town was formed, we were subject to the County's grand tree regulation. I don't think the reason we formed the Town was to impose stricter regulations on our homeowners. Yes, there are some advocates of big government who live on James Island. If you follow the debate, this is just a first step. They want to reduce the size to 12 inches for most trees, and even smaller because some trees don't grow don't grow very big. To hear them tell it, they plan to manage the Town's landscape. What is that? They want the government to control the landscape in your yard!
Please come out to the public hearing next Thursday, September 19 at 7:00. Tell Town Council to show some respect for homeowner's rights and stop trying to micromanage everyone's yard. If you can't make it, send them an email or call Town Hall at 795-4141. We will make sure that Council gets your message.
Councilman Blank, Chairman of our Land Use Committee and former Chair of the James Island Planning Commission, opposes reducing the size of "grand trees" to 18 inches.
Please let the other three know where you stand.
Mayor Bill Woolsey
DarrenTroyMullinax@jamesislandsc.us
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