An outdated map may have wasted your time and money. How Beaufort County is fixing that
Chad Weaver, a Charleston resident who purchased some property in Sheldon, said he envisioned building a cabin and a fishing dock on the site as a place to “live out his days.”
His vision hit a snag, though, when he got to the dock part of his plan.
The Beaufort County ordinance that has a history of causing headaches for landowners that live by “small tidal creeks” is in the process of being revised. However, it has affected residents like Weaver from developing docks on their property when, in some cases, they should be allowed to do so.
The county’s code requires that a set of maps from 2014 be used in the permitting process for new construction.
Much of the information on the maps is inaccurate, Greenway said, but the maps still dictate whether or not someone can build a dock on their property, and exceptions can’t be made even if independent surveys show something different.
“I have to enforce the language (in the code),” he said.
Nevertheless, the current code’s inflexibility directly affected Weaver, as the map said the location where he wanted to put the dock was not allowable.
Private survey costly
Beaufort County’s permitting process requires anyone seeking a dock permit to get a private land survey done before submitting the application. For Weaver, that meant spending roughly $1,600 on a survey that, in his opinion, was entirely unnecessary.
“That’s a lot of money for people to put out and get shut down,” he said. “People need to know.”
Weaver appealed to the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals, which rejected his appeal on Dec. 20.
“The map has a disclaimer that says the information needs to be verified,” Weaver said Wednesday. “The permitting office needs the survey. You get past the survey, and the board abides by the map.”
Greenway confirmed the disclaimer, which reads in part, “The information and images ... are for viewing and informational purposes only. Although much of the data is compiled from official sources, such as deeds and plats, it is not intended to be used as such.”
Weaver said his issue was not even that the dock couldn’t be constructed on the exact site he’d hoped, as he has a different location on his property that meets the width requirements.
Rather, the need to pay for a survey when the current language says the potentially inaccurate map is the gold standard regardless of independent survey data could mean that others going through a similar scenario could waste money on a survey that won’t affect the outcome.
Amendment in the works
County Council approved a first reading of an amendment to the county’s Community Development Code that would provide a definition for “small tidal creek” in regard to zoning. According to Eric Greenway, Beaufort County’s planning director, the code currently lacks such a definition.
Greenway said Thursday that the county plans to adopt the state’s definition for a small tidal creek, which is a body of water whose width is less than 300 feet, or approximately 100 meters.
He also said the amendment would change the map from being a law to a guide.
“This has historically been an issue in Beaufort County, and if the amendment gets passed, it won’t be a problem anymore,” Greenway said.
This is not the first time that outdated county documents have caused frustration for Beaufort County property owners. The Island Packet reported in late 2016 that flood zone maps governing then-present-day rules were over 20 years old. The county subsequently updated its flood zone maps in 2017, according to previous reporting.
