Avenue of the Oaks property owner says harassment continues, still plans to move
A new Coffin Point Plantation property owner at the center of a tree-cutting controversy this month said harassment has continued in the St. Helena Island community and that she plans to leave.
Property owner Kathy Sasso posted a photo to Facebook on Friday of a printout of the city of Beaufort's animal ordinance she said was taped to her door. Someone had highlighted portions of the law pertaining to dangerous dogs and horses housed too close to adjoining residents.
"The harassment continues at Coffin Point!" she said.
Someone trespassed to post the printout, Sasso said Monday, and she reiterated that she and her husband plan to leave the area. Sasso otherwise declined comment.
Multiple attempts to reach Coffin Point Plantation Homeowners Association president Kathy McTeer were unsuccessful Monday.
Sasso's post followed a firestorm that erupted online after photos posted to Facebook showed a cleared lot along Coffin Point's iconic Avenue of the Oaks. One or more of the grand trees was purported to have been removed.
Officials from Beaufort County and the Beaufort County Open Land Trust met at the site and determined a tree removed from the site had been a dead water oak.
Sasso, who bought adjoining properties along Avenue of the Oaks and McTeer Drive, said no trees were cut and that threats and insults have caused her to consider selling the property.
Asked about the threats Monday, Sasso declined comment. The initial posts about the clearing have since been removed.
The Open Land Trust owns 10 feet along each side of Avenue of the Oaks it bought in a tax sale for less than $1,000. The nonprofit conservation organization is having that land surveyed to confirm what it owns.
The Land Trust had not received the results of the survey on Monday.
"It's a project, to say the least," land stewardship director Josh Bell said. "We're talking about multiple parcels."
Sasso said last week she and her husband had invested about $40,000 to clear underbrush and rebuild the house they bought in Coffin Point, where they planned to retire with their dogs and horses.
She said she understood concerns about the new look of the clearing and that the work on the Sassos' property had been done with aesthetics in mind.
"While we understand everyone's passion and love for this area's 'natural beauty', every single residence on Avenue of Oaks has been allowed the opportunity to utilize their property within the limits of the law," Sasso wrote in a Facebook post last week.
Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen and on Facebook at facebook.com/StephenFastenau.
Related content:
- Update: Avenue of the Oaks property owner: No rules broken in tree cutting, Jan. 25, 2016
- Video: A trip down St. Helena Island's Avenue of Oaks, Jan. 25, 2016
- St. Helena's Coffin Point among areas hammered by high water, resident says, Oct. 8, 2015
This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Avenue of the Oaks property owner says harassment continues, still plans to move."