Following Supreme Court decision, Bluffton moves to better protect its wetlands
In the rapidly developing Town of Bluffton, a first-of-its-kind local ordinance aims to further protect wetlands and fill a regulatory void left by the state and federal government.
The new rule, which passed at a March 11 town council meeting, establishes a larger buffer around wetlands and a newfound authority to enforce violations. Wetlands provide the Lowcountry with flood control and critical habitat for a wide range of aquatic species. In a watershed that’s lost over 500 acres of wetlands in the last 20 years, town staff say the new ordinance adds a layer of protection beyond the limited capacity of state and federal agencies.
The new ordinance requires a 50-foot buffer between wetlands within town limits and any proposed structures. The ordinance also allows citizens to report possible infractions and gives town staff the authority to enforce violations.
The state and federal government have their own rules and regulations related to building on or near wetlands. But having the extra layer of protection and enforcement at the local level allows the town staff to respond quickly when those agencies are backlogged, Andrea Moreno, a program manager in Bluffton’s watershed management division, said.
These wetlands protection ordinances will be implemented in phases. A 25-foot buffer ordinance passed by the town council in April 2024. That version of the ordinance ended up only applying to a small section of the town.
Over 90 percent of Bluffton is within planned unit developments that are governed by legally binding contracts between the town and developers. The contracts stipulate things such as general use and density. The town and developer agreed on many parts of these contracts years ago.
These agreements also state that any new development in these areas are subject to the town’s current stormwater standards. Due to the fact that there was no well established connection between wetlands and stormwater in the previous version of the ordinance, it only applied to a small section of the town, Moreno said.
“We have really tried to engross wetland protections as a means to comply with storm water standards this go around,” Moreno said.
The town has also hired a consultant to better determine the location of wetlands within the town, said Beth Lewis, the town’s water quality program manager. Current wetlands assessments that were created by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are sometimes out of date and not always accurate, she added.
Once that analysis is complete, the town then plans to further update the ordinance using the more complete assessment, Lewis said.
Local regulations take center stage
State environmental groups have been pushing for increased wetlands protections at the state and local level for decades. Those efforts have been slow going, so SCELP turned to local regulations as a possible avenue for these protections, Emily Poole, an attorney with the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, said.
Then, in 2023 the Supreme Court ruled that only wetlands that have a “continuous surface connection” to “waters of the United States” are protected under the Clean Water Act. These decisions threw into question the protections of isolated freshwater wetlands.
There are no statewide wetlands projections. The eight coastal counties, which includes Beaufort, have some wetlands protections under the Coastal Tidelands and Wetlands Act. That certification process is only triggered by another state or federal permit, Amy Armstrong, the executive director of the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, said.
“The development community is saying that they still have to do a coastal zone consistency process through our State Department of Environmental Services,” Grant McClure, a project manager with the Coastal Conservation League, said. “There’s some question marks about if they’ll still be able to have authority to enforce that Sackett.”
Because the town is much more accessible to residents than the state and federal agencies, the new ordinance is a good opportunity for the town to be responsible stewards of their wetlands, McClure said.
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 9:54 AM.
