Charleston city leaders to review request to remove nearly 200 grand trees on Johns Island

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston’s Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday will meet to review a request to remove nearly 200 grand trees on Johns Island.

Developers are requesting this removal to build a new residential subdivision with over 400 lots near the intersection of River Road and Plow Ground Road.

Robert Summerfield, the City of Charleston’s Director of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability, said a large number of the trees developers are requesting to remove are diseased and damaged, but some of them are healthy.

Summerfield said the development team has worked “exhaustively” to minimize the impact on trees, but unfortunately, there are a number of trees that will have to be removed in order to build the necessary fire safety connections and supporting infrastructure.

He said the development team has removed lots, reworked roadways and talked about reserving space for conservation areas to try to reduce the environmental impact within the site. He also said, if approved, conditions will be attached like having to plant replacement trees and preserving wetland areas.

“It’s a 460- almost 470-acre site, so there’s a lot of trees on it. In fact, the grand trees, the inventory showed there’s more than one-thousand grand trees on the site. So, again, the request is for a relatively small subset of that,” Summerfield said.

One Johns Island advocacy group is campaigning for the developers to save all of the healthy oaks.

Cheryl Carmody-Murphy, a Johns Island resident, said she is encouraging those who can to attend Wednesday’s meeting or submit public comments in support of saving the trees.

“There’s a lot of chatter and talk and complaining and venting and concerns, but does anybody show up to the meetings? There has to be some action taken here to persevere Johns Island, at least how it is now,” Carmody-Murphy said.

She said she wants a comprehensive plan for the island that represents Johns Islander’s goals, rather than just creating a bedroom town for the city of Charleston.

Developers have not yet returned a quest for comment.

Wednesday’s meeting is at 5 p.m. in the public meeting room at 2 George Street.

For the meeting agenda, click here.

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