SC Administrative Law Court Decisions

This is a consolidated proceeding in which the Petitioners have challenged permits issued to The Litchfield Company by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management ("DHEC/OCRM"), allowing the construction of a total of eleven docks and a boat ramp. The matter was scheduled for hearing on the merits beginning January 30, 1996. However, the parties have reached an agreement to

resolve this controversy, and have requested that the agreement be made the final administrative(

order in this case.

The agreement of the parties is as follows:

1. The Petitioners shall withdraw their challenge to the subject permits, and the challenge to the permits shall be dismissed, with prejudice. Provided, however, that Petitioners shall retain the right to enforce the terms of this agreement.

2. The original applications filed by The Litchfield Company sought permits for a total of seventeen docks and a boat ramp. The DHEC/OCRM decision allows only eleven docks and

a boat ramp with ten of the docks being joint use docks shared by two lots each, and the remaining dock being a community dock at the boat ramp. In addition, the DHEC/OCRM decision, along with subsequent actions taken by DHEC/OCRM, eliminates the floating docks for the docks numbered 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10, and decreases the overall length of the docks as follows:

3. The Litchfield Company has also applied for an amendment to the dock permits, as described in a document entitled Public Notice Amendment Request dated September 7, 1995. Petitioners agree that they will not oppose this amendment request. Respondents agree that the amendment shall be granted with the proviso that the boat lifts shall not be constructed until and unless the individual lot owners desire such lifts.

4. The permits shall also be amended to add the special condition that no boats containing heads or marine sanitation devices shall be moored at the docks.

5. The Litchfield Company shall execute and record in the office of the Clerk of Court for Georgetown County a restrictive covenant prohibiting the construction of docks on the lots at Inlet Point South Phase III (The Peninsula) except for those docks allowed by the DHEC/OCRM permit at issue in this case. The covenant shall also limit the docks allowed to the length size and configuration as allowed under the current DHEC/OCRM permit and the amendment described in paragraph 3 above. The restrictive covenant may be limited to those lots owned by The Litchfield Company as of the date of this order. The Litchfield Company has four lots under option contract at the present time; if the option is exercised, the covenants will not cover those lots; however, if the option is not exercised, the covenants will be amended to include the lots presently under option. The Litchfield Company shall also execute and record a conservation easement requiring that all property owned by The Litchfield Company at Inlet Point South but not included in a platted lot of record shall be preserved in a natural condition with no alteration of natural vegetation and no man-made structures.

Until the aforesaid restrictive covenants are recorded, The Litchfield Company shall inform all prospective purchasers of the limitations to be imposed and shall require that future lot sales within Inlet Point South Phase III (The Peninsula) shall be subject to the restrictive covenants.

All of the covenants required by this order shall be enforceable at law and in equity by the Petitioners.

6. The parties agree that the docks authorized by the permits at issue in this proceeding constitute a dock master plan for Inlet Point South, Phase III (The Peninsula) under the DHEC/OCRM regulations and the 1993 refinements to the South Carolina Coastal Management Program. As such, the decision to allow the docks authorized by the permits in this case also constitutes a decision to strictly limit the docks at this subdivision to the docks specifically authorized by the subject permits, with the size, length and configuration limitations presently imposed by DHEC/OCRM. DHEC/OCRM agrees that in the event The Litchfield Company or any future owner of any lot in Inlet Point South Phase III (The Peninsula) applies for a dock not specifically authorized by these permits, or for an amendment to increase the size or length of the docks authorized by these permits, such application shall be denied as being inconsistent with the approved dock master plan.

7. DHEC/OCRM also agrees that in the event that the agency receives complaints and after investigation the agency concludes that any of the docks herein authorized constitute an unreasonable impedance to public navigation, DHEC/OCRM shall issue an administrative order requiring the removal and/or reconfiguration or relocation of such dock to eliminate the navigation impedance.

NOW, THEREFORE, by and with the consent of all parties,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the agreement stated hereinabove is hereby adopted and

confirmed as the order of the Administrative Law Judge Division in this case; and that the appeals of the subject permits are hereby dismissed, with prejudice; however, the dismissal of this appeal is subject to the Petitioners' continuing rights to enforce this order and to enforce the covenants required by this order.

AND IT IS SO ORDERED.

s/STEPHEN P. BATES

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE

January 26, 1996

Columbia, South Carolina