Goat Island is a small slice of natural, pristine beauty in Charleston County. The island does not have any serviceable roads and the residents enjoy the quiet, relaxed lifestyle of the island due in large part to difficulty accessing the island – the islanders transport all their goods by boat.
Now, a new Goat Island resident wants to change all that. Mr. Bernholz applied for a permit for an industrial-sized dock on the island that would open up the island for larger-scale development. The dock structure would be built of 12' x 208' metal grating and allow him to drive trucks with construction materials from a barge onto a number of Goat Island properties that he and his family own.
OCRM denied the permit because this docking structure violates the regulations and Bernholz already has a functioning dock on his property.
The Coastal Conservation League asked SCELP to intervene to assist OCRM in defending the denial. ALJ Marvin F. Kittrell held a hearing on May 4, 2006, and issued an opinion upholding the denial of the permit on March 15, 2007. Read Judge Kittrell's Order here.