An environmental advocacy group is challenging the validity of a permit for a developer to begin building on land in Awendaw within the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.

The White Track is a large area, zoned for development, where a developer plans to build 208 homes on 182 acres. The first step is a permit for 27 homes, which would involve filling in two acres of wetlands that activists say pose threats to the quality of the local waterways.

Monica Whalen is a Staff Attorney at the South Carolina Environmental Law Project. She says while the State Department of Environmental Services approved a stormwater permit and granted the project Coastal Zone Consistency Certification, she and the Friends of Coastal South Carolina disagree with the work set to happen.

“So we filed this challenge of the permit in the administrative law court. So there’ll be an administrative law judge that reviews the permitting decision and either affirms, remains or reverses the decision,” Whalen says.