As promised, lawyers representing a developer in a controversial Pine Island golf course project have filed a new federal lawsuit against Beaufort County. The suit is again challenging the cultural zoning standards that have repeatedly barred the developer’s efforts to break ground on the remote coastal property.

Filed April 20 in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina, the lawsuit alleges St. Helena Island’s cultural protection overlay (CPO) is “unconstitutional on its face” because it favors one race “at the inherent expense of others.” The attorneys have asked for an order ending enforcement of the CPO and its “vague” and “arbitrary” guidelines.