The Ten Mile Neighborhood Association filed an appeal Wednesday regarding the Charleston County Planning Commission's mid-June decision to uphold the approval of a plat of a proposed subdivision in the historic African American community at the edge of Copahee Sound.

The appeal, in connection with the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, lists the Charleston County Planning Commission and Copahee Sound, LLC as defendants and Ten Mile Neighborhood Association of Awendaw, S.C. as the plaintiff appellants. The case was filed in the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

The appeal alleges that the Planning Commission’s decision, made June 12, to uphold the approval of the plat violates provisions in the Zoning and Land Development Regulations. Specifically, the decision violates regulations requiring subdivisions -- along with any additional new construction -- to be certified as historically appropriate if proposed in a historic district. Additionally, the Ten Mile Neighborhood Association alleges that the subdivision destroys the integrity of the historical district, creating "serious environmental impacts," such as flooding, in an area that is regularly "unpassable at high tide. "

“The Ten Mile Community is disheartened by the systematic weakening of the Historic Preservation Ordinance, designed to protect settlement communities,” said Edward Pinckney on behalf of the Ten Mile Neighborhood Association's Historic Preservation Committee.