Two high-profile legal disputes that could determine the state’s future role in protecting South Carolina beaches have reached the S.C. Court of Appeals, which could decide whether affluent property owners can keep seawalls and sandbags that critics say were installed in violation of long-standing coastal management law.
The cases, involving property owners in Charleston and Georgetown counties, have drawn attention because their outcomes could determine how aggressively the state is able to act to enforce the law that was intended to protect the shore from development that worsens beach erosion.
They also could have a domino effect, encouraging other property owners to challenge the state’s 1988 beachfront management act, which was written to protect beaches for the public, an environmental lawyer said…