Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District
Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District
Approved by County Council on 12/9/2025
Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District: Proposed amendments to the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan and Charleston County Zoning and Land Development Regulations Ordinance (ZLDR) to adopt the Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District. Request to rezone the Ten Mile Community, which includes parcels zoned Low Density Residential (R-4); Special Management (S-3); Community Commercial (CC); and Rural Residential (RR), to the Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District (10M-O).
Background Information and History of This Project:
- The 10M-O, Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District, is located near the northeastern border of the Town of Mt. Pleasant, in the Awendaw area.
- The Cultural Resources Element Goal of the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan specifically states that African American Settlement Areas, noted as a unique settlement pattern traditional to the Lowcountry, should be preserved and protected from potentially negative impacts of growth and development.
- The 2016 Charleston County Historic Resources Survey Update noted that the Ten Mile Community was one of the historic African American communities that were established during the Reconstruction Era and represent the Gullah Geechee culture through their social organization and settlement patterns.
- In late 2020, the Town of Mt. Pleasant’s Town Council created the Settlement Community Task Force, comprised of Settlement Area community members to discuss issues of importance to these communities east of the Cooper River, in the greater Mt. Pleasant area.
- County staff participated in a support capacity for the Task Force.
- The Task Force recommended future development be consistent with the existing community, with low residential densities and compatible building scale and lot coverage, as well as respect for existing land uses, and the allowance of limited appropriate commercial uses.
- On June 21, 2022, Charleston County Council approved the Ten Mile Historic District.
- Recognized for its historic importance, this designation status provides additional protections for the Community, by placing certain application types that would typically be approved administratively into a public forum with opportunities for the Community to be notified of and express their opinions on the appropriateness of such applications.
- On January 11, 2024, County Council voted to approve an area-wide rezoning of the Low Density Residential (R-4) Zoning existing within the Urban/Suburban Area of the community to Special Management, S-3.
- Major changes between these zoning districts includes a difference in density: four vs. three dwelling units per acre; and a difference in minimum lot size: 5,000 sf vs. 12,500 sf.
- The Urban Growth Boundary divides the Ten Mile Community, placing a portion of the community within the Urban/Suburban Area of the County and the rest of the Community within the Rural Area, creating a difference in recommended densities within the Community.
- The Urban/Suburban Residential Area of the 10M-O provides even further customized regulations based on community input, building upon the S-3 rezoning.
- Residents expressed a desire to increase the density in the Rural Area of the Community, which is also addressed in the Overlay.
- The Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District was initiated and drafted by the Community.
- The community worked internally for months throughout 2023 to determine the concerns and desires of the residents and then together with County staff to create the Ten Mile Community Overlay Zoning District.
- Several community meetings were held at the Ten Mile Community Center in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and were well-attended by residents.
Links to Community Meeting Recordings:
Ten Mile Community Meeting #2 (March 22, 2025): 3-22-25 Meeting Recording
Ten Mile Community Meeting #3 (July 12, 2025): 7-12-25 Meeting Recording
Documents
This is hidden text that lets us know when google translate runs.