A.

The intent of the Cainhoy Zoning District is to provide for appropriate sites for the establishment of a broad range of residential, commercial and industrial uses within the Cainhoy Peninsular portion of the City. In any Cainhoy CY Zoning District, land may be used and buildings or structures may be erected, altered or used for any purpose except the following prohibited uses:

(1)

Mobile home parks or the use of a mobile home as a form of housing. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the use of a mobile home within the Cainhoy Zoning District for temporary commercial purposes, including temporary construction offices, temporary sales offices or other temporary commercial uses.

(2)

Adult book stores, adult drive-in motion picture theaters, adult mini-motion picture theaters, adult motion picture theaters, adult show bars, bath houses or massage parlors. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to apply to the exhibition, presentation, showing or performance of any play, ballet, drama, tableau or production in any theater, concert hall, auditorium, museum of fine arts, school, institution of higher learning or other similar establishment which is primarily devoted to such exhibitions, presentations, shows or performances as a form of expression or opinion, communication, speech, ideas, information, art or drama.

(3)

Stockyards.

(4)

Junkyards.

(5)

Storage yards which are primarily for outdoor storage equipment (excluding storage yards which are accessory uses and storage yards for vehicles and boats). The Board of Zoning Appeals, however, after review, shall permit such yards as an exception when it finds that adequate provision and maintenance of visual screening by fence, planting or other means from a public street or road or an adjacent residential zoning district will be provided.

(6)

Landfills, sanitary landfills or any similar use involving the burial of trash, garbage or hazardous wastes between layers of dirt.

B.

Parcels of property within the Cainhoy Zoning District shall be developed in accordance with approved "Development Plans," as hereinafter defined. A "Development Plan" is a general development plan which sites the roads, proposed use areas, buffers and the relationship of proposed uses to adjacent properties and which includes acreage of not less than 150 acres. Each Development Plan shall be presented at two public hearings, one before Planning Commission and one before City Council. The scope of review at such public hearings shall be limited to comment and review of the relationship of the proposed uses to roads, buffers and adjacent properties. The public bodies shall not have the right to restrict the use or density of the property as a result of such review of a proposed Development Plan. The approved Development Plan shall fix the uses and densities for the property contained within the Development Plan after its approval and the issuance of the first certificates of occupancy.

Any subsequent change in use or densities after the issuance of the first certificate of occupancy for a specific Development Plan shall require the approval of City Council upon a recommendation of the Planning Commission. Prior to the issuance of the first certificate of occupancy, a Development Plan may be abandoned by written notice to the zoning administrator without penalty or consequence to the owner of the property. Likewise, minor modifications to the Development Plan may be made upon written approval of City Planning Department staff.

C.

After the approval of a Development Plan and prior to the issuance of a building permit, all development within the Cainhoy Zoning District shall be subject to site plan review in accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the Zoning Ordinance, unless otherwise exempt by the specific provisions of Section 54-603. The City of Charleston generally recognizes the importance of historic sites as physical links to the past and particularly recognizes the importance of the individual sites and the cultural landscapes of the area included within the bounds of Cainhoy Plantation as significant to the Wando River and Cooper River regions of the Carolina Lowcountry. Therefore, the site plan shall explicitly identify the location of any historic markers, structures, foundations, graveyards or earthworks and mark these accordingly. At the time of submission of a preliminary site plan, the intended use or uses of such property shall be indicated on such site plan or on a separate submission to the Technical Review Committee of the City of Charleston, and such development shall be subject to the area, height, setback and other requirements set forth in the Zoning Ordinance for the District most nearly approximating such intended use as determined by the zoning administrator at the time of the submission. For purposes of this subsection, the determination by the zoning administrator of the area, height, setback and other requirements set forth in the Zoning Ordinance shall be ministerial rather than discretionary in nature. The area addressed within each site plan review need not include all of the area of the Development Plan.

D.

Notwithstanding the flexible nature of the Cainhoy Zoning District and the variety of uses permissible within the Cainhoy Zoning District, the building and other standard code requirements of the City of Charleston for any property within the Cainhoy Zoning District shall be governed by the actual use of such property.

E.

(1) All property within the Cainhoy Zoning District shall be excluded from the bird sanctuary provisions of Section 5-22 of the general Ordinances of the City of Charleston to the extent such Ordinance prohibits the hunting of Game Birds, as such term is defined under Section 50-1-30(1) of the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, as amended. The hunting of Game Birds shall be allowed within any property zoned Cainhoy Zoning District, subject, however, to the terms and provisions of this Section. The hunting, shooting, trapping or destruction of Nongame Birds, as defined in Section 50-1-30(3) of the South Carolina Code of Laws, shall be prohibited within such Cainhoy Zoning District.

(2)

Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary of the general Ordinances of the City of Charleston, the hunting of Game Birds and Game Animals, as defined in Section 50-1-30(4) of the South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, as amended, and the discharge of recreational firearms within properties zoned Cainhoy Zoning District shall be permitted, subject, however, to the following.

(a)

All such hunting shall be subject to the game and hunting statutes, Ordinances, laws and regulations of the State of South Carolina and the County of Berkeley; and

(b)

No such hunting shall take place on any lands containing less than 100 contiguous acres under common ownership or control.

F.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 54-821 of the Zoning Ordinances of the City of Charleston, or any other provision of the general Ordinances of the City of Charleston, dirt, ROC or pervious surface roads (collectively "Dirt Roads") may be utilized in any residential subdivision within properties zoned Cainhoy Zoning District so long as such residential subdivision shall have a maximum overall density of 0.33 dwelling units per acre. For purposes of this subsection, per acre density shall be determined by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the total number of dwelling units in the applicable residential development or residential neighborhood ("Units") and the denominator of which shall be the entire residential land mass, which is the residential development acreage (the "Project Acreage"). All open space areas, road rights-of-way, freshwater wetlands, common areas, amenity areas, or areas within such development encumbered by conservation easements or deeded to property owner's associations or land conservation organizations shall be included in the total land mass area calculation, but marshland and areas below the South Carolina Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management Critical Line shall be excluded from such calculations. Dwelling units and land mass in other residential developments, whether adjacent to or in the vicinity of the Project Acreage, shall not be included in such calculations. All such roads shall be constructed in accordance with City of Charleston standards for such Dirt Roads and shall be private. In the event future development increases the density of the Project Acreage to a level greater than 0.33 dwelling units per acre, all such Dirt Roads, including access roads, shall be improved by the Owner to City Standards.

G.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 3: Part 6, 7 & 8 of the Zoning Ordinances of the City of Charleston, all lands within the Cainhoy Zoning District which are developed for light or heavy industrial uses or developed as golf courses shall be exempt from all provisions of such Article 3: Part 6, 7 & 8 with the exception of Section 54-347 and Section 54-348; provided, however, that no protected tree or grand tree may be removed from any such light or heavy industrial property without the prior approval of the zoning administrator. The zoning administrator shall approve any such removal where any of the following conditions exist:

(a)

The protected tree or grand tree is located within the proposed footprint of any building or other structure to be constructed within such property, or within twenty-five feet (25) of such building, accessory structure or other improvement. No tree survey shall be required for the footprint of any light or heavy industrial building, or other structure; or

(b)

The protected tree or grand tree is located in the path of any public or private street, road, driveway or other right-of-way and the zoning administrator determines that no other reasonable design or economically reasonable alternative exists to save the tree; or

(c)

The protected tree or grand tree creates unsafe vision on a public street or right-of-way as defined by Section 54-351; or

(d)

With respect to parking areas and walkways, the zoning administrator determines that no other reasonable design or economically reasonable alternative exists to save the tree; or

(e)

The removal of such protected tree or grand tree is otherwise permitted under Article 3: Part 6 of this Zoning Ordinance.

(2)

The provisions of Article 3: Part 6, 7 & 8 of the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston shall apply to all lands within the Cainhoy Zoning District which are developed for uses other than light or heavy industrial uses or golf courses, except that the removal of any protected tree or grand tree shall be approved if the zoning administrator finds that the protected tree or grand tree is located within the proposed footprint of any general commercial building or accessory structure and the zoning administrator determines that no other reasonable design or economically reasonable alternative exists to save the tree.

H.

Land which is located within one thousand feet (1,000') of the Wando River and Beresford Creek, as measured from the Critical Line adjacent to such waterway as established by the South Carolina Office of Ocean and Coastal Resources Management, shall not be used for light industrial or heavy industrial uses.

I.

Notwithstanding any other provision of the general Ordinances or Zoning Ordinances of the City of Charleston to the contrary, the following uses shall be exempt from the provisions of Article 3: Part 6, 7 & 8 the City of Charleston Zoning Ordinance, and shall be allowable within any property zoned Cainhoy Zoning District:

(a)

Commercial Timber Operations, including the cutting and harvesting of trees and forests.

(b)

Commercial Tree Operations, including the growing of trees specifically for sale by commercial nurseries.

(c)

Agriculture Uses. Any bona fide agricultural use shall be allowable.

(d)

Silviculture, Horticulture and Nursery Operations.

J.

All nonresidential development which is adjacent to residential development with the Cainhoy Zoning District shall require landscaped buffers along common boundary lines with such residential development, as follows:

(a)

Office and commercial development shall require a minimum buffer of fifty feet (50') in width.

(b)

Warehousing, shipping, light manufacturing and other types of light industrial uses shall require a building setback and landscaped buffer of 100 feet from adjacent residential uses.

(c)

Heavy industrial uses shall require a building setback from adjacent residential uses of 300 feet, of which the first 200 feet shall be a landscaped buffer.

For purposes of this subsection, landscaped buffer areas shall mean a natural or a landscaped vegetative buffer intended to separate and screen incompatible land uses from one another.

K.

All light and heavy industrial uses shall require a building setback five hundred feet (500') from the Saint Thomas Church property line, as it exists at the adoption of this Ordinance, and a two-hundred-foot (200') natural buffer adjacent to such property line, within which an access road or roads may be constructed. No building shall be constructed having a height in excess of fifty feet (50') within one thousand (1,000) feet of Saint Thomas Church.

L.

For all Industrial uses, prior to the widening of Clements Ferry Road (Road 33), there shall be a landscaped buffer of one hundred feet (100'). After the widening of Clements Ferry Road, there shall be a landscaped buffer of seventy-five feet (75').

(Ord. No. 1998-113, § 1, 5-26-98)