Sullivan’s Island acquired the maritime forest property in 1991, with the title including restrictions obligating the town to protect it.
In accordance with those restrictions, the town enacted an ordinance prohibiting construction, topographical disturbance, and the removal of trees, shrubs and vegetation, making violations a criminal misdemeanor.
Town Attorney Dodds reported to council at the April meeting that violators have grown increasingly calculated in recent years, targeting holidays and low-staffing periods to evade detection. Offenders have stripped trees on Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve and Easter, and have turned to electric cutting tools to work in silence.
“They are engaging in these illegal activities on the weekends, during holidays, in the dark of night,” Dodds said. “They’re using electric cutting tools to avoid noise that might prompt someone living nearby to call authorities. They’ve even used poison to kill trees, shrubs and vegetation.”
The town is now considering placing surveillance cameras throughout the maritime forest to deter would-be violators.
“These cameras aren’t aimed at adjoining residences; they have one goal: to catch people violating our ordinance,” Dodds said. “I think that’s consistent with the town’s duty to protect the maritime forest, and I’m a big proponent of it.”
Councilwoman Schroeder struck a more cautious note.
“I’d like for us to solicit suggestions from the community so that we don’t need cameras spying on people’s activities in the middle of the night,” she said. “I can completely understand why we have them, because we’ve seen criminal activity, but I really believe that if we come together, we can find a better way.”