Mount Pleasant, SC Landscaping Rules: Artificial Turf (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing sections
- §§ 156.606(K)(3), 156.607(G)(3)
- Applies to
- Special ROW & scenic highway bufferyards only
- Covered roads
- Hwy 17 N, Hwy 41, Long Point, Mathis Ferry
- Minimum buffer width
- 50 feet (special ROW bufferyard)
- Enforcing agency
- Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Dept.
- Maximum fine
- $500 and/or 30 days
Summary
In the Town of Mount Pleasant, natural and synthetic turf grass is a prohibited element inside the special right-of-way bufferyards required along Highway 17 North, Highway 41, and Long Point Road under Town Code § 156.606(K)(3), and the same ban repeats for the scenic highway bufferyards along Mathis Ferry Road and Long Point Road under § 156.607(G)(3).
(K) Prohibited elements. The following elements are prohibited in a special right-of-way bufferyard: ... (3) Natural and synthetic turf grass.
Full Breakdown
606 sets up the special right-of-way bufferyard, a wooded strip the Town requires along Highway 17 North from Long Point Road and Old Georgetown Road to the municipal boundary, along Highway 41 from Highway 17 North to the Wando River, and along the Long Point Road corridor between Interstate 526 and Whipple Road and Lillie and Rebecca Lane. 607(G)(3), adopted to fulfill the Mathis Ferry Road and Long Point Road Corridor Management Plans and preserve those routes' Scenic Highway designation. Both bufferyards otherwise require a natural, undisturbed strip of canopy and understory trees, shrubs, and undergrowth, so laying artificial turf, or maintaining a mowed lawn, inside the mapped buffer defeats the wooded-strip purpose the ordinance protects; the ban does not reach ordinary residential or commercial yards outside these mapped road corridors. 607(E), the applicant must remove any existing turf grass rather than cover it with synthetic material.
Violations & Fines
Installing or maintaining synthetic or natural turf grass inside a mapped special right-of-way or scenic highway bufferyard is a zoning violation under § 156.1576(B)(8) for unauthorized bufferyard disturbance. A conviction under § 156.1577(B)(1)(a) carries a misdemeanor fine of up to $500, up to 30 days imprisonment, or both, and the Zoning Administrator can pursue an injunction or corrective order under § 156.1577(A) until the turf is removed and the buffer restored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I install artificial turf in my Mount Pleasant front yard?
Why is synthetic turf banned in these road buffers?
What happens if I already have turf installed in a required buffer?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mount Pleasant
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