Unincorporated Charleston County has no countywide dark-sky or sea-turtle lighting ordinance, per SC DNR's April 2024 list. Instead, the coastal barrier-island towns and communities set the beach-lighting rules that protect nesting sea turtles.
The South Carolina DNR's official 2024 catalog of sea-turtle lighting ordinances lists Charleston County itself as None, meaning the county government has not adopted a countywide beachfront-lighting rule. On the county's barrier islands the local jurisdiction governs: the Town of Isle of Palms enforces Sea Turtle Outdoor Lighting Regulations (Ch. 4, Art. 1, Sec. 5-4-17); Folly Beach prohibits beach-illuminating lighting May 1-October 31 (Ord. 151.45); and the unincorporated community of Dewees Island sets Wildlife Outdoor Lighting Requirements through its building requirements and POA. Because loggerhead hatchlings navigate by the horizon, these rules require shielded, low, long-wavelength lighting near the beach during nesting season (roughly May-October). Elsewhere in the unincorporated county, no dark-sky lighting standard applies.
Beach-lighting violations are enforced by the island town or community that adopted the ordinance; the county does not cite a countywide lighting rule because none exists.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Charleston County, SC
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See how Charleston County's dark sky rules rules stack up against other locations.
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