I’on, L.L.C., Formerly Known as the Graham Company, Respondent v. Town of Mt. Pleasant, Respondent, v. James A…

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Carolina affirmed a circuit court order striking down a proposed voter referendum that would have repealed the planned-development rezoning of a roughly 248-acre tract in Mount Pleasant. Holding that zoning may not be enacted through the municipal initiative-and-referendum process of Sections 5-17-10 and -30, the court reasoned that the detailed, more recent Title 6 zoning procedures are incompatible with, and take precedence over, the general 1962 initiative-and-referendum statutes, and that voter enactment could nullify carefully developed zoning plans. The court also clarified that a prevailing party may raise additional sustaining grounds on appeal without presenting them to or obtaining a ruling from the trial court, overruling recent cases that had applied the pre-1990 presentation requirement.