Design Guidelines: Many municipalities in South Carolina have design guidelines for new development within historic districts, outlining specific architectural styles, materials, and other requirements to ensure that new construction complements the existing historic fabric.
Land use lawsuits most commonly occur in situations where plaintiffs claim they are receiving unequal treatment. A common cause of such a lawsuit is “spot zoning.” In the 1963 case Bob Jones University, Inc. v. City of Greenville, the SC Supreme Court invalidated “spot zoning,” which it defined as giving a small land parcel a classification entirely unlike the zoning for surrounding areas in a way that benefits the owners of that property and harms other property owners.