3 days ago
Townhome residents suing City of Charleston over Dockside evacuation order
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — A group of townhome owners is suing the City of Charleston, arguing they were unfairly forced out of their homes as part of an evacuation of the Dockside condominiums earlier this year.
The lawsuit was filed June 3 on behalf of nearly two dozen residents who were ordered on February 27 to vacate their Concord Street townhomes by 5 p.m. the next day due to structural issues in the adjacent Dockside tower.
The order came after an engineering firm that was hired to inspect the load capacity of the tower floors deemed the building unsafe for further occupancy and recommended in a February 25 letter that residents be evacuated.
Officials cited concrete slabs that they described as 'significantly overstressed' as the reason for the evacuation order, saying, 'the structure has insufficient capacity to continue to be safely occupied until substantial structural strengthening is implemented.'
But the complaint asserts that the firm's letter referenced structural deficiencies only with the main tower and made no mention of the townhomes.
'The city chose not to follow its own Ordinances that establish procedures before the City can condemn a building and order citizens to vacate,' an attorney wrote, adding that the firm offered no proof that the townhomes were at risk if the condominium tower collapsed.
The lawsuit further claimed that the city's decision lacked consistency, noting that nearby buildings such as the International African American Museum were allowed to stay 'open and occupied' while residential properties were forced to vacate.
The filing comes just weeks after the city's Building Code Board of Appeals upheld the order following a May 5 appeal hearing in which townhome residents offered emotional testimony about how the evacuation has impacted them.
'I've lived here 22 years,' Ryan Earheart, now one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said during that hearing. 'These people are my friends, and to see our friends in pain is very hard. The timing of this is very unknown. A lot of people had retired already, and this was their final home.'
The lawsuit asks the court to nullify the city's order and allow the individuals to return to their townhomes.
This story is developing and may be updated.
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