THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE. IT SHOULD NOT BE CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(d)(2), SCACR.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA In The Supreme Court Friends of Coastal South Carolina, Petitioner, v. South Carolina Department of Environmental Services and Pulte Home Company, LLC, Respondents.

Appellate Case No. 2025-001898

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

Memorandum Opinion No. 2025-MO-046 Submitted November 13, 2025 – Filed December 18, 2025

RELIEF GRANTED

Amy Elizabeth Armstrong, Leslie S. Lenhardt, and Monica Kay Whalen, of S.C. Environmental Law Project of Pawleys Island, S.C., for Petitioner.

Ellis Reed-Hill Lesemann, Sarah Grace Heaton Benko, and Michelle Alyce Stewart, of Lesemann & Associates LLC, of Charleston, for Respondent Pulte Homes, LLC; Stephen Philip Hightower, of S.C. Department of Environmental Services of Columbia; and Bradley David Churdar of Charleston, for Respondent South Carolina Department of Environmental Services.

PER CURIAM: The Department of Environmental Services (DES) issued Pulte Home Company, LLC (Pulte) a Coastal Zone Consistency Certification in June 2024 and later granted coverage under the Construction General Permit on December 18, 2024, authorizing, among other things, construction activities associated with twenty‑seven homes on approximately 63.23 acres and the filling of 1.94 acres of wetlands. Petitioner filed a contested case on January 17, 2025, triggering the automatic stay provided by section 1-23-600(H)(2) of the South Carolina Code (Supp. 2025). Pulte moved to lift the stay, and the Administrative Law Court (ALC) granted the motion. Petitioner now asks this Court to exercise its original jurisdiction and reinstate the stay pending resolution of the underlying contested case before the ALC.

We grant the petition for extraordinary relief, vacate the ALC order lifting the stay, dispense with briefing, and stay the effect of the DES order pending the resolution of the underlying contested case before the ALC.

RELIEF GRANTED.

KITTREDGE, C.J, FEW, JAMES, HILL and VERDIN, JJ., concur.