A former federal judge hired by the Town of Sullivan’s Island reviewed the controversial mediation settlement and found it to be “invalid and unenforceable.”

URGENT: Tell town council members to ask for a judicial review of the controversial settlement agreement that is designed to cut down the Sullivan’s Island Maritime Forest.

It was a record-breaking voter turnout in the May 4 Sullivan’s Island election. The Post and Courier weighs in on what council should do with its new voter mandate.

A high density of trees and vegetation on the island serves to fortify its diffusive effect on the velocity of ocean waves during a storm surge. Thus the trees and shrubs of the Maritime Forest on Sullivan’s Island’s accreted land play an important role in the protection of Mount Pleasant and downtown Charleston, in addition to the protecting the middle and back side of the island itself.

In an almost exact repeat of the troubling October meeting where four councilmembers rushed the original mediation plan through to a vote, the same councilmembers did it again in March with a revised cutting plan that could be worse for the forest.