Criminal Defense Attorney inClifton, SC

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KARACHI: A 19-storey residential-cum-commercial building in Clifton Cantonment is being constructed in brazen violation of Supreme Court orders. On Jan 22, 2019, a two-judge bench led by Justice Gulzar Ahmed had banned the conversion of residential and amenity plots for commercial purposes “all across Karachi City including cantonment areas”.

The interim order came during the hearing of a civil petition (No. 815-K/2016) about unauthorised construction on evacuee property in Lyari. No subsequent order was passed to modify or set it aside.

The above-mentioned building, named Zamzam Arcade, is being constructed on a residential plot measuring 3,600 square yards where Bath View apartments once used to stand. This plot — G24, Block 9, Clifton — was among a list of around 915 residential/amenity plots converted to commercial use that was compiled by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) in response to the SC directives. As per the list, the plot had been converted from residential to commercial on Aug 20, 2018, only a few months before the apex court’s order.

The order read: “SBCA nor any other authority shall approve any conversion including pending ones. All conversion allowed by these authorities shall be reviewed and all efforts shall be made to ensure that the land which was originally provided in the Master Plan of the city of Karachi is restored to that status.”

It should be noted that unchecked commercialisation of Karachi’s real estate — which allegedly earns windfalls for certain politicians and bureaucrats — is placing increasing pressure on its already decrepit civic infrastructure and leading to a breakdown in service delivery.

On Jan 24, two days after the court issued the directives, the SBCA notified an immediate ban on conversion and approvals of building plans/NOCs on converted plots within Karachi division until further orders. The notification also said: “All pending cases of change of land use (conversion) and approval of construction permits/ building plans/ NOCs on converted plots shall be deemed to be rejected as unconsidered.” Signed by DG SBCA Iftikhar Ali Kaimkhani, copies of the notification were sent to, among others, the director military lands and cantonments, district commissioners and SBCA directors “for immediate and strict compliance in letter and spirit”.

The SBCA also issued a public notice cancelling “all approvals, NOCs for change of land use/construction permits/ completion plans/ occupancy certificates/ NOC for sale and advertisement [etc]….” in those cases where amenity or residential plots were being put to commercial use. It further said: “The SBCA is determined to take action of demolition/ sealing/ ejectment wherever required in consonance with the orders of the Honourable SC.”

However, what took place in the following months appears to be in complete violation of the apex court’s order. On June 13, 2019, the Karachi Development Authority, the lessor of the plot in question, received outstanding dues of Rs9.7 million from the property owners, including demolition fee, plan forwarding fee, etc. The next day, KDA’s Directorate of Land Management issued an NOC to the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC), listing the names of the four co-owners and specifically stating that the plot was “Residential/ thereafter commercialised by Master Plan Dept SBCA”.

As per a written response to Dawn’s questions from the assistant director, commercial cell, KDA: “The said commercial plot does not come under the purview of the ban list of MPD, SBCA, hence the Land Department issued letter to CBC as per procedure.” If that was indeed the case, then why did Senior Court Associate Syed Zafar Ali on the SC’s direction send a certified copy of the order, dated Jan 22, 2019, to 11 recipients, among them the DG KDA?

The firm behind the construction of Zamzam Arcade, CL Builders and Developers, did not respond to questions from Dawn.

Meanwhile, various other authorities issued NOCs in respect of the planned high-rise. In March 2019, the Civil Aviation Authority gave height clearance of 400 feet for flight safety purposes. On May 3, K-Electric issued an NOC for provision of electricity connection in response to a request by the executive officer, CBC. On May 27, Sui Southern Gas issued an NOC in response to a request by one of the owners of the property. On July 23, the KWSB issued an NOC to provide water and sewerage services for the project at a request of the chief engineer, CBC.

Military Lands & Cantt Karachi Region Director Adil Rafi Siddiqui told Dawn that the notification issued by the SBCA following the apex court order of Jan 22, 2019 “has never been received in this office”. However, a source in the SBCA has shared with Dawn a TCS receipt (consignment number 306026311135) to refute this claim. The receipt shows that the SBCA did dispatch a document to the director, MLC, on Jan 29, 2019 at 12.57pm.

In his response to Dawn’s questions, Mr Rafi further said that while the plot in question fell within the jurisdiction of the CBC, “NOC from land point of view declaring the plot has been issued by KDA, being the lessor as well as record owing [sic] agency. Honorable apex court vide order dated 22-01-2019 had directed SBCA to review all plots which were originally meant for residential/amenity purpose and had been converted for commercial use and to file a report thereof in the court. This office has not so far been informed by SBCA regarding any property falling inside a cantonment in Karachi that would be under review with SBCA/ KDA….”

A retired senior official from SBCA described the cantonment board’s response as “foolish, baseless and worthless”. He questioned how CBC could continue with the project given that the order expressly imposed a “complete ban in Karachi including cantt areas. The director MLC is bound to obey the SC’s order, not the SBCA.” The apex court, he said, sought CBC officials’ attendance at the hearings, and “the attorney general Pakistan, advocate general Sindh and chief secretary Sindh contacted them and they attended meetings on the issue”.

Moreover, another certified copy of the order, this one dated Jan 24, 2019 was dispatched by Senior Court Associate Syed Zafar Ali, to 23 recipients, including the chairmen/CEOs of Karachi, Clifton, Faisal, Malir and Korangi cantonment boards and the DG KDA “for immediate compliance and report as directed by the court”. Over two years later, the construction on Zamzam Arcade continues as before.

Residents of the area are already suffering the consequences of the ongoing project. Several years ago, CBC had set up a kachra kundi (neighbourbood garbage collection point) adjacent to the plot. However, it was obstructing the planned entrance to Zamzam Arcade’s residential apartments from the side street and was removed during the course of the construction. “The kachra kundi used to serve the surrounding residential area as well as commercial/residential towers of Forum Mall, Ashiana Mall and Vincy Mall,” says one homeowner. “Now the kachra is being thrown in nullahs and here and there in the streets.”

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2021

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A judge put South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy on hold Friday until the state Supreme Court can review the measure, giving providers a temporary reprieve in a region that has enacted strict limits on the procedure.

Judge Clifton Newman’s ruling that put the state’s abortion law back at roughly 20 weeks came about 24 hours after Gov. Henry McMaster signed the bill into law without any notice, which had left dozens of people seeking abortions in limbo and created the potential for a legal abortion becoming illegal as a doctor performed it.

“It’s extraordinarily difficult not only for the women themselves, but for their doctors — not just the doctors at Planned Parenthood — but hospitals all across the state who need to understand what to do in an emergency,” said Vicki Ringer, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in South Carolina.

The developments in South Carolina are a microcosm of what has played out across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a year ago, allowing states to decide their abortion laws and leaving patients scrambling to find care wherever they can in situations where weeks or even days can make a huge difference.

South Carolina Senate votes to pass six-week abortion ban

May 23, 202304:01

The South Carolina measure joins stiff limitations pending in North Carolina and Florida, states that had been holdouts in the South providing wider access to the procedure, threatening to further delay abortions as appointments pile up in the region.

The state has seen the number of abortions climb sharply as other Southern states passed near-total bans. Before the overturn of Roe, less than 1 in 10 abortions in South Carolina were performed on people who lived out of state. Now, that figure is near 50% and the number of abortions each month has at least tripled, according to state health data.

The law passed Tuesday by the General Assembly is similar to a ban on abortion once cardiac activity can be detected that lawmakers passed in 2021. The state Supreme Court decided in a 3-2 ruling that the 2021 law violated the state constitution’s right to privacy.

Legislative leaders said the new law makes technical tweaks that should sway at least one justice to change his mind.

But Newman said it wasn’t his role to figure out if that would be successful.

“The status quo should be maintained until the Supreme Court reviews its decision,” Newman said. “It’s going to end up there.”

Hours after the ruling, lawyers for the state asked the Supreme Court to either cancel Newman’s order or hear the case as quickly as possible to “protect the lives of countless unborn children,” they wrote in court papers.

Planned Parenthood immediately sued after the law went into effect Thursday, saying South Carolina’s abortion clinics were flooded with canceled appointments from patients further along in their pregnancies and doctors were forced to carefully review the new regulations on the fly.

The abortion rights group said the new law was so similar to the old one that clinics and women seeking treatment would be harmed if it were allowed to stay in effect until a full court review.

Nearly all of the 75 women with appointments for abortions over the next several days appeared to be past six weeks, Planned Parenthood attorney Kathleen McDaniel said.

“There is irreputable harm. It is happening. It has already happened,” McDaniel said.

The majority opinion in the South Carolina Supreme Court ruling striking down the 2021 law said that although lawmakers have the authority to protect life, the privacy clause in the state constitution ultimately gives women time to determine whether they want to get an abortion and most women don’t know they are pregnant six weeks after conception.

Justice Kaye Hearn wrote the opinion. She has since had to retire because she turned 72 and was replaced by a man, making the South Carolina’s the only high court in the country without a woman on the bench.

“I would say that nothing in the law has changed,” McDaniel said. “The only thing that has changed is there is no longer a woman on the Supreme Court.”

The changes in the new law are directed at another justice in the majority, John Few, who wrote his own opinion saying the 2021 law was poorly written because legislators didn’t show it did any work to determine if six weeks was enough time for a woman to know she was pregnant.

Few suggested he would have found an even stricter full ban on abortion constitutional, saying that if a fetus had all the rights of a person, then a ban would be like child abuse or rape laws that don’t violate privacy rights.

Lawyers for the state leaned on the hope Few will change his vote

“We would strongly encourage the court to review that decision very carefully, to understand it focuses on one law, the 2021 act,” state assistant attorney general Thomas Hydrick said. But, he said, the new law is a good faith attempt to correct flaws lawmakers saw in how the justices interpreted the 2021 law.

Newman said that’s outside his role as a lower court judge. “Am I being asked to overrule the Supreme Court?” he asked.

Lawmakers continued to say they are confident they wrote a bill that will stand up to the high court’s scrutiny this time.

“While I respect Judge Newman’s decision, I remain convinced that the heartbeat bill is constitutional and that the Supreme Court will agree,” Republican state Senate President Thomas Alexander said in a statement.

SOUTH Carolina Judge, Clifton B. Newman, has been serving the Circuit Court for over two decades.

Newman is most famously known for presiding over the recent Alex Murdaugh case, which captivated the nation.

Who is Judge Clifton Newman?

Clifton B. Newman was born in Kingstree, South Carolina, on November 7, 1951.

The 71-year-old previously graduated valedictorian of Williamsburg County Training School in 1969, according to his court bio.

He received his undergraduate degree from Cleveland State University and his Juris Doctor degree in 1976 from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

In May 2000 - after 24 years as a practicing attorney and 17 years as Assistant Solicitor - Newman was elected Circuit Court Judge by the South Carolina General Assembly.

"I enjoy the responsibility, the awesome responsibility," he told the American Bar Association in 2017.

"It's also a challenge, carrying the weight of the judicial system on your shoulders and seeking to dispense justice in a way that it should be dispensed."

Is Judge Clifton Newman married?

Judge Clifton Newman is married to Patricia Blanton.

According to his bio, he enjoys traveling, spectator sports, attending church, restoring houses and spending time in the country with his family.

The pair share four children together: Corwyn, Jocelyn, Kellee, and Brian DeQuincey.

Their daughter, Jocelyn, is also a circuit court judge like her father, while their 40-year-old son, Brian, served as a Columbia city councilman until his death in January 2023.

Newman has been commended for his treatment of the Murdaugh trial while dealing with a devastating, personal loss just weeks before the more than a month-long trial.

What did he say to Alex Murdaugh during his sentencing?

On March 3, 2023, Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life terms, without parole, for the June 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

On Friday, during sentencing, Newman - who is currently serving his fourth and final term as a judge with the South Carolina Circuit Court - addressed Murdaugh, saying:

"I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when you're attempting to go to sleep. I'm sure they come and visit you."

However, after the 54-year-old, once again, claimed he was innocent, Newman said: "It might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become. When you take 20, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills, maybe you become another person."

The preliminary plat for a townhome subdivision off Powderhouse Road near Aiken received the unanimous approval of the Aiken County Planning Commission on July 21.

But there were some contingencies.

Prior to its 6-0 vote, the panel indicated that the applicant, CSRA Development LLC of Augusta, needed to provide in the near future information about the traffic impact study for the subdivision and details about the plans for the rest of the property where Clifton Place will be located.

“We do have a traffic study. I don’t know why the engineers didn’t send it,” said Keith Lawrence, who represented CSRA Development at the Planning Commission’s meeting.

He added that the results of the study would be made available soon to the Aiken County Planning and Development Department.

A preliminary plat is a map that shows the important features of a proposed subdivision.

In Clifton Place, there will be 171 lots on 46.64 acres of a nearly 180-acre tract, based on the paperwork submitted to the Planning and Development Department.

“It’s a great project,” Lawrence said. “It’s different from a typical townhouse development, which kind of gets tucked in on 10 or 12 acres. This one will have a nice amenity area for residents. I don’t have the details on that yet, but it will be a fairly large area, probably 5 to 7 acres. There will be a lot of green space associated with it. We’re excited.”

Earlier this month, the Aiken Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend to Aiken City Council the approval of a request for city water and sewer service for Clifton Place.

CSRA Development also is involved in another subdivision construction project, The Sanctuary, which will be located near Clifton Place.

Both Clifton Place and The Sanctuary are close to Athol Avenue.

Seven members of the Aiken County Planning Commission were present at the July 21 meeting, which was held at the Aiken County Government Center.

As usual, the panel’s chairman, Grace Vance, didn’t vote on any of the requests that were considered.

In other action, the Planning Committee voted 5-0 to approve the preliminary plat for the Gramercy Park at Trolley Run patio home subdivision on Trolley Run Road.

Panel member Denise Fulmer recused herself prior to the presentation by Tilden Hilderbrand of the Aiken engineering firm Hass & Hilderbrand.

The Planning Commission’s approval, however, was conditional because the panel wanted to make sure the applicant, Sage Mill Residential Ltd., gets a permit from the South Carolina Department of Transportation before proceeding with the construction project.

There will be 79 lots on 25 acres.

Sage Mill Residential has an Aiken mailing address.

Also July 21, the Planning Commission voted 6-0 to approve, with contingencies, a request to expand a mobile home park in Wagener in the Cougar Drive/Amarius Lane area.

The mobile home park has 11 existing lots, and the applicant, Artis Seawright, asked for permission to add 12 more lots.

OneSpartanburg, Inc. announced a private-public partnership on Monday with Greenville developer, M Peters Group, to redevelop the former site of Clifton Mill Number Two, another indication of development interest progressing to the east side of Spartanburg.

Spartanburg County, which acquired the site in 2013 for $226,000, will transfer 30 acres to the developer for public improvements and private redevelopment. Once the project is complete, M Peters Group will transfer 19 acres of public space back to the county as a public park. The development is a $60 million investment from M Peters Group.

Residential and commercial development, as well as park and recreational improvements, are all elements of the project.

“There's 30 acres out there right now and we don't need 30 acres to develop our development. There's no reason for us to take more than we need. So, what we're going do is make public improvements,” said Mark Peters, president of M Peters Group, about the partnership. “Rather than pay the county money, we're going to do an exchange. The county is working with us to give us an economic development agreement. That way we can charge rents that can be supported by this community.”

County council approved the development project unanimously Monday evening.

M Peters Group plans to construct a 239-unit multi-family residential development with studios, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments, all with views of the Pacolet River. Apartments will be priced at market rates. The architects for the project are Perkins & Will and SGA Narmour Wright Design.

“All these buildings are placed in a way to maximize the views of the river as opposed to them just running straight along the bank like they might typically be, “ said Jennifer Gosnell, executive vice president at M Peters Group about the residential design. “These are tilted and shifted around, trying to get around each other to allow anybody that lives here to have some view of the river.”

The redevelopment will also include 7,000 square feet of commercial space with intention to incorporate a riverfront restaurant and a place for kayak rentals. M Peters Group plans to enhance the existing informal kayak put-in on the river and transform it into a formal livery with a take-out 3 hours downstream in Pacolet.

Clifton Park, including the Clifton Beach area, will undergo improvements. M Peters Group will build bath houses and picnic shelters for beachgoers and improve a small playground area at the park.

Play. Advocate. Live Well!, or PAL, is also participating in recreational advancements of the redevelopment by expanding the Daniel Morgan Trail System with an additional 4.1 mile connector between Glendale and Clifton. The county and M Peters Group will partner to provide a pedestrian bridge across the river to connect to the trail.

Laura Ringo, PAL’s executive director, said the collaboration with M Peters Group aides in the overall progress of The Daniel Morgan Trail System, or The Dan, a 50-mile urban trial system of a collection of future and existing trails in Spartanburg. Ringo says one of the long-term goals of The Dan project is to develop a trail system that connects Middle Tyger River with the Pacolet River.

“Partnering with the M Peters Group on this project has given us an opportunity to reach a milestone in that progress,” Ringo said. “It's going to be an opportunity to connect two of our really beautiful natural amenities, the Lawson Fork Creek and the Pacolet River, so we're thrilled to be part of this.”

Another transformation for one of Spartanburg’s historic textile mills

The redevelopment of Clifton Mill represents a new dawn for another of Spartanburg’s historic textile sites. Over the past decade several other mill renovation projects kicked off across the county, including the Drayton Mill redevelopment, Inman Mill and the upcoming Converse Mill project, to name a few.

Clifton Mill No. 2 was built in 1888 as a part of Clifton Manufacturing Company, founded by Dexter Edgar Converse in 1880.

The mill was damaged in 1903 after the flooding of Pacolet River, but was rebuilt and expanded in the 1950s. The decades after brought various ownership and a number of financial hardships to site No. 2, but the mill operated in some capacity into the 1990s. After 124 years, the historic mill was ultimately demolished in 2012.

After the county purchased the property in 2013, it utilized the popularity of Clifton Beach to pursue the development of Clifton Park. The area has undergone some recreational improvements since the purchase. However, the beach was tentatively closed earlier this year after two separate drowning incidents over the summer.

County councilman, David Britt, said the M Peters Group redevelopment of Clifton Mill will improve the overall safety of the beach and park.

“We'll still include our Parks and Recreation folks out there, keeping the area clean, but it will just be different,” Britt said. “It won't be a river that you go jump in, it'll be a nice park. I think it'll be an improvement and I don't think we'll have these problems down the road.”

Britt described M Peters Group vision for the development as transformative for the Clifton area.

“They will reimagine the Clifton, Cowpens, Glendale area,” Britt said. “It will impact that whole area for not even just the rest of our lives but for generations to come.”

Kathryn Casteel covers growth and development for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Contact Kathryn at KCasteel@shj.com or on Twitter @kathryncasteel.