NORTH CHARLESTON\u00a0\u2014 Along a residential street in Park Circle, a large-scale portrait of a woman painted against a black background covers the street-facing side of a building.<\/p>\n
The mural\u2019s focal point is the woman gazing off to the side with a cormorant\u2019s beak resting on top of her head as its camouflage-colored wings drape around the bottom of her face.<\/p>\n
As an ode to homeowners Christina and Josh Jettie\u2019s love for birds, local artist Rivvo Kruuk was commissioned to paint the mural on the exterior of the secondary dwelling on their property.<\/p>\n
After the mural was completed in May, the couple received a letter from the city\u2019s zoning department stating that it violated the city\u2019s rules on signs in residential districts.<\/p>\n
The Jetties are appealing the decision in front of the city\u2019s Zoning Board of Appeals on Aug. 4, but they\u2019re also hoping to initiate a citywide change. Christina Jettie said they are not asking for special treatment. They want the city to consider an ordinance that allows murals in residential districts, just like they are in commercial areas.<\/p>\n
Roughly two miles from the Jetties\u2019 home, many colorful murals sprinkle Park Circle\u2019s commercial district along East Montague and Spruill avenues. A large geometric mural with magnolia flowers covers the Assembly at Park Circle apartments. Funky paintings add splashes of color to storefronts and restaurants, like the octopus on the Tattooed Moose or the bright florals on Cuidad Bonita\u2019s fa\u00e7ade. A retro scene that says \u201cWelcome to Park Circle\u201d coats a brick wall outside the Olde Village Market and Deli.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatching the grittier art scene develop, thrive and grow in North Charleston has been really exciting,\u201d said Susan McAdoo, a local pianist who owns the building that houses Studio Union, a professional art space for ceramists and other mixed media artists.<\/p>\n
She said North Charleston is establishing a \u201cbeautiful artistic identity\u201d different than downtown Charleston. She said the art community in the city is supportive, and various avenues exist to experience the scene, including public art and community-wide events like art walks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Josh Jettie shows examples of what they wanted to paint on their guest house Monday, July 28, 2025 in North Charleston.<\/p>\n
Andrew Whitaker\/Staff<\/p>\n
Christina Jettie said they have always been art collectors, especially for pieces by local artists. The mural provided another avenue to support the art community, she said.<\/p>\n
When the Jetties decided to commission the piece, they searched online for regulations on murals in the city and couldn\u2019t find an answer. Christina said they asked their neighbors what they thought about the piece and they all gave their approval. Since the mural has been up, Christina said they\u2019ve only received positive feedback from people walking in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
According to the city\u2019s zoning code<\/a>, a mural is considered a sign. In residential districts, signs cannot be more than eight square feet and may include noncommercial messages. Advertising and offsite commercial messages are not allowed, the code states. Physical signs that follow these guidelines can include yard signs, signs mounted on fences or doors, and signs on walls and windows.<\/p>\n In commercial districts, the rules are looser. Size limits still exist depending on where the sign is located, but they can be upwards of 200-square feet.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rules for advertising in residential districts are fairly restrictive for obvious reasons. You don’t want people putting billboards on the sides of their houses,\u201d said City Councilman Brandon Hudson, who represents the district.<\/p>\n Almost a decade ago, a debate over a mural in Mount Pleasant also centered around regulations on signs. A large mural with portraits of Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon and Al Capone that was painted on Moe\u2019s Southwest Grill by Portuguese artist Sergio Odeith violated the town\u2019s rules due to its size.<\/a> After losing an appeal at the town\u2019s Board of Zoning Appeals hearing, a settlement was eventually reached in a civil case in Charleston County. The mural could stay, and the<\/a> town also changed its zoning code to allow some murals.<\/p>\n In a similar vein, the Jetties hope to initiate a change in the city that allows for murals in neighborhoods and on residential streets.<\/p>\n Christina and Josh each gave a public comment at North Charleston\u2019s City Council meeting on July 10, presenting this request to council. A handful of neighbors, artists and a teacher at the nearby Charleston County School of the Arts also spoke in favor of residential murals.<\/p>\n Since the meeting, Christina said the feedback from the city is related to their appeal process, instead of addressing their request to have City Council vote on an ordinance.<\/p>\n During the next City Council meeting on July 25, Coyle Kinard, a Park Circle resident who previously worked as a deputy police chief for the city, said he agrees with the city\u2019s current ordinance that a mural constitutes as a sign and advertisement.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the ordinance should stay the same,\u201d he said during a public comment. \u201cI don\u2019t think it should be changed because you\u2019re going to open Pandora\u2019s box.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTH CHARLESTON\u00a0\u2014 Along a residential street in Park Circle, a large-scale portrait of a woman painted against a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-57805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}