CHARLESTON — Environmental groups are asking the city to amend their decades-old agreement with the developers of the Cainhoy peninsula, saying the 9,000-acre Point Hope development plan should better account for sea level rise, wildlife impacts and traffic.

The petition comes in the midst of an ongoing legal battle between a number of environmental advocacy groups, numerous federal agencies and one of the city’s most successful development companies. That lawsuit challenges the federal permits for the project, with conservation groups arguing federal agencies skirted environmental reviews that would have more clearly illustrated the impacts of the project. The lawsuit currently is on appeal in the Fourth Circuit after a judge sided with the developer and federal agencies.

In the meantime, construction is well underway, with shopping centers, golf carts and food trucks filling in what was largely a rural area. Given that Cainhoy boasts some of the highest ground in Charleston, environmental groups say they don’t oppose development on the site but want it done responsibly.

“We’re not saying don’t develop it,” said Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We’re saying there are ways to make it better.”

The petition being circulated by the Southern Environmental Law Center takes a different approach than the federal lawsuit. Instead of addressing the federal permits, the petition asks that the city of Charleston revisit the development agreement, which was signed about 30 years ago and has been amended multiple times since.

Lori Cary-Kothera, chief conservation officer with the Coastal Conservation League, said there is a short period of time to act before the property is transferred from the landowner to the developer. Once that happens, the opportunity to make changes evaporates.

The petition recommends that permissible development is removed from marsh migration corridors, and that three feet of sea level rise is incorporated into the planning, as well as a “comprehensive traffic impacts assessment.”

Wannamaker said putting 12,000 more houses around Clements Ferry Road is unwise given that the road already has traffic problems.

Julie Dombrowski, spokesperson for the developer, said they became aware of the petition on Feb. 3. In a statement, she said that while Point Hope Partners respects the petitioner’s dedication to the environment, Point Hope has been “planned and approved to meet, and in many cases exceed, the City’s rigorous standards.”

Deja Knight McMillan, spokesperson for the city of Charleston, said city staff have received the petition and they will meet to carefully review its contents.

Ultimately, a local government can apply laws that were adopted after the development agreement was signed if there is a public hearing and a number of conditions are met, according to state law.

The city’s population growth and understanding of climate change and sea level rise have changed significantly in the last few decades, Wannamaker said. The environmental groups argue that the development agreement for Point Hope as it stands today is no longer in line with the most recent iterations of city planning documents, such as the City Plan and Water Plan.

While significant parts of the development are along Clements Ferry Road, which is high ground, half of the new development would be placed in a 100-year floodplain. The structures in that area have a 26 percent chance of flooding over the life of a 30-year mortgage, according to previous reporting from The Post and Courier.

The city of Charleston’s Water Plan outline plans to pull development out of low-lying and flood-prone areas across town.

“The high ground on Cainhoy creates an opportunity for development safe from sea level rise and storm surge,” the city’s water plan says. “This will be sustainable if sensitive ecologies and the drainage function of the landscape are preserved.”