Grants Keep County a Little Bit Greener

With $14.5 Million in Sales Tax Funds, County Protects Nearly 4,000 Acres

Although no greenbelt land deals financed by Charleston County's half- percent sales tax have been completed, and several purchases have fallen through, conservationists and greenbelt board members are calling the first round of spending a big success.

'I feel that the public should be very pleased,' said Louise Maybank, chairwoman of the Greenbelt Advisory Board.

The county-approved urban and rural grant projects range from a $4 million grant to The Nature Conservancy toward the purchase of 900 acres of forest land along U.S. Highway 17 to a $430,000 grant to cover the city of Charleston's purchase last year of a 1.25-acre park on James Island.

Dana Beach, director of the Coastal Conservation League, said the grants will protect properties that are ecologically and aesthetically important while reinforcing the county's planning goals.

Most of the large land purchases and conservation easement deals approved with rural grants involved The Nature Conservancy, the Lowcountry Open Land Trust or the Edisto Open Land Trust, all of which are nonprofit groups experienced in such property deals.

The groups were the buyers or sellers in 12 of the 13 rural grants approved by the county, and their proposals all received funding.

The Nature Conservancy was the seller, rather than the buyer, in three cases because the organization regularly buys land for conservation and then seeks to re-sell it at no profit to government agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

'When The Nature Conservancy buys something, it is protected, but we can't just leave our money in the ground,' project manager Sarah Hartman said. 'When we re-sell to the Forest Service, they would only pay for the part we have not received grants for.'

Although conservation groups were successful in getting grants and making deals, less-experienced community groups and a few municipalities hit some roadblocks.

Plans to buy small parcels of land for community parks fell through for the Phillips Community Association and the Ten Mile Neighborhood Association, both east of the Cooper River.

'We're still going to try,' said Pearl Ascue of the Ten Mile group, which had hoped to buy a 1-acre property near Copahee Sound. 'This is what the greenbelt project was about, trying to keep everything from being developed and preserve open space.'

The towns of Hollywood and Rockville saw their proposals rejected, and Charleston withdrew one application after going before the Greenbelt Bank Board, which reviews rural grants. North Charleston and Mount Pleasant were among municipalities that pursued no applications.

The greenbelt money is doled out from three different pots: for rural land preservation, for urban grants sought by municipalities and civic groups and for projects controlled by the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission.

County Council has the ultimate say in each case.

The half-percent tax that funds the greenbelt projects, as well as transportation projects, is expected to raise $221 million over 25 years for the greenbelt program. The county is borrowing money against future tax collections in order to make purchases now, putting an expected $66.5 million on the table for rural grants, $28.5 million for urban grants, and $36 million for PRC deals.

'For most of us, $62 million is a lot of money, but when you start looking at waterfront areas in Charleston County, it can go pretty quickly,' said Michelle Sinkler of the Lowcountry Open Land Trust. 'Conservation easements, dollar-for-dollar, go a long way, and that's what we do.'

Easements leave property in the owners' hands but restrict development. Six easement deals will protect 1,633 acres on Wadmalaw and Edisto islands, at a cost to the county of roughly $4.5 million.

During the first round, County Council approved 19 urban and rural grants involving nearly 4,000 acres, at a cost of nearly $14.5 million to the county. Most of the projects involve additional public and private funding.

'If you look at them in total, I think they have accomplished those goals very well,' said Beach, of the Coastal Conservation League. 'You're always going to get a few odd ones in the group.'

An urban grant approved for the town of James Island raised a few eyebrows because the town planned to use the $657,114 in greenbelt funds to buy a property in Riverland Terrace that's already owned by the Charleston County School District and is already used as open space by the city of Charleston, which leases the land and calls it Medway Park.

'That one, I don't know,' Beach said.

Though County Council approved the deal, the town has dropped its plan to buy the park, James Island Mayor Mary Clark said. Clark said the school district seemed more interested in leasing the land, and she feared Charleston would try to outbid the town if a sale were attempted.

'We just decided to back off and let the people of Riverland Terrace decide what happens to their park,' Clark said.

Charleston is hoping to secure a 25-year lease for the park and plans to make about $350,000 in improvements, according to city lawyer Adelaide Andrews.

Another greenbelt purchase that stands out is the county's approval of $1.7 million for the Sweetgrass Society to purchase a 71-acre property on S.C. Highway 45 bordering the Francis Marion National Forest, the third-most expensive grant approved by County Council.

The property includes a house that was the home of Earl Cox, director of Elizabeth Dole's presidential campaign effort in South Carolina, and buildings from a camp Cox once operated called the Country Legend Youth Farm.

Rural grants are not supposed to be used to buy buildings, only land, but an appraisal convinced the bank board that the land value accounts for nearly all of the purchase price. The Sweetgrass Society hopes to grow sweetgrass for basket-making on the land.

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