Latest greenbelt proposals stir up ongoing debate

The latest round of greenbelt purchases in Charleston County has been tentatively approved by County Council, but spirited debate over the land deals has become more frequent as it appears the program likely will run out of money before meeting its goals.

The projects going before council Tuesday for final approval would together purchase 101 acres of land and secure easements limiting development on an additional 3,376 acres, at a cost to taxpayers of $8,981,450.

Controversially, more than half of the money would be spent buying a 7-acre park on the Stono River for the town of Hollywood.

The other deals would purchase land for the nonprofit Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding and 64 acres that The Nature Conservancy would like to see added to the Francis Marion National Forest.

The balance of the money would buy easements -- prohibitions on most development -- on land that would remain in private hands, including the 153-acre Center for Birds of Prey property in Awendaw.

Assuming that County Council follows its own recommendations and approves the latest round of purchases Tuesday, the three different funds set up to buy and protect green spaces will have spent $79.9 million since the program was created, amounting to 61 percent of the current funding.

The properties and easements purchased with that money cover 16,578 acres, representing just under 42 percent of the program's goal of protecting 40,000 acres.

With money being spent faster than the land-protection goal is being met, some council members have been particularly critical of the Hollywood park deal, which involves a collection of properties known as Wide Awake Plantation.

"The purpose of the greenbelt program was not to spend exorbitant amounts of money on a small park," Councilman Dickie Schweers said at a committee meeting Thursday. "This is why people don't trust the government."

At that meeting, council voted 5-4 to recommend spending $4.6 million to acquire the land, an amount $1.6 million higher than the county's own Greenbelt Bank Board recommended.

Councilman Elliott Summey, who made the motion to recommend buying the land, said later that he meant to propose spending $4.8 million, the full amount requested by the town of Hollywood, and will correct his mistake Tuesday.

Councilman Paul Thurmond called the purchase "absurd" and joined Schweers and council members Colleen Condon and Joe McKeown in opposing it Thursday. Thurmond said the Greenbelt Bank Board was appointed to review land deals and that the council should not disregard their advice.

County records show the Wide Awake Plantation properties were purchased for $3,775,000 four years ago by Wide Awake Development LLC, registered to Fredda Culbreth of Mount Pleasant.

"The guy might make a couple of hundred thousand dollars on the deal, but the people who will really benefit are the people out in Hollywood who will get to enjoy the land," Summey said.

Schweers and McKeown said the Hollywood park deal runs counter to the idea of protecting rural land by spending so much on so few acres.

Supporters of the deal said providing public access to land and water is an important part of the program.

"We're all taxpayers, and Hollywood deserves a fair shot, too," Hollywood Mayor Jacquelyn S. Heyward said.

Summey said much of the greenbelt money spent on conservation easements has done little more than enrich land owners who had no intention of developing their properties.

In an easement deal, a land owner typically is paid a substantial amount of money in return for restrictions on most development and also receives a tax write-off, but the land remains in the owner's hands.

"That's not fair to the public, to pay for land that's going to be used for private hunt clubs," Summey said.

Schweers counters that some greenbelt funds were set aside for urban parks and for the county Park and Recreation Commission to purchase park land. Along with McKeown, Schweers said the rural funds were meant to protect rural land from development, not to buy municipal parks.

County Council has the ultimate say in each case.

Council Chairman Teddie Pryor defended the Hollywood park purchase Thursday.

"I went out and looked at it, and I think it's worth more than $3 million," he said, referring to the Greenbelt Bank Board's recommended spending.

Pryor said the park purchase will provide Hollywood-area residents with something they can enjoy immediately, and that will benefit the county more than the easement deals the county has approved.

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 has borrowed 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.

The Hollywood land deal disagreement is similar to several previous cases, all of which were approved over the objections of some council members.

In June, also on a 5-4 vote with the same four council members objecting, County Council agreed to spend $5.26 million to buy 292 acres of land for a park in Awendaw, known as the Jefferson Tract, on the same road where greenbelt funds were used to buy property for a new county park.