Panel OKs land buy near McClellanville

More than 700 acres of pine forest near McClellanville would become a future Charleston County park, if a $3 million land deal approved by the county Park and Recreation Commission Monday night is completed as planned.

The property, known as Two Pines, sits along both sides of Two Pines Road, on the east side of U.S. Highway 17.

The land buy would be the Park and Recreation Commission's fourth using the pool of money created when voters approved the special half-percent sales tax for transportation and green space.

Part of the green space money was dedicated to the purchase of land for future parks. The timberland was purchased in 2005 by The Nature Conservancy, from an affiliate of International Paper.

County records show The Nature Conservancy paid nearly $4.5 million for 813 acres.

Tom O'Rourke, executive director of the PRC, said the county would get more than 700 acres for its $3 million, and it wasn't clear Monday night if some of The Nature Conservancy's land was excluded from the deal.

The nonprofit Nature Conservancy often buys land to protect it from development, then sells it to the government or another third party with restrictions to prevent development.

O'Rourke said it could be many years before the land is developed as a county park. The purpose of the green space purchases is to acquire land while it's still available at today's prices, he said. O'Rourke said the land offers a wonderful opportunity to plan for the future, perhaps by harvesting some of the pine trees and planting live oaks, or maybe digging a large lake.

The Park and Recreation Commission discussed the land deal in an executive session before voting, without further comment, to spend the $3 million. Charleston County Council's approval is needed.

Commissioner Lisa King, who was voted chairwoman of the PRC on Monday, said the commission still has about $15 million to spend, from its $36 million share of green space money.

The three earlier purchases made by the PRC, and approved by County Council, were:

-- $10 million for the 420-acre Harmony Hall tract in Meggett.

-- $6.5 million for 1,568 acres of the Long Savannah property, west of Bees Ferry Road in West Ashley.

-- $1.5 million toward the $4.5 million purchase of the uninhabited northern tip of Morris Island, known as Cummings Point.

"I would like to see us do something in North Charleston, in the northern part of the county," King said.

The commission's largest land deals were controversial, as opponents of the purchases questioned the location and the price of the Harmony Hall deal, and the cost and purpose of the Long Savannah buy, which is linked to plans for a large development that requires a significant zoning change.

King said that, now that she is chairwoman of the commission, she hopes to have the commissioners and the staff work more closely together and bring "a light, a freshness" to the PRC, which routinely holds its discussions behind closed doors, as the law allows in limited circumstances.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.