Greenspace: Half-cent proceeds preserve land

Half a cent may not sound like much, but many half-cents put back-to-back-to-back are making new parks and greenways possible throughout Charleston County.

Municipalities in Charleston County and some community preservation organizations together have spent, or soon will be spending, $28.5 million for the purchase of land for greenspace.

The purchases and those planned are intended for park land and/or greenway hiking and bicycle paths.

The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission also is obtaining new land using greenspace funds.

Charleston County voters in 2004 approved a Transportation Sales Tax. Revenue collection began in May 2005 and will continue for 25 years, or until $1.303 billion is generated for transportation- and greenspace-related projects and improvements.

Officials in Berkeley and Dorchester counties also are looking at greenspace purchases and preservation efforts, but those counties don't have the special half-cent transportation and greenspace tax levy that Charleston County can tap.

In anticipation of revenue, Charleston County Council issued bonds and then appropriated greenspace funds to municipalities based on populations. The bond issue made it possible to more quickly use the anticipated greenspace revenue, officials said.

Funds are being used for land purchases and to purchase development-blocking conservation easements.

Charleston County Director of Greenbelt Programs Cathy L. Ruff said 93 rural and urban projects, 51 involving purchases and 42 conservation easements, together preserved 14,908 acres. The transactions involved $59 million in greenbelt funding.

The purchasing power of greenspace funds sometimes has been magnified by grants and donations, Ruff said.

Ruff said a goal was set three years ago to protect 40,000 acres. Already, the program can claim 6,713 acres of rural land, 182 acres of urban land, 3,270 acres bordering national forest, 4,738 acres of wetlands and 2,917 acres purchased by the county park commission, she said.

Among some uses of the funds:

North Charleston spent $366,000 for 27.915 acres, including property in Park Circle and another in the Chicora/Cherokee neighborhood. Both will be used as community parks. The other properties are in the Filbin Creek and Noisette Creek areas and will be linked with other parcels for a passive park.

Charleston is creating Ellis Oaks Park on James Island and the Village Shaftesbury Project in West Ashley.

Awendaw used $5.17 million to buy 292 acres for outdoor access and recreation.

The Edisto Island Open Land Trust used $224,000 to place a conservation easement on 62.48 acres at the center point of Sunnyside Plantation and bordering 2,000 feet of water and marsh along Store Creek.

The Lowcountry Open Land Trust spent $2.5 million on two projects that place conservation easements on properties on Slann and Johns islands.

The Nature Conservancy used $1.18 million to purchase 374 acres near Awendaw and adjacent to the Francis Marion National Forest.

Ruff said only about $1 million remains from the first $60 million borrowed for urban and rural projects, and the county is not expected to borrow again until 2011.

The city of Charleston has expended its $9.9 million allotment, the largest granted to a municipality.

Meanwhile, municipalities including Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island, Folly Beach and the Isle of Palms have not yet spent their allotments.

Various proposals for spending the funds are being considered in those municipalities.

Mount Pleasant and North Charleston each have more than $4.5 million remaining. North Charleston received the second-highest allotment at $7.9 million.

The town of James Island still hasn't spent its $1.9 million allotment, but not for lack of trying. The town is negotiating the purchase of several acres that include an open space attached to a narrow strip of wooded land in the Lighthouse Point subdivision. The tract touches both Lighthouse Road and Lighthouse Boulevard.

The town was unsuccessful earlier this year to close deals on two other pieces of property: one at a now-closed school in Riverland Terrace and another in the Clearview subdivision.

Both could have been nice parks, Mayor Mary Clark said.

Clark said the thin strip of land that comes with the Lighthouse Point tract can be opened as a walking and biking trail, though the ride will be a quick one for a bicycle. She said the town and its earlier incarnation have fought without much success to get bike and walking paths beside roads and highways.

Dorchester County officials have shared a vision for a greenway all the way around the county.

The expansion project, which would grow from the existing Sawmill Branch Trail in Summerville, is in the county's parks and recreation master plan and would pass by parks, canoe launches and ball fields. But for now, there's no way to pay for it, officials said.

For information on the Charleston County Greenbelt Program, contact Ruff at 202-7204 or cruff@charlestoncounty.org.