$4.8M approved for 7-acre park site

Charleston County Council approved the controversial spending of $4.8 million in greenbelt funds Tuesday to buy a 7-acre park for the town of Hollywood, while deferring action on two land deals benefitting nonprofit groups.

The nonprofit deals involved buying land for Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding on Johns Island, and buying an easement to prohibit development on land that was privately donated several years ago to the Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw. Councilman Victor Rawl raised questions about whether the greenbelt funds could legally be used for such purposes, and the vote on those two deals was postponed at Councilman Joe McKeown's request.

The Hollywood park purchase was approved over the objections of several council members, who argued unsuccessfully that the rural greenbelt program was never intended for the purchase of small and expensive municipal parks.

"I think the public should be appalled, quite frankly," said Councilman Dickie Schweers. "The developer stands to make $1 million on his four-year investment."

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

"We're taking money that's not specifically for this purpose, and we're going to do it anyway, like we did in Awendaw," Schweers said, referring to another controversial land purchase approved previously.

Supporters of the Hollywood deal on council did not bother to defend it, knowing that they had the votes Tuesday.

Last week, at a committee meeting of the full council, the vote was 5-4 to recommend the purchase, and several council members, including Teddie Pryor and Elliott Summey, said then that they supported buying land that taxpayers would be able to use and enjoy, as opposed to buying development restrictions on land that would remain in private hands.

McKeown joined Schweers Tuesday in speaking against the plan to buy the 7 acres known as Wide Awake Plantation.

"There's no doubt that it's a worthy project, but that's not the point here," he said. "It's just a puzzle to me why we aren't following the recipe that we said we'd follow."

The recipe McKeown referred to is the county's plan for spending greenbelt funds raised by the voter-approved half-cent sales tax. The greenbelt money was divided into "urban" money for things such as municipal parks, "rural" funds to protect green spaces, and money used by the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission to buy land for recreational purposes.

The Wide Awake Plantation purchase was approved on a 5-3 vote with Schweers, McKeown, and Councilman Paul Thurmond opposed. Councilwoman Colleen Condon, who opposed the deal last week, was absent Tuesday.

Rawl said he supported the Hollywood park purchase because the public would be able to use and enjoy the land but was troubled by the proposals involving buying 30 acres of land for Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding, for $700,000, and purchasing a development easement on the Center for Birds of Prey land, for $267,500.

Rawl said he supports both groups but said the purchases amounted to earmarking money for the nonprofit groups.

The county has approved several greenbelt purchases previously for nonprofits, including the 2007 purchase of 71 acres for the Sweetgrass Society on S.C. Highway 45, for $1.7 million. Rawl said he would have questioned that purchase, had he been on council at the time.

The county's legal staff is expected to review the proposals that were deferred Tuesday.

Eight remaining greenbelt proposals in the latest round of funding were approved at the council meeting without discussion. Those plans will use $3.2 million to protect 3,280 acres of rural land from development, mostly by funding nonprofit land trust purchases of development rights.

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