JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) – Charleston County’s finance committee met on Thursday night and voted on 18 greenbelt projects. The county’s greenbelt funds from its transportation sales tax would go towards these projects.
Out of the 18 projects, all were approved by the finance committee, except one, which resulted in a tied vote with one council member absent.
That $1.6 million project would sit on 40 acres located off Main Road on Johns Island. The applicant for this project is the Lowcountry Land Trust, and their Sea Islands Program Director, Natalie Olson, said that if they got final approval from the county council next week, they would purchase the property, place a conservation easement on it and then transfer it over to the Barrier Island Little League. This group is a nonprofit sports league for kids that dates back to the 1950s, based out of Johns Island.
“The Barrier Islands Little League has a number of kids on the waitlist because there are not enough recreational facilities in the area to support all of the teams, so we are very excited to be working with them on this acquisition,” Olson said.
Out of the 40 acres, Olson said about a third of it would be used as active recreational space. That means it would be dedicated to sports fields with dugouts, lights, bleachers, fencing, concessions, parking, potential courts, batting cages and playgrounds.
The Barrier Island Little League group would get top priority over the active space for their practices and other uses. However, when they are not using the fields the public would be able to reserve them during those unused times.
The President of the Barrier Island Little League organization, Mary Bull, spoke at the meeting and said that they have also looked into using these fields for various state and regional tournaments as well as letting other sports organizations use them. Some of the finance committee members questioned how much access the public would actually get out of this property if they were looking at partnering with other groups on top of Little League having close to a yearlong season.
However, Olson said the remaining two-thirds of the land would be passive park space that would include walking trails and would be open to the public anytime during the daytime hours.
Council member Jenny Honeycutt made a comment about the landowner of this property saying that they have been “highly critical for a very long time of Charleston County.” The landowners listed in the county’s documents are Horres Enterprises Inc. and Randall Scott Horres. Honeycutt said she found it interesting that the landowner would take advantage of the county’s greenbelt dollars, but that she was in support of this project to benefit the kids in Little League.
“I felt like that was a really good program and a way to preserve land for people in that area and so I supported the program,” Honeycutt said. “I think there was a tied vote because of the landowner that brought the project. It was $1.6 million, I think it was $40,000 per acre and there were some concerns about that landowners’ positions on various things, so I think it’s going to come back Tuesday, and I hope it will pass.”
Another project that was brought before the finance committee and approved was a $2.9 million, 94.4-acre property called Grayson Oaks off Humbert and Main Roads on Johns Island. The applicant for this project is also the Lowcountry Land Trust and if approved by the county council next week they would purchase this property and place a conservation easement on it. Olson said that this property has been used for agriculture purposes for decades and that they plan to keep it that way.
“We will maintain it as agriculture property, so lease it out to a farmer, and have some public engagement through that. It’s really a great project because it not only protects land that’s immediately under threat, this land has been on the market and could be developed and so we’re just excited to be playing a role in protecting farmland in an area where it’s disappearing pretty quickly,” Olson said.
Olson said they also want the public to have the opportunity to engage with agriculture so they want to be able to host things like school field trips, farm dinners and tours.
She said future plans could include walking trails on this property that would connect to nearby neighborhoods and places that will enhance mobility and greenspace on Johns Island.
All 18 projects from Thursday’s finance committee meeting will have to go to the county council next week for final approval.
Olson said if they get approval from the county council they would be moving forward with these projects in the next few months.
You can find out more information about the rest of the projects here.
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Charleston County leaders vote on various greenbelt projects
