Beaufort County overwhelmingly approves $20 million for land preservation program
Beaufort County voters have spoken: The Rural and Critical Lands preservation program should continue.
Voters overwhelmingly approved a measure Tuesday to raise $20 million for the program to buy or place conservation easements on environmentally sensitive property.
The referendum is the fourth in which voters have approved more money for the program and earned the largest margin of victory, with more than 73 percent of the 38,655 votes cast in favor of the measure. Voters now have authorized more than $130 million over 15 years and have never voted down funding for the program.
The latest round of borrowing for the program will result in a property-tax increase of about 1 mill. That will add about $10 on a bill for a $250,000 owner-occupied home. It tacks on about $15 more to the bill for a $250,000 second home.
Since 1998, Rural and Critical Lands has spent more than $105 million in public and private funds to buy almost 11,200 acres in environmentally sensitive areas to ensure they won't be developed. It has paid more than $52 million to place another 11,400 acres under conservation easements, which permanently disallow development in exchange for tax breaks.
The Beaufort County Open Land Trust, which manages the program, has identified about $57 million in property it still seeks to preserve, land trust attorney Ken Driggers has said. The program has about $5 million now and is focusing on conservation around the Okatie River watershed and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, according to Driggers.
Follow reporter Zach Murdock at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach.
Related content:
- Sen. Davis, local committee make final push for land-preservation referendum, Oct. 24, 2014
- 5 questions awaiting answers on Election Day, Nov. 2, 2014
This story was originally published November 4, 2014 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Beaufort County overwhelmingly approves $20 million for land preservation program."