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County, island to preserve additional 257 acres along May River

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The Beaufort County Council has moved to preserve another 257 acres in the Ulmer tract from development.

The council voted last week to buy a conservation easement for the 257-acre tract east of Burnt Church Road for $6 million.

The Hilton Head Island Town Council is expected to vote in early September on whether it will pay half that cost, said Curtis Coltrane, assistant town manager.

The town and county have teamed up on three conservation easement purchases on the off-island Ulmer property in the past.

"All of the Ulmer properties, were they to be developed, would be putting traffic outin the vicinity of the Moss Creek-U.S. 278 interchange," Coltrane said, explaining why the purchases make sense for the island. Keeping the land undeveloped means keeping it as easy as possible for visitors, residents and workers to get on to Hilton Head, he said.

The 257-acre parcel still can be used for agricultural and timber purposes, said Glenn Stanford, project manager for the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.

The trust negotiated the agreement on behalf of the Beaufort County Rural & Critical Lands Preservation Program.

The conservation easement still allows the property, which is owned by three Ulmer family brothers, to be subdivided into 25 separate agricultural plots, Stanford said.

"There will be no structures other than farm structures, barns and the like," he said.

If the property were developed, some 257 homes, or one per acre, could have been built on it, Stanford said.

The newly acquired parcel is beside the three other parcels along the May River where conservation easements already have been purchased, according to Beaufort County. So far, roughly 900 acres on the Ulmer tract have been preserved through easements.

Hugh Ulmer, one of the owners of the tract where development rights recently were purchased, said the land is used for timber and to keep some cows and horses. He doesn't expect the number of animals to grow.

"The cows are just to have cows," Ulmer said. "And the horses, my nephew raises horses."

As for the reason for selling the conservation easement, Ulmer said, "It's a way to eat and to preserve the open land."

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