County makes effort to save natural resources

BEAUFORT -- After years of allowing development with little regard for its environmental effect, Beaufort County finally recognizes its natural resources are the key to its future, several local environmental groups say.

Perhaps the best evidence of this shift is the accord that exits among local officials about the importance of environmental protection.

The county's Land Management Committee reviewed a draft of the county's comprehensive plan last week, but there was little debate about a chapter devoted to natural resources, committee members said.

That such a chapter even exists is proof of progress, according to the Coastal Conservation League's south coast director.

"Just in terms of including it, (the county stands out)," Patrick Moore said. "We're in a place where the economy depends on the natural resources to an extent; that really needs to be in the comprehensive plan."

State law requires local governments to prepare a comprehensive plan for land use and growth and to update that plan every 10 years.

The latest draft of the county's plan includes a chapter about trees, water quality and open land, among other items, and how they should be guarded as the county grows.

Beaufort County Council will discuss that chapter at its 4 p.m. Monday meeting at the county administration building, 100 Ribaut Road.

"At least people are thinking this way now," Friends of the River's founding director Nancy Schilling said. "I think the planning department has made significant changes in how they see things."

Environmental protection has not always been a driving factor in county planning, some say. While concepts like protecting live oaks have been central for the past 50 years, others things, such as preserving water quality took off only in the past decade, county planner Rob Merchant said.

Merchant, who helped draft the chapter, said the effects of the county's past over-

development prompted the government to move to guard water quality.

Moore agreed over-development is the biggest threat to the county's environment. At the height of the county's building boom in 2005, more than 4,000 residential building permits were issued by the county's Planning Department. Since that time, building permits have decreased steadily. Last year, the number dropped to 1,900.