A deal for a new waterfront park in Beaufort may close next week. The price remains secret
Plans for taxpayers to buy and maintain a 10-acre waterfront park in northern Beaufort County could be approved by early next week after a key agreement was solidified Tuesday, though the eventual price is still being kept secret.
Beaufort County would buy the 9.72-acre Whitehall property on Lady’s Island from a private developer to preserve as a park, and the city will provide maintenance, per the terms of a 30-year agreement the City Council unanimously approved Tuesday.
The deal requires another vote by County Council on Monday to close. The cost of the purchase, which would come largely from county land preservation funds, has been kept secret.
County Council Chairman Paul Sommerville said the cost would be included in the body’s potential vote Monday but that he couldn’t reveal the price before then.
Sommerville said numbers have only been discussed behind closed doors and, despite the deal involving public money, is kept secret because of the possibility of others competing for the same property. He previously said his understanding is the property was valued at $680,000 per acre, which comes out to $6.6 million for the proposed park property.
Barbara Holmes, land protection director for the Open Land Trust, declined to reveal the negotiated price Wednesday but said the number is below its appraised value.
“We go through exactly the same process for anything we buy,” Sommerville said. “This just happens to be a big-ticket item.”
The Rural and Critical Lands Program is funded by referendums where voters have agreed to pay higher taxes towards land preservation efforts. Another $25 million for the program is on the ballot for Nov. 6.
The Land Trust, which administers the program, shelved other high-priority targets when Whitehall became available, Director Cindy Baysden said Tuesday.
The document approved this week outlines low-key uses for the park, such as walking, biking and fishing. Weddings or similar events eventually could be held on the property, Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said.
City officials last month expressed concern about maintaining the park when they didn’t know its size, design or how much it might eventually cost city taxpayers to upkeep.
The city is prepared to borrow $8 million to address drainage issues in the Mossy Oaks area, with millions of dollars also needed for drainage projects in other areas. The Beaufort Downtown Marina has maintenance issues that eventually will need to be addressed, Beaufort resident and former Redevelopment Commission member Alan Dechovitz told council members.
City officials still don’t know the eventual annual maintenance costs for the park under the approved agreement, Keyserling said Tuesday. Asked why he’s comfortable moving forward without knowing the eventual cost, Keyserling said the agreement limits the city’s liability and allows for control over how it eventually looks and is used.
Beaufort would maintain the park in its condition when it opens. Future improvements would require a funding source, whether from the city or elsewhere.
“Should (the county) want to do something with the land while we have it leased, that means we plan together,” Keyserling said. “If we want to do something that is bigger than we anticipate, we say we can’t do it or we can do it, but we need you to help.”
The county is working to buy the park property from Beaufort developer Sam Levin and his partners, who would develop Whitehall’s remaining 10 acres.
“My concern is we’re spending a large chunk of our Rural and Critical land monies to take down 9.72 acres, when maybe that money would go to make a larger growth management impact (elsewhere on Lady’s Island),” City Councilman Stephen Murray said, noting recent studies that show a the potential for thousands of more homes and more than 2.2 million square feet of business space in the community.
Baysden acknowledged Whitehall would go down as one of the Rural and Critical Lands Program’s most expensive purchases. But she said not doing so would be a “huge loss.”
“We’re not trying to just build more parks for the heck of it,” she said after the agreement was approved. “We’re trying to preserve this particular, very special piece of land, so that everybody can enjoy it.”
Beaufort County Councilman York Glover, a St. Helena Island native whose district includes Whitehall, said maintaining the view crossing onto Lady’s Island from downtown Beaufort is important to preserve the area’s small-town feel.
“Development is going to happen, there’s no question about that,” he said. “There’s some properties I believe should be preserved, and that’s one.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 1:43 PM.