Managing Beaufort County’s explosive growth means putting conservation on the ballot

On Monday, May 14, Beaufort County Council members will take a definitive step toward protecting more natural assets in the county — or not.

Council members are considering adding a second question to November’s election ballot, which would ask voters to consider using property taxes to support an effective and popular Beaufort County Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Program. This is a timely opportunity: our region is one of the fastest growing on the East Coast, growing more than 24 percent in the past decade as transportation, congestion and growth issues affect daily life.

We hope you will support adding this question to the ballot.

For 18 years, this county program has protected more than 112 properties and nearly 24,000 acres of productive farmland, open space, scenic vistas and wetlands. In the last four general elections, due to the program’s success, voters and County Council have overwhelmingly and rightly voted to increase funding for the Rural and Critical Lands Program.

The Trust for Public Land and Beaufort County Open Land Trust recently quantified the value of the program in an economic impact analysis, and the results are stunning. Because protected lands naturally and effectively absorb storm and rainwater, they save Beaufort County taxpayers $27.4 million annually in stormwater fees ($8.10 million of which is generated by RCL). Parks, trails and open spaces increase home values. Beaufort County collects more than $1 million in additional annual property tax revenue from the proximity of conserved land (with RCL lands responsible for an increase in property values of $22.5 million and a $174,000 boost tax to revenues).

The program is especially important for rural Beaufort County, where working farms, forests, protected air space and family lands abound. Bindon Plantation and Mobley Plantation are prime examples of protected properties that were once threatened by inappropriate development. Developing Bindon would have meant 1,300 houses and 500,000 square feet of commercial space on the edge of the ACE Basin; and developing Mobley would have meant 350 homes, 650 cars and 6,500 trips per day on S.C. 170.

Preservation through the Rural and Critical Lands Program was the only permanent solution for these misplaced growth proposals.

The Tulifinny, Whale Branch and Broad rivers are thriving, healthy places to fish, swim and recreate largely because of their rural surroundings and rural land-protection efforts like these.

Some argue that a second ballot question will steal support from the roads referendum. But the referendums are not mutually exclusive, and, in fact, complement each other to proactively address rapid growth in our region. The roads referendum addresses critical transportation needs and chokepoints. The land-protection referendum will protect places that, if developed, would add to the traffic burden we already face.

Here is one example of why we support both programs working together. In Bluffton, the Ulmer family has used funds from the Rural and Critical Lands Program to protect more than 800 acres on the May River. This permanent protection is a stark juxtaposition to developing neighborhoods nearby, including Alljoy and Hilton Head National.

If the Ulmer lands were zoned similar to their northeastern neighbors, the property could see at least 800 homes, 1,600 cars and 16,000 trips per day along U.S. 278, the Bluffton Parkway and likely over the Hilton Head bridge — a problem area being addressed in the transportation referendum. Land protection makes your infrastructure investment dollars go further.

Traffic planning and strategic land conservation efforts should go hand-in-hand, and it is easy to see where it would be futile to pursue one without the other. In the case of the Ulmer property, what if the Hilton Head bridge were to be improved, but the county kept approving developments that, in turn, increased cars on the bridge? There would be no net gain for our quality of life.

By placing the Rural and Critical Lands referendum on the ballot, County Council can create an opportunity for the program’s continued success, and proactively further two important growth management programs. Let’s build on almost two decades of conservation success. Please join me in asking our County Council members to put continued land conservation on the ballot.

This story was originally published May 11, 2018 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Managing Beaufort County’s explosive growth means putting conservation on the ballot."