Charleston County and the state conservation bank will spend nearly $18.5 million to buy a 2,364-acre timber property in the western part of the county, with the county kicking in $10 million through its Greenbelt program. County Council approved the purchase by a 5-4 vote after initially rejecting it by the same tally, when Councilman Rob Wehrman switched his vote from no to yes. The tract, known as the Avocet timber property, is now the largest parcel ever purchased through Charleston County's Greenbelt program.
According to the Post and Courier, which first reported the council's reversal, the Greenbelt program is funded by a portion of Charleston County's transportation sales taxes. The county will not own the land outright. Instead, the Open Space Institute will acquire the property and plans to transfer it to the state, following a model the nonprofit has used elsewhere in the Lowcountry. The Greenbelt program's offer came in just over $1.3 million below the property's appraised value, the newspaper reported, and Timberland Investment Resources, the Atlanta-based firm that currently owns the tract, had purchased it for $6.93 million back in 2016, per earlier Post and Courier reporting.
A Contentious Council Debate
Council members hashed out the deal at a meeting on November 10, with sharply different takes on how it came together. Councilman Teddie Pryor said the county had leverage in negotiations because it had the funds available, while Councilman Joe Boykin, who represents the district containing the property, concluded the purchase was the best deal the county could get. Councilman Kylon Middleton, meanwhile, questioned how some of his colleagues seemed to already know so much about the deal before it came to a vote — a tension the newspaper's reporting left unresolved.
Nate Berry, senior vice president of the Open Space Institute, told the paper his organization negotiated the deal after the land was listed for sale. The purchase is expected to close within a month, and Berry said the institute plans to work with Ducks Unlimited to improve habitat on the property once that closing happens.
From Plantation Lots to Protected Land
The Avocet tract sits between County Line Road and Hyde Park Road, west of S.C. Highway 165 and east of the Edisto River. It was once part of more than 78,000 acres across the Charleston metro area and Charleston and Dorchester counties owned by MeadWestvaco, and the 2011 East Edisto plan restricted development on much of that former timber company land through zoning regulations that limited the Avocet property itself to no more than 94 homes on large estate lots. None of those homes, or any subdivisions, were ever built.
The land was listed for sale under the name Sandy Hill Plantation, a nod to its history: Revolutionary War hero and George Washington cousin William Washington acquired Sandy Hill Plantation in 1782. Berry said the purchase will open the property to public access, with that access potentially beginning in about a year.
How It Compares to Other Lowcountry Deals
The Avocet purchase follows a similar playbook used elsewhere in the region. The Open Space Institute separately closed on an $11.35 million purchase of the 1,644-acre Beech Hill timber tract in Dorchester County, according to the Post and Courier's real estate coverage, with Dorchester County contributing $4.125 million toward that deal — its largest Greenbelt acquisition to date. The Beech Hill tract is expected to become part of the state forest system.
An earlier stage of the same proposal was reported by Live 5 News on November 5: the Open Space Institute Land Trust requested $10 million from the county's Finance Committee, which approved the request, to secure 2,364 acres in Adams Run using Rural Greenbelt Program funds; that land is likewise envisioned as a future public park with the land to be transferred to the South Carolina Forestry Commission. Live 5 News reported that the land could open to the public in about two years if County Council approves the request, while Berry described a roughly one-year public access window for the Avocet tract.
A Growing but Debated Pot of Money
Charleston County's Greenbelt Program has helped preserve more than 26,000 acres for parks, greenspace and conservation since its creation in 2004, according to WCBD News 2. Earlier this year, the county approved more than $11.5 million in Transportation Sales Tax funding for Greenbelt projects expected to protect more than 900 acres, including a 79.9-acre parcel off Highway 17 North in Awendaw slated for use as a public park, per the station's reporting.
That funding stream has not come without friction. The Greenbelt program is funded by Charleston County's transportation sales tax, and council members have remained divided over how much of that tax should go toward land preservation versus transit, according to the Post and Courier's coverage of county budget talks. At a Finance Committee meeting in February, council moved $200 million from the proposed Greenbelt allocation to public transportation, leaving $650 million for Greenbelt and $850 million for transit, before voting 5-4 on February 10 to approve the revised allocations — the same narrow margin that would later decide the Avocet tract's fate.
