Charleston County leaders were scheduled to meet Thursday to weigh a greenbelt funding request that could preserve 600 acres of undeveloped land in Hollywood, South Carolina, potentially adding the property off Salters Hill Road and Highway 162 to the Dungannaon Heritage Preserve. The land, if the purchase goes through, would become part of the Dungannaon Heritage Preserve, open for hunting, fishing, birdwatching and walking.
A Request Measured in Millions
According to WCIV, the Charleston County Finance Committee was scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Thursday to discuss the funding request, which the station described as being for over $3 million in greenbelt money drawn from transportation sales tax revenue. Officials said the funding would help purchase the 600-acre property, and the overall project reportedly carries a total cost of more than $13 million.
The Finance Committee's role fits within a broader structure: Charleston County's Greenbelt Advisory Board was established by County Council specifically to recommend how sales-tax dollars get spent on greenbelt projects, according to the county's own greenbelt program. That board also evaluates how the county's Rural and Urban Grants Programs are being carried out, per the same program materials.
Fresh Off a Sales Tax Referendum
The timing follows closely on the heels of a countywide vote. Charleston County voters on Nov. 3 passed a referendum extending the half-cent transportation sales tax, a measure expected to generate $4.25 billion for infrastructure projects over the next 25 years, as reported by The Post and Courier. That same report said roughly $690 million from the tax would be dedicated to the Greenbelt Program, which funds land preservation. That figure stands in some tension with an earlier Post and Courier account describing a Feb. 5 council vote that shifted $200 million away from greenbelt funding toward public transportation, leaving $650 million for greenbelt projects and $850 million for transit — the reporting does not explain the discrepancy between the two totals.
The greenbelt program itself traces back further than this year's ballot measure. A 2025 report from Live 5 News noted that greenbelt funding comes from a half-cent sales tax voters first approved in 2006 and renewed again in 2016.
Not the Only Land Deal on the Table
Hollywood's 600 acres weren't the only greenbelt matter before county officials Thursday. Charleston County Council was also set to vote the same day on a separate request from the Lowcountry Land Trust for more than $1 million in greenbelt funding, covering land between Humbert Road and Old Pond Road on Johns Island, according to the same Live 5 News outlet's more recent reporting. That land would support the proposed Tupelo Trail, intended to connect Johns Island neighborhoods to county parks and green spaces.
These requests echo a pattern from the previous year, when the Finance Committee was set to assess five proposed greenbelt projects stretching from Edisto Island to Mount Pleasant ahead of a final council funding vote, the outlet's 2025 coverage noted. One of those, from the Edisto Island Land Trust, sought money to purchase 18.19 acres off Point of Pines Road. The county's greenbelt overview page states that funding from the half-cent sales tax voters first approved in 2006 has protected more than 21,000 acres to date, with over 11,900 of those acres purchased for future public parks and green spaces, and that funds from that first tax have been virtually exhausted.
Whether the Finance Committee advanced the Hollywood request Thursday, and what the final purchase price or funding breakdown might look like, remains to be seen based on available reporting.
