Charleston County Council approves several Greenbelt projects amid debate over forward spending and fund shortfalls

Charleston County Council on April 20 received an annual update on the county Greenbelt program and approved multiple winter-cycle projects while members sharply debated policy limits on "forward spending" from urban allocations that are currently overdrawn.

The update, presented by a county staff member identified in the meeting as Mr. Davis, said council has awarded 229 Greenbelt projects since the program began in February 2007, protecting more than 26,000 acres at a total Greenbelt expenditure of about $166.4 million. The program has leveraged roughly 140 percent in matching funds (about $232 million), and about 12,641 acres — roughly 45 percent of Greenbelt acres — have some current or planned public access, Davis said.

The presentation said conservation easements account for more than half of protected acres (about 17,436 acres) and that the average cost per acre across the program is just under $6,000. Lifetime projected Greenbelt balances for both transportation sales tax tranches were shown at roughly $163 million; current available funding before the committee took action was stated to be just over $13.3 million. The county’s urban unincorporated allocation was shown as having a negative balance of about $4.25 million, a result staff attributed in part to a prior large award (Red Top) that drew from multiple allocation buckets.

Davis also described an ongoing technical effort to update Greenbelt mapping and priorities using a GIS geodatabase and new data from the State Conservation Bank, Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission and regional planning partners. He said the Greenbelt Advisory Board (GAB) has agreed to a stepwise,…