County committee accepts $75,000 NPS grant to update Saint Helena cemetery survey and recommends ordinance updates

Beaufort County staff told the Natural Resources Committee on Sept. 2 that the county has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the National Park Service to update the Saint Helena cemetery survey last completed in 1999. Kristen (county staff) said the grant would fund a survey update and ground-penetrating radar work to delineate and protect at-risk burial sites on Saint Helena Island; she described $25,000 of the grant being applied to survey updates and approximately $50,000 toward ground-penetrating radar work.

Committee members discussed matching time and in-kind work; staff said $15,000 of in-kind administrative work would be performed by county staff and a portion of match would be provided through volunteers and partner organizations. The committee voted to forward acceptance of the grant to full council for receipt and acceptance of funds.

Staff also presented a proposed text amendment to the county's historic preservation ordinance to qualify Beaufort County for the Certified Local Government (CLG) program and to add standards, including 25- and 50-foot buffers around burial sites depending on whether boundaries are clearly demarcated. The amendment aims to secure future federal and state grant eligibility and to create clearer county-wide standards for protecting burial areas and buffers; the committee moved and seconded forwarding the text amendment to full council.

Kristen said Saint Helena is a priority because the 1999 survey was overdue for updating and that success here could position the county to expand cemetery work to other islands in the county in future grant rounds.

Next steps: staff will send formal acceptance language to council for receipt of the grant and will prepare ordinance language and supporting documentation to move forward with the CLG application and the proposed burial-site buffers.