Horry County is buying over 3,700 acres on International Drive for $12.9 million. Here s why

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1 Horry County is buying over 3,700 acres on International Drive for $12.9 million. Here s why By Charles D. Perry charles.perry@myhorrynews.com Horry County leaders plan to purchase nearly 3,700 acres along International Drive and designate the land for conservation Horry County leaders quietly negotiated a $12.9 million deal to purchase more than 3,700 acres along International Drive and designate that land for conservation, according to public records. The money for the project would primarily come from funding left over from the RIDE II road-building program, records show. The cost of the land is just over $11 million and the additional money would pay for mineral rights on the site and the cost of restoring wetlands on the property.

2 It s going to be one of the biggest things we ve seen happen in our area when it comes to conservation, Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus said. To say the least, the people of Carolina Forest are going to be extremely pleased. Council members will vote on the land buy Tuesday night. The purchase wasn t on the council s original agenda published on Friday, but after myhorrynews.com questioned council members about the project, an amended agenda was published Monday afternoon. Lazarus said the land is under contract, though county officials have not closed on the property yet. The land is owned by Virginia-based Riverstone Properties, LLC, which holds more than a dozen other parcels in Horry County. Riverstone representatives could not be reached for comment. By setting the property aside for conservation, no development would be allowed on the land. Restoring wetlands on the tract could also allow county leaders to earn mitigation credits from the government. Local officials would use those credits if they needed to fill in wetlands while completing other infrastructure projects, such as those in RIDE III, the nearly $600 million roads package county voters approved in The idea is that there s no net loss [of wetlands], said Lorianne Riggin, director of the Office of Environmental Programs for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. When wetlands are impacted in one place, they are offset by the preservation or the restoration and enhancement of wetlands elsewhere within the same watershed. Riggin said the county pitched its proposal for the site to a special panel of state and federal agencies on Nov. 29. After the presentation, the Interagency Review Team didn t raise any red flags about the project and agreed the county should proceed with developing a more detailed document that outlines the county s goals for restoring or enhancing any wetlands on the property. The county is considering the site for a mitigation bank, an area that needs wetlands restoration or improvements. By completing that work, the county would receive a

3 certain amount of credits, which they could use during other infrastructure work or sell to another entity that s working on a development project. If an applicant is proposing some work and they are going to be required to do mitigation, there s a couple of different ways, but buying mitigation credits is one of those ways that they can meet their obligations, said Sean McBride, spokesman for the Charleston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. For example, the South Carolina section of the proposed Interstate 73 would impact 254 acres of wetlands and more than 4,600 feet of streams, according to the Corps. To secure a permit for the project, the S.C. Department of Transportation agreed to preserve a nearly 6,300-acre section of Gunter s Island on the Little Pee Dee River. Lazarus said council members kept the International Drive deal a secret as long as they could because a private group had been looking for land to purchase for mitigation projects with the goal of selling the credits at high prices. Mitigation credits can cost between $8,000 and $12,000 apiece, Lazarus said. By establishing their own mitigation bank, county leaders can secure the credits they need and sell some of the others. When credits are sold, the money would be returned to the RIDE II account. The chairman said the county would recoup the cost of the land purchase from selling the credits. We need a significant number for RIDE III and we think we ve found a way to do it ourselves and minimize the expense for the county, which means more money for roads and preserves an extreme amount of property for the county, he said. "There will be more credits available than what we're going to need for RIDE III." Once the land becomes public, Lazarus said the property would be opened up for walking trails and other forms of passive recreation. He plans to make a detailed presentation about the project at Tuesday's meeting. "This is a big deal," he said. "We'd have to spend the money anyway. Fortunately, we've got funds set aside from RIDE II that we can go ahead and make this purchase and pay it back to where those leftover funds stay in RIDE II. It will be preserved property for Horry County forever and ever."

4 Lazarus also said the land purchase could eventually allow the county to use a small portion of the land for connecting Gardner Lacy Road with International Drive. The entire process of setting up the mitigation bank takes years, said Riggin of SCDNR. Apart from a lengthy approval process involving federal and state agencies, the applicant (in this case, the county) must make improvements to a property, such as plugging ditches to revert water back to where it once flowed. Once that work is done, there s a five-year monitoring phase to ensure the project was effective. The Riverstone property, the largest privately-owned tract bordering International Drive, is particularly important to environmental groups because of its proximity to the 9,000- acre Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve, which sits on the other side of International Drive and is home to bears, the endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker and the Venus Flytrap. It s a great piece of property and it would be perfect for conservation, said Erin Pate, north coast office director for the Coastal Conservation League, a nonprofit focused on protecting natural resources. However, Pate said she wanted to review the county s plans for the site before offering support for the move. Often the devil is in the details, she said before the county posted a resolution about the project on Monday. The Coastal Conservation League sparred with the county over the extension of International Drive from Carolina Forest to S.C. 90. They worried about the road s impact on area wildlife. They also voiced concerns about excessive commercial or residential development on the Riverstone tract when 10 curb cuts were added to the road plan. The environmentalists challenged the project in state and federal courts, but they ultimately dropped their lawsuits last year. International Drive is projected to be open by April. "It really gives the project closure," county councilman Johnny Vaught said of the land purchase. "There was so much worry from the environmentalists about that side of the road being developed. This takes that off the table. It vindicates our whole reason for doing that because it provides us credits and everything that we can use for RIDE III."

5 Pate said she was aware of the county s interest in the Riverstone property, but she didn t know how far those discussions had progressed until she was contacted by myhorrynews.com. It s a valuable ecosystem, she said of the area. It s a wildlife corridor. Those are all things that we care a lot about. Apart from the Riverstone tract, nearly 60,000 acres in Horry County are preserved open space, according to public records. That total doesn t include recreation land. Last year, more than 6,600 acres were added to the county s parks and open space network. Contact Charles D. Perry at