Charleston County Council approves nearly 20 greenbelt projects

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston County Council met Tuesday night and approved of several projects. Out of those, 18 greenbelt projects were greenlit.

Harmony Public Tract is now secured for the City of Charleston. This was the only project the city applied for in the second cycle of this year. The land is expected to provide visitors with walking and biking trails, along with access to Church Creek for fishing and crabbing.

“Harmony Tract scored really highly for a greenbelt program for us. It checked a whole lot of boxes for us,” Eric Davis, director of greenbelt programs, said. “They had a large match which is important for us. It’s a passive park that’s gonna provide public access, some bike and pedestrian connectivity to the existing park and of course – it preserves land on Church Creek which has all kinds of great, natural infrastructure implications. Primarily it helps to manage stormwater.”

The land that the tract sits on was acquired from a settlement agreement with the developer. Previously, the area was planned to have 240 single-family homes, but now will serve a small senior living facility. Officials said it will reduce the impact to the greenspace and prevent additional drainage pressure to the creek.

“One of the things is the viewshed right,” Jason Kronsberg, Charleston chief of facilities and capital projects, said. “So, if you’re standing in West Ashley Park along the edge of the creek, there’s over almost a mile of frontage along Church Creek. So that frontage of trees stays intact. It will never change. So, you’ll never see a bunch of roofs popping over the tree line.”

The county’s greenbelt program will be working on getting grants and award letters. While now, the tract does not have a timeline but will be added to the city’s schedule.

“Anytime we can expand our footprint of park space in the City of Charleston, we like to take advantage of that,” Kronsberg said. “With the help of the greenbelt program and the mission of the greenbelt, not only to create a ring of green around the city – but also to secure park space within the urban setting, or suburban setting.”