Westvaco's East Edisto Plan Passes Its Critical First Test
March 30, 2008
Editorial in The Post and Courier
MeadWestvaco Corp. has met the challenge for its East Edisto tract with a plan that provides for conservation and growth management. While there are details to work out as the master planning process continues, the company's preliminary proposal shows it has seriously considered the hundreds of public comments on the plan.
As submitted last week, the plan will preserve more than three-fourths of the 72,000 acre tract in Charleston and Dorchester counties, either as forest, lakes, wetlands or for low-density rural home sites.
The vast acreage of forest and farmland in the center of the tract will separate urban areas along existing highways near Summerville and Ravenel. The protected area includes a portion of the Ashley River historic district, and the plan will complement ongoing preservation efforts within the historic district.
The MeadWestvaco proposal was developed following public hearings where more than 1,000 residents voiced their expectations for the vast timber tract.
The company's plans are in accord with those who spoke in favor of maintaining the rural character of the area and the natural habitat afforded by forest land. The plans call for preserving the unspoiled land along the Edisto River and providing nature trails, as well as accomodating pedestrians, bicylists and horseback riders.
MeadWestvaco also has plans to design towns that will fit in with their neighbors — those near Summerville will be designed with that picturesque town in mind. Further, the plans anticipate opportunities for work and education for its residents, thereby limiting the ongoing problems associated with urban sprawl.
While the company's plan obviously isn't the no-development option sought by some, it has attempted to accommodate conservation goals in a major way.
It will, in fact, add another 50,000 acres to the 30,000 acres already set aside by a combination of zoning and conservation easements in the area.
That latter figure includes the 6,600-acre Watson Hill tract that is planned for residential and resort development if its annexation by North Charleston is upheld in the courts.
MeadWestvaco's plan should encourage North Charleston to reconsider its support for an inappropriate development on the tract, as well as any aggressive annexation plans that are incompatible with what is now on the drawing board.
Hamilton Davis, project manager for the Coastal Conservation League, says the organization generally endorses MeadWestvaco's plan as one that broadly preserves rural acreage, while providing needed room for growth, particularly in Dorchester County. While the League takes issue with the extent of the acreage planned for its "villages," Mr. Davis says the proposal for residential development could serve as "a template for other communities."
MeadWestvaco officials acknowledge that there are still questions about the size of the development "footprint" and that other issues are sure to surface in the ensuing public discussion leading toward a final master plan.
The preliminary East Edisto proposal leaves no doubt that MeadWestvaco and its planners are listening.
