A new state law reducing the required acreage for a school offers Beaufort County an opportunity to eliminate a contradiction between the county's comprehensive plan and its Zoning and Development Standards Ordinance.

Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill last week eliminating minimum acreage requirements for new schools. State law formerly required 30 acres plus an additional acre for each 100 students. Such laws, the governor said, promoted sprawl because that much land was available only on the edge of town.

Beaufort County ordinances exceeded the state requirement. The law calls for a minimum 50-acre site plus additional land per 100 students.

Requiring such a large campus for schools is in direct conflict with the county's 6-year-old comprehensive plan. The plan is a guide for future growth in the county. The document was generated through considerable public input over three years. When it was enacted in 1997, the plan was the most restrictive in South Carolina.

Large campuses on the outskirts of towns, or in Beaufort County's example, several miles from town, cost taxpayers money in a number of ways. Initially, infrastructure must be taken to the school. A third high school proposed for a site at U.S. 21 and Keans Neck Road in Lobeco would have no sewer, requiring expenditure for a sewage treatment plant.

Gov. Sanford says such schools built in rural areas encourage other development. Eventually these developments will require extension of sewer lines, which encourage additional development.

The governor's argument is the same as that presented by the S.C. Coastal Conservation League and other groups. School are built away from population centers and encourages sprawl, which is counter to the vision statement embodied in the comprehensive plan.

Planners, the County Council and advocates of the plan pointed out years ago that the comprehensive plan is a living document, meaning that it changes over time to fit community needs. Right now the law that governs the size of school campuses conflicts with the plan's vision. By requiring such large tracts of land, it forces the district to seek land in more remote areas.

The county has an opportunity to eliminate these contradictions by changing the ordinance to allow the school district to follow the smaller requirements of state law.