CHARLESTON - Looking a bit like a college professor with a pen in one hand and maps behind, Gov. Mark Sanford fielded questions Monday about his vision for 1,300 acres the state owns on Daniel Island - the last large, undeveloped tract on Charleston Harbor.

Sanford told about 150 people gathered in a church on the island that green space and public water access must be key parts of any redevelopment of the tract owned by the State Ports Authority.

"At the end of the day, wealthy folks will always be able to buy access to the water," Sanford said, adding that providing green space and water access for all "is an incredible opportunity for every one of us as South Carolinians."

The land on the south end of the island was bought for the authority's planned Global Gateway steamship terminal. Opposition from the public and lawmakers scuttled that plan.

The agency is now planning to develop a terminal at the old Charleston Naval Base and is selling its Daniel Island property. In recent years, the island has developed with upscale homes and a shopping district.

The sale will provide money for the state initially and in the long term tax revenue and green space, Sanford said.

He noted 113,000 new homes are planned in the Charleston area and that in a quarter century, the area's population will be roughly that of Jacksonville, Fla., or Charlotte, N.C., today.

Sanford likened the tract to New York's Central Park.

"Think about 50 to 100 years in this part of South Carolina. How much green will we really see based on the way the population is changing?" the governor said. "What if this, 150 years from now, is the Central Park of this area?"

Harry Butler, immediate past president of the authority, outlined a conceptual plan that includes houses and a small commercial center.

The plan "will allow you to rest with some amount of comfort that there is no intention on the part of the State Ports Authority to ever build a port here," he told the crowd.

The authority plans to review the qualifications of potential developers. Later, the agency will seek more specific requests for proposals. Any plan must receive zoning approval from the city of Charleston.

Butler said an initial concept sent to Sanford was sent back because development was too dense.

Now about 40 percent of the tract will be kept as nature preserves or parks.

Neither Sanford, nor Bernard Groseclose, the authority's president and chief executive officer, would say how much they thought the tract might bring when sold.

Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, warned that the land must be sold before changes in the membership of the General Assembly could reverse the law moving the terminal to the old Naval Base.

"That law could easily be changed," he said. "There are those out there who would turn this into a port no matter what. They don't think it's a wise use of the land for residential or green space."