Gov. Mark Sanford urged the State Ports Authority to "do something extraordinary" with its 1,300-acre Daniel Island property before selling it to a private developer, such as setting aside the entire tip of the tract for a massive public waterfront park.

"What if this, 100 years from now, was the Central Park of the tri-county area?" Sanford asked.

Sanford said he has been pushing the SPA to include more open space and water access in its Daniel Island land-use plan, which was unveiled to the public Monday. About 150 local residents, politicians, developers and environmentalists crowded into a small church nearby to look at the first set of drawings and ask questions.

Sanford and SPA officials stressed that the plan was only a concept that is open to debate and change.

"We can be very progressive and iron out what we want to go where," Sanford said.

The SPA property makes up the entire southern portion of the island and fronts the Cooper and Wando rivers. The authority originally planned to build a massive new shipping terminal known as Global Gateway on the property. But that proposal was thwarted by public and legislative opposition, and port officials eventually abandoned it in favor of expanding at the former Charleston Naval Base.

Sanford said the Daniel Island sale is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the state and its residents to dictate how one of the largest available waterfront tracts in the area is developed. "If you have feelings . now is the time to voice them," he said.

The SPA's plans showed a commercial development on the Cooper River side of the property, including retail space, condominiums and a marina, with an undetermined number of single-family homes lining much of the rest of the waterfront and inland parcels. About 40 percent of the site would be public parks, open space or nature preserves in scattered locations, said SPA board member Harry Butler.

The development proposal "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," Butler said.

The SPA's plan didn't entirely suit Sanford, who said he would prefer to see some of the choicest waterfront properties set aside for public rather than private uses, even if it means sacrificing some money at the front end to capture what he called "long-term value" in 50 or 100 years.

"What we're saying is, let's skew on the side of open space and access to the water, because we're not going to get this chance again," he said.

Sanford noted that more than 113,000 new homes are planned in the Charleston region, and by 2030 the local population is expected to equal that of Jacksonville or Charlotte today. "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?" he said.

Sanford and SPA officials fielded questions for more than an hour, including inquiries about how the sale process would work and how the eventual buyer would gain access to the site.

Frank Brumley, whose company is developing of the northern end of the island, estimated 1,000 to 1,500 homes could be built on the port property. The existing road system would likely be able to handle that much extra traffic, he said.

"I think it can be accommodated . but the danger is in the details," Brumley said after the presentation.

The SPA plans to seek qualifications from real estate companies interested in buying the land within the next 30 days, said authority Chairman Bill Stern. The agency will then ask the companies that meet all the requirements to submit specific proposals, including the sales price. Proceeds will be used to help pay for the SPA's proposed $600 million Navy base expansion, Stern said.

Before the Global Gateway project was scrapped, the ports authority spent upward of $20 million preparing for a Daniel Island expansion, including real estate purchases, environmental studies and a new interchange on Interstate 526.

Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, said the port property must be sold because pressure is starting to build in some corners to keep the site for a future shipping terminal. He said a law that directed the SPA to focus its expansion on the former Navy base "could easily be changed."

"There are groups out there that want to do that," he said.

Reach John McDermott at jmcdermott@postandcourier.com or 937-5572.