COLUMBIA - With a House committee apparently ready Tuesday to approve less restrictive rules, a hallway compromise on marsh island bridge regulations gave environmentalists some of the protections they wanted.

The compromise is expected to limit the number of bridges to about 220. It also would limit bridges to the smallest of the islands to a width of 15 feet. About 2,400 marsh islands in the state are considered undeveloped.

Under a subcommittee's recommendation to the state House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, 240 or more of the islands would have been opened to bridges and development. The subcommittee had removed most development restrictions on the islands, and those were not restored. They included limits on lighting, stormwater runoff and buffers that were stricter than mainland limits.

The committee action allows the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to "withdraw and re-submit," which means the compromise regulations become law May 20. Both property rights and environmental advocates said they could live with the compromise, which settles a combative issue in an ongoing regulation battle. "We are glad they voted to approve the bridge regulations. That was essential to limit the number of bridges over public marsh. We're disappointed some of the measures to protect water quality

and public view were eliminated," said Nancy Vinson of the Coastal Conservation League.

"It's a good compromise. It safeguards the rights of all South Carolina property owners and keeps undue government regulation under control," said Mark Nix, of the South Carolina Landowners Association.

Marsh islands are the wooded crowns rising from inland coastal waters. There are nearly 4,000 across the state, nearly half in the Charleston area. Most are only a few acres. They often have disputed ownership and have traditionally been considered open "no man's land" by boaters. Their surrounding marshes are public property.

The right to develop these island has been the subject of an ongoing battle since a developer in 1998 sought access to Park Island in the Wando River in Mount Pleasant. An ensuing lawsuit went to the state Supreme Court in 2005. The court threw out the old rules governing the islands.

Tuesday's compromise was forged by Earl Hunter, DHEC commissioner, working in the hallway outside the committee room, after committee chairman Rep. Bill Witherspoon, R-Conway, allowed an unusual recess instead of taking a vote on the subcommittee recommendation. The last minute bargaining took place after head counts by both sides indicated the subcommittee's recommendations would pass.

"My position is, state regulations should be about solid science, not aesthetics. That's a local issue," said Rep. Dwight Loftis, R-Greenville, the subcommittee chairman who had pushed for the stripped down regulations.

Rep. Robert Brown, D-Hollywood, and Rep. Kenneth Hodges, D-Bennetts Point, who had pushed to adjourn the committee vote, essentially passing the original regulations, said the compromise was good but could have been better.

"I'm an environmentalist and I'm a developer. I see it from both sides," said Larry Bradham, of Seabrook Island, who owns Horse Island. He had been turned down earlier when he sought to build a bridge to that marsh island, but he supported the DHEC regulations.

The compromise, he said, works for him.

On the Net
--An effort to give parents a state check or tax credit to send their kids to private school died in a House subcommittee.
--Several bills this week deal with the state's Freedom of Information Act and other public information issues.
For full report on the Legislature, go to www.charleston.net/webextras.