WE BELIEVE THAT TIME will show the positive value to our community of a pact recently reached between the University of South Carolina and local hoteliers.

Both these interests are strong players in our community, and it did not serve either of them to remain at odds over plans to expand lodging at USC’s National Advocacy Center. Now, with a push toward negotiations by Gov. Mark Sanford, USC and the hoteliers have reached an agreement each can live with that will benefit all parties, including the prosecutor training center.

It was clear the advocacy center needed more room to house the federal prosecutors who come here on weekly rotations. These high-ranking government lawyers need secure accommodations, and they don’t need to waste time shuttling back and forth from satellite hotels.

In fact, it wasn’t the prospective overflow housing for these prosecutors that local hotel operators said had them really riled up. It was the potential that USC was encroaching on commercial hotel business, using public assets to drain income from the private sector. Hotels were concerned the inn would become a direct competitor, albeit with some freedom from regulation and overhead that comes from being affiliated with a public facility.

USC took steps to ease those fears. The university has offered to limit occupancy rates at the new hotel for four years. In the first year of hotel operations, occupancy cannot exceed 65 percent, which is close to the average for most downtown Columbia hotels. Occupancy can be as high as 85 percent in the fourth year.

Should occupancy rates exceed the agreed-upon levels, USC will donate its extra revenue to the S.C. Hospitality and Tourism Educational Foundation.

USC has promised not to develop another hotel for at least seven years. This was a key concession the hoteliers sought. They don’t want university-owned hotels popping up all over town. Also, the university can’t expand the inn unless the entire facility is occupied by federal prosecutors training at the adjacent National Advocacy Center.

The university inn will be non-commercial. It will not be advertised or listed on hotel reservation Web sites. It will not have a commercial hotel sign out front.

For their part, the hoteliers have agreed to cease their publicity and legal campaigns against the facility. We’re glad to see that, as some interests in the debate had resorted to inappropriate tactics, particularly the use of some questionable radio ads.

Right now, both sides may be feeling a little dissatisfied with the concessions made. However, we think those feelings will fade over time. USC made concessions in its original vision for the space, and most likely in its immediate ambitions for more hotels. However, the university has done so in a way that satisfied nearby residents and a significant sector of the business community.

The hoteliers may not have gotten all the protections they would have wanted. But we believe they will benefit in the long run if USC is strengthened in its role as host to the National Advocacy Center.

We will only find out the true potential of this project if it is allowed to move forward. We are pleased that compromise was possible to achieve that end.