Recommendations in Gov. Mark Sanford's Quality of Life Task Force report offer a variety of solutions that could address growth pressures all over Charleston, such as helping preserve the 100-year-old rural black community in Cainhoy and stopping housing developments in Mount Pleasant from encroaching into pristine woodlands, advocates say.

One underlining theme in the report is that South Carolina has grown so fast that state laws haven't kept up.

"Right now, the regulations are often at cross purposes with each other," said task force member Elizabeth Hagood of Charleston. "One agency might be pushing one thing and another agency something else, and the landowner and the private citizen are caught in the middle," she added.

The 23-page report offers dozens of recommendations on addressing community growth, land conservation, regulatory reform, resources, and water. It generally favors incentives over regulation.

Solutions in the report varied. Some advised streamlining the appeals process for environmental permits, while others encourageda return to traditional neighborhoods, such as those in downtown Charleston. Fred Lincoln, of the Wando Concerned Citizen's Committee, said the report advocates protections for rural black communities that are disappearing in the face of higher property taxes and encroaching industry and development.

It advocates that communities that have served as "ancestral habitation" for more than 100 years be designated as historic areas, and that governments "respect this designation" when they look to buy land.

"Those communities are the ones that look like South Carolina," Lincoln said. "Those new subdivisions don't."

For schools, the report advocates relaxing the current acreage and space requirements for new construction. Doing so would allow smaller, community-oriented schools to come back into being as opposed to large mega-high schools.

"New public schools in South Carolina are increasingly massive facilities far removed from the communities they serve," the report said. "Some students spend more time on buses than they do with their families."

The committee recommended a limit of 500 students at elementary schools, 700 students at middle schools and 900 students at high schools.

Panel member Dana Beach of the S.C. Coastal Conservation League said the recommendations would go a long way toward addressing development in areas like Mount Pleasant, and it would require growing towns to achieve maximum development inside their borders before spilling into untouched areas.

"Public entities should plan where they build and only build where they plan," the report said.

The task force also suggested creating a model ordinance that counties and zoning boards could use to encourage tight-knit neighborhoods instead of sprawling suburban developments.

The group also wants to remove some levels of appeals for permits issued by the Department of Health and Environmental Control and Office of Coastal Resources Management.

Currently, an administrative law judge holds a hearing before these agencies can hear an appeal. The task force wants legislators to allow appeals to start directly at the circuit court level.

Panel members included conservationists, businessmen and real estate executives, and their ideas were as diverse as their backgrounds.

Sanford saw the report for the first time this week and will review the recommendations before deciding how much he will endorse.

Recommendations

-- Back restoration and construction of smaller community-based schools over new construction of large remote schools.

-- Let highway system maintenance take precedence over new roads.

-- Protect home and automobile buyers from predatory lending practices.

-- Provide incentives for the construction and revitalization of traditional neighborhoods.

-- Increase funding for the South Carolina Conservation Bank.

-- Support farmland protection initiatives.

-- Streamline agencies, consolidate permitting processes, eliminate wasteful appeals.

-- Provide property owners and local governments more flexibility to mediate zoning disputes.

-- Develop "compacts" with North Carolina and Georgia to better manage mutual water resources.

-- Encourage public transportation systems in the state's metro areas.

The Associated Press ontributed to this report.