The inability of a conservation group to purchase Morris Island is regrettable, but it should not mean that the uninhabited barrier island will be largely developed as a resort. The island is viewed as a natural resource management area by the Charleston County land-use regulations and, as such, is eligible for development of one unit per 25 acres.
With some 60 acres of high ground, that would limit the island to two dwellings. The county should allow no more.
The county will certainly be asked for more. The prospective developer hopes to build 20 houses on the island, which is accessible by water only.
The island's acquisition was sought last year by the Trust for Public Land, but an option lapsed before federal funds were approved for its purchase. The organization's local spokesman said it was unable to obtain a renewal of the option. Meanwhile, Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., obtained $4 million in federal funding for the island in February. The Trust for Public Land would have turned over ownership of the island to the state Department of Natural Resources, had the purchase been finalized.
Morris Island was the site of a famous battle in July 1863, when a regiment of free black soldiers, the Massachusetts 54th, stormed Battery Wagner in one of the state's bloodiest Civil War battles. The bravery they exhibited in the desperate, unsuccessful assault on the fort has become legendary.
The developer's contention that the island's two Civil War forts are now offshore due to erosion is not a persuasive reason to be complacent about its pending development. The island has been listed as one of the 25 most endangered battlegrounds by the Civil War Preservation Trust. And officials at Fort Sumter are disturbed by the prospect of development. "When you stand at the fort and face toward the ocean, Morris Island looks similar to what it would have looked like 140 years ago, during the Civil War," Fort Sumter Superintendent John Tucker told our reporter.
If the island can't be preserved wholly for historical and conservation purposes, Charleston County should be loath to allow it to be developed at a level 10 times greater than current zoning permits. Morris Island's integrity should be maintained, to the extent possible, for its historical associations and as a rare, unsullied bit of habitat in the center of what has become largely an urban area.
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