- The S.C. Office of Resilience and Open Space Institute plan to purchase and preserve the White Tract, a piece of land bordering the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, opposed by conservation groups due to plans for a septic tank-dependent housing development by Pulte Homes LLC.
AWENDAW — The S.C. Office of Resilience and Open Space Institute want to purchase and preserve a controversial piece of privately owned land on the border of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.
For years, Georgia-based Pulte Homes LLC has planned to build about 200 septic tank-dependent homes on land that pushes up against the refuge. The development on the so-called White Tract is opposed by conservation groups, who worry that the subdivision would pollute Cape Romain.
The Open Space Institute aims to purchase about 206 acres, encompassing the entire tract, with an estimated $17 million in funding from the Resilience Office. The land would be held for “an interim period” by the Open Space Institute and would eventually be transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion in the refuge, per an agenda item…