Creating Space for What Comes Next on St. Helena

Sometimes conservation looks like marshes and longleaf forests. Sometimes it looks like protecting a view, a public access point, or a place where a community can still recognize itself years from now. 

This spring, Open Land Trust helped secure just under 10 acres at the intersection of Sea Island Parkway and Polowana Road on St. Helena Island. Not because this land is headed toward conservation in the traditional sense. It isn't. 

This property is the last large undeveloped tract within the Corners Community, the area identified for community-serving commercial growth and economic activity on St. Helena. Like many places across the Lowcountry, its future was never really about whether it would change. It was about how. 

When a previous contract for the property ended and the land was poised to be sold to a national retailer, a partnership of St. Helena residents, nonprofits, and community organizations had a different idea: create time and space for the community to explore what comes next. 

That is where Open Land Trust came in. 

We are serving as a temporary bridge holder for the property while a broader community process unfolds. No permanent decisions have been made. Instead, this moment creates an opportunity for thoughtful planning and community-driven solutions about what belongs at one of the most visible intersections on St. Helena. 

A community-driven feasibility study is being led by MOA Architecture, with funding provided by Coastal Community Foundation. Public meetings and stakeholder engagement will continue through August, ensuring that residents have the opportunity to help shape what comes next. 

Importantly, this vision is not a departure from the community's long-held aspirations for St. Helena. It is consistent with Beaufort County's 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for protecting culturally significant places while encouraging small-scale, locally rooted economic opportunities within the Corners Community. The plan recognizes that preserving what makes St. Helena special and supporting a thriving local economy are not competing priorities. In fact, they depend on one another. 

Conservation has always required creativity. 

Fifty-five years ago, three people saw a for-sale sign on Beaufort's Bay Street Bluff and decided they couldn't stand by and watch the character of their community disappear. They borrowed $10,000, not knowing exactly how they would repay it, because they believed some places are worth taking a chance on. 

That willingness to act created and shaped who we are as an organization. 

Over the years, we have protected more than 38,000 acres across seven counties, safeguarding farms, forests, marshes, wildlife habitat, waterways, and working lands. 

But conservation has never only been about acreage. It has always been about people and place, too. 

We believe protecting the culture, character, and sense of place that make communities special matters just as much as protecting the landscapes around them. We also believe the best solutions happen when communities have the time, information, and support needed to shape their own future. 

Land protection takes many forms. 

Sometimes it means permanently protecting thousands of acres of marsh and maritime forest. Sometimes it means creating room for a community conversation before an opportunity disappears. 

For now, that is our role: creating space for thoughtful next steps and a community-centered outcome that honors the history, culture, and character of this special place while supporting economic opportunity for generations to come. 

To learn more about the feasibility study, upcoming public meetings, and opportunities to participate in the process, visit Coastal Community Foundation's website.