An ordinance that could provide extra protection to Shaw Air Force Base and conserve land right next to the base to benefit the environment was unanimously approved on first reading by Sumter City Council during the Dec. 19 meeting.
If the ordinance is approved on second reading, the city will have granted a conservation easement on land next to the base to a nonprofit called The Congaree Land Trust.
An easement, in short, is not a transfer of ownership, but rather a right to utilize someone else's land for a specific purpose.
The Congaree Land Trust promotes voluntary conservation of land (whether natural, scenic, for farming, etc.), and according to its website, more than 90,000 acres of land in the South Carolina Midlands have been conserved under this organization.
So, the city of Sumter owns the land that may go under easement next to Shaw, but The Congaree Land Trust, if approved by city council on second reading, will enter into an agreement with the city to help conserve the land through a conservation easement, and this decision could help protect Shaw and benefit the environment.
More specifically, this decision would protect Shaw from any future private development on this land which is in its immediate vicinity.
The city purchased the land, which is just under 1,000 acres, through a state grant, and a large portion of it will be under easement with the nonprofit, while other parts of it are being designated for future base extension, City Manager Deron McCormick told city council.
So in short, the city purchased just under 1,000 acres next to th base (and this land has also been known as Carter Farm) using state funding, and some of it will remain in a natural state protected under this potential agreement with The Congaree Land Trust, and some of it will be used in the future to expand the base, but all of the land, if this ordinance is granted, will help to protect Shaw.
"We do this to protect the base but also to encourage a healthy environment in perpetuity as long as this land is owned by the city," McCormick told council. "The community continues to work to protect not only land owners, but the base and its operations into the future, so this is a pretty important move."
Municipalities entering into conservation easements covering land adjacent to military installations is not unheard of.
The Department of Defense actually has a program in place to promote this type of decision called the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI).
"The REPI Program secures land adjacent to military bases to serve as buffers to development, enhance recreational access, protect at-risk species and improve resistance to impacts from climate change and severe weather events," according to the department's website.
Whether this conservation easement comes to pass will be determined during either the Jan. 2, 2024, Sumter City Council meeting or the Jan. 16 one.
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