‘It’s an affront’: Roll over for the beginning of the end for St. Helena Island | Opinion

Michael Allen is talked about in his retirement as the father of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park based in Beaufort.

In almost 38 years with the National Park Service, the native of Kingstree worked in the Lowcountry helping locals and visitors, then the nation and the world, to see a history that he says was hidden in plain sight.

That would be the story of the contributions of slaves to the wealth and culture of the Lowcountry. And the story of freedmen trying to become “free at last,” as the nation will contemplate again this week as it marks the birthdate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

So when Michael Allen speaks about things important to the descendants of slaves up and down the Southeast coast, Beaufort County should listen.

Allen didn’t hold back when he called me last week, and everyone needs to hear what he said.

He was upset with a proposal by Beaufort County to tinker with a special zoning designation that for almost a quarter of a century has stood to protect the land and culture of St. Helena Island, a large and still largely rural island off of Beaufort that is now being called the epicenter of the Gullah Geechee Corridor.

Allen dedicated his life to that cause.

And he sees the very Cultural Protection Overlay zoning district that the county wants to fiddle with as Exhibit A in how we as a society have gotten as far as we have in recognizing the contributions of Blacks in American history.

He sees the overlay district as a cutting-edge achievement by Beaufort County, and one that has been emulated elsewhere.

Primarily, he sees it as a document of mutual trust that is now being torpedoed.

Lost Trust

The overlay district was crafted with broad community input.

In so many words, it makes a very simple statement: We don’t want to be another Hilton Head.

It prohibits mainstays of a different place: gated communities and golf courses, for example.

But now a developer from Boston and an unnamed financial backer want to convert some 500 acres into a gated place that could include a nine-hole golf course, 10 docks, 66 homes and other residences, and a museum to showcase archaeological findings.

The county thinks if it allows this, it can strengthen the overlay district. It is afraid of being sued. That’s a good point, but the timing is squirrely. A county board unanimously voted down any change, but now it goes to the County Council.

Opponents – and there are many – think approving this would do the opposite: it would weaken protection the community worked so hard to gain.

Even arch-conservative Gov. Henry McMaster chimed in, saying he fears that changes to the overlay district “will signal ‘open season’ to other developers and create a domino effect on St. Helena Island and beyond.”

He’s right. We’ve seen it every day for 50 years. We’re not dazzled by the gushing promises of yet another developer.

But now over-development of every square inch of Beaufort and now Jasper counties – not to mention Charleston and Myrtle Beach – is in overdrive.

St. Helena doesn’t want to be that. The county said it would see that it didn’t happen. And now the county is blinking.

Like PAC-MAN

Allen said, “The county should stand up and say, ‘We will not entertain this. There will be no waffling. There will be no loopholes. This will not stand.”

He said the change would bring widespread change to the landscape.

“It would be like PAC-MAN, starting by eating at the fringes,” he said. It would be a “weaselly” way for the county that has been ahead of the curve in recognizing its complete history to “manufacture a technicality” that violates decades of good will.

“It’s sad,” Allen said. “Some of us know the process and the struggle it took to achieve this overlay district. It’s an affront to me to see it eroded and attacked.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2023 at 12:00 AM.