Roughly 30 years ago, Charleston County landed a 100-year lease on about 2 acres of beachfront property on Kiawah Island and created Beachwalker Park. At the time, 100 years seemed like forever. Now, with Kiawah's developers planning to build 50 homes next to Beachwalker Park, county park officials hope someday to make that public access permanent. "That's my goal," said Thomas O'Rourke, executive director of the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission, adding that his agency has held informal talks with Kiawah Development Partners about the issue for five years. While the county still has about 70 years to go on its lease, its Beachwalker Park will be affected by Kiawah Development Partners' plans to build homes on a 120-acre spit on the island's southwestern tip. To access that land, developers would have to build a road through the park's parking area, O'Rourke said, adding that the developers have an easement allowing them to do so. Asked if the county was considering buying the undeveloped spit, O'Rouke said, "That would be very expensive, and it's certainly not for sale." He added that Kiawah's developers have been "amazing to work with." Leonard Long of Kiawah Development Partners said the company plans to develop 50 homes on 20 acres and put much of the rest of the land in a conservation easement to protect it from further development. He said the company has firm plans to go forward. To further the development, Kiawah Development Partners recently asked U.S. Rep. Henry Brown to introduce a bill to make it possible for future home- owners to qualify for federally subsidized flood insurance. The land is in a barrier island protection zone that prohibits the federal government from spending money on flood insurance and beach renourishment projects. Conservation groups call the bill a break for the wealthy at the expense of taxpayers and the environment. The company also is seeking permits to build a half-mile concrete revetment on the Kiawah River not far from the county park's parking area. That project would stop the river from eating into the banks and eventually cutting through to the beach, essentially turning the spit into an island. Leslie Sautter, a College of Charleston geology professor, said that Kiawah steadily accumulates sand on the island's southwestern tip but that major storms have cut through the spit to the Kiawah River numerous times in the last two centuries. "It is a terribly fragile area, similar to the spit on Pawleys (Island) that was truncated by Hugo," she said.

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