LowcountrySunday, November 8
Awendaw's White Tract will be permanently protected after a settlement ends a decades-long dispute
The 5AM North Charleston team
A developer and several Lowcountry conservation groups have reached a settlement to permanently protect the 229-acre White Tract in Awendaw. Local groups announced the deal Nov. 6. The land sits on the edge of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. The planned neighborhood would have relied on septic tanks, which conservationists worried could leak wastewater into the refuge.
The White Tract by the numbers
- 229 acres
- now protected from development
- 200+
- homes the planned neighborhood would have included
- 100,000+
- birds migrate through the area every year
- 20 years
- of advocacy for protection
Sources: Live 5 News, Post and Courier
“It really is a place of global ecological significance.”
Pulte Home Company said in a statement that although the tract had received some of the necessary permits and approvals, it saw a chance for Open Space Institute to permanently preserve it.
The White Tract went from approved homes to a protected tract
- 2006The White Tract is approved for development, with some permits.
- Aug. 2026The deal becomes public in a Charleston County Council agenda item.
- Nov. 6Conservation groups announce the settlement.
- DecemberBoth parties will officially close on the agreement.
Sources: Live 5 News, Post and Courier
- Legal challengers: Friends of Coastal South Carolina, Charleston Waterkeeper, Coastal Conservation League
- Settlement ends their court challenges
- Eventually, the land would be folded into Cape Romain
Sources: Live 5 News, Post and Courier