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MeadWestvaco steers plan for former timber land
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Paper manufacturing giant MeadWestvaco wants the public to be part of the planning process for 72,000 pristine acres it owns along the Edisto River, straddling Charleston and Dorchester counties.
Company officials today announced long-term plans to develop some of the land, which is referred to as East Edisto, while keeping some of it in conservation easements in order to protect and preserve an area that is both historically and environmentally significant.
MeadWestvaco’s Chairman and CEO John A. Luke Jr. said the company wants to be part of the area’s growth solution.
“We believe that our planning process can contribute to the region’s need for growth and infrastructure management, balancing economic vitality with the preservation of what’s best about the Lowcountry,” Luke said.
The land has been in MeadWestvaco’s charge since the 1920s, but the paper company needs less land now for fiber production as a result of technological advances at mills as well as genetic and horticultural advances in timber production.
Large real estate investment trusts and other entities also have gotten into the timber business in recent years, diminishing the need for paper companies to own land.
While MeadWestvaco plans to divest about 300,000 acres it owns in Alabama, Georgia and West Virginia, it wants to hold on to its property in South Carolina for the long term, said Jim Hill, the company’s vice president of land sales and acquisitions.
“We feel this is the right thing to do as opposed to selling it off,” Hill said. “We care about what happens to the land. We feel this process will allow us to be good stewards of the property.”
MeadWestvaco hopes to form agreements with Charleston and Dorchester counties to regulate activities on the properties as development plans move forward, Hill said. The company also intends to seek public input through a planning process that is estimated to take 12 to 18 months. The first public meeting will be scheduled sometime in June, and anyone interested in the plan can gather information online at http://www.eastedisto.com/.
MeadWestvaco is steering its planning efforts for East Edisto with EDAW Inc., a global master planning and design firm based in San Francisco. The paper company is also forming a new business unit, MeadWestvaco Land Management, to lead planning and development of the area, which Hill said could be ongoing for as long as 50 years.
The company’s objectives are to be a part of regional planning in the area while creating master-planned communities that include green spaces and recreational facilities, homes and schools, roads, businesses and other community needs.
“Sustainability is one of our core values,” Hill said. “We really want to be part of the solution to the growth challenges that the Lowcountry is wrestling with. Good planning brings value to the community. I think it really benefits the shareholders in that it will bring additional value.”
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