What will Daniel Island’s new riverfront park look like?

With 115 acres of land secured by Berkeley County to make way for a riverfront park, what exactly will the recreational area look like? 

The property, known as the North Island Tract, sits along the Cooper River on the island’s northwestern side, nestled behind a row of apartment buildings at the end of Seven Farms Drive. Berkeley County purchased the parcel in June 2024 from the South Carolina Ports Authority for roughly $4 million and immediately earmarked it for conservation. 

“The closing on the North Island is complete,” Berkeley County Councilman Jarrod Brooks said. “The county is in the beginning stages of planning and design.” 

Brooks, who represents Daniel Island and parts of Goose Creek, said the park will be maintained as a passive riverfront space, highlighting wetlands, wildlife, and "the unique features of the property's waterfront, undisturbed nature, and ponds." 

Specific features have not yet been decided, but ideas include walking trails, boardwalks, and a potential pier – amenities that will be shaped by suggestions from county taxpayers. 

“Those elements have been discussed in informal conversations leading up to the purchase,” Berkeley County public information officer Jenna-Ley Walls said. “They’ll be worked out through the master planning process, informed by community feedback. Any firm hired to create the park’s master plan will hold public input sessions." 

While no formal timeline is in place for public outreach, groundbreaking, or completion, Brooks said he anticipates the park will eventually complement Daniel Island’s existing green spaces. “Daniel Island is blessed with miles of trails, ponds, and recreation facilities,” he said. “The North Island Tract will add to that legacy." 

Former Berkeley councilman Josh Whitley, who helped secure the purchase of the land before leaving office in December of 2024, said, “It was incredibly significant that the county’s first acquisition under the Greenbelt program was this property, which was likely to be developed with more rooftops." 

The Berkeley County Greenbelt program was commissioned, in part, to identify privately- and publicly-owned land that could be purchased by the county for preservation and conservation. 

“Now, it will be a county park indefinitely and eventually accessible to the public at large,” Whitley said. 

Greenbelt commissioner Tory Sullivan said scheduling public discussions prior to the park's concept and design is a number one priority and is not being overlooked, noting that Berkeley County leaders advised him that they are first "focusing on acquiring strategic properties (for the Greenbelt program) as quickly as they can to be able to buy them as affordably as they can as prices for real estate keep escalating." 

Once the preservation project does get underway, state leaders said it will be worth the wait. 

“South Carolina Ports has worked carefully over the years with Berkeley County and the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to preserve 2.5 miles of shoreline along the Cooper River," said South Carolina Ports Authority interim president Phil Padgett, adding it will be "great to see the county transform this portion of the North Island Tract into accessible greenspace.”