Another Belhaven land donation has been proposed to the county.

The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted to move forward in accepting a donation of 7.46 acres located at the southern corner of the intersection of West Main Street and N.C. Highway 99 South. The land is adjacent to what’s known as the Cooperage Tract, a 40-plus-acre parcel of land donated to the county earlier this year. Approximately 2.59 acres of the newest site is wetlands.

“Approximately 5 acres is up-land and therefore buildable,” said county planner Seth Laughlin.

The land is owned by Brantley C. Tillman ET AL, and Tillman first approached the county about donating the land in coordination with the Cooperage Tract, according to Laughlin.

Plans for part of the Cooperage Tract include a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission-built boat ramp with a parking area, for which the county will provide maintenance. Other proposed plans include commercial opportunities built around boat ramp traffic.

During discussion, commissioners weighed the benefit of accepting the donation, as both city and county tax revenues are decreased by the tax value of the land once it falls under county ownership.

“This is beginning to be a routine for the people of Belhaven to unload their property on the county,” Commissioner Gary Brinn said.

Commissioner Hood Richardson said the county should consider accepting the 7.5 acres, but hand it over to the Town of Belhaven.

“If we are to take this, I think we should donate it to the town to sell and build on,” Richardson said, adding that the action would give the town a chance to recoup some of its tax losses. “The most valuable land in Belhaven is the Cooperage Tract, which we now have.”

Tillman has told county officials that the land comes with a condition of being used “for the betterment of the people of Beaufort County and the citizens of Belhaven,” but it was unclear to commissioners whether that includes re-donating the land to the Town of Belhaven.

Commissioners voted to pay $1,700 for an environmental assessment of the land to determine whether it can be added to the larger tract’s brownfield application with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. Brownfield programs verify what actions are needed to make a past-contaminated site suitable for reuse. If the assessment is clear, commissioners will then move to accept the property, according to county Manager Brian Alligood.