Over the past several months, the county has been weighing taking on a piece of property in the northwestern corner of Beaufort County. It’s known as the Voice of America site, though VOA has not broadcast from there for many years.

On the surface, it’s not a hard decision: the property is being surplussed by the federal government — it’s free. Why shouldn’t the county take it on?

Well, free isn’t quite free. In fact, free comes with a lot of conditions and expense. The property can only be used to improve the quality of life of Beaufort County residents. It can’t be sold — not even part of it. Right now, the National Park Service has decreed that 200 of its 2,000-plus acres can’t even be used for a solar farm — a short-term way to regain a bit of operating expenditures like the fact that the towers on the property would have to come down.

So it turns out, free isn’t really free, at all.

Now the county has gotten a letter from the Feds, which essentially says this: get a move on.

And they have — by coming up with a few partnerships that might very well put the property in county hands but hand the caretaking over to other entities that could use it for their needs.

Beaufort County Police Activities League President Al Powell said PAL is interested in using 75 to 100 acres to create a recreational STEM (Science, Math, Engineering and Technology) environment that the league’s students could use. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s Land Management Chief Erik Christofferson said Wildlife Resources is interested in managing an even bigger chunk of the land — 1,645 acres — to preserve the habitat of the Henslow sparrow (which, oddly enough, makes this area its only East Coast nesting place), as well as develop hiking trails, biking trails, horseback riding trails. They would likely even shoulder some of the cost of removing the towers on the property.

It’s admirable that the county has worked so diligently to find a way to accept this gift of land that comes with a price tag it really can’t afford. Commissioners have traveled to D.C. to enlist the support of North Carolina legislators to help them find a way to make it happen without breaking the bank.

But what’s even better is that the county has reached out to the community, has involved precisely the people and agencies who would benefit the most from access to the land. That’s the county doing the job it’s intended to do: looking out for the best interests of its residents.