James Island, S.C.  Residents Rally Against Wal-Mart

Group Opposes Super Wal-Mart [WCBD-TV (Charleston, S.C.)]

James Island residents are making their voice heard about plans for a new Super Wal-Mart on Folly Road. The group “Islanders for Responsible Expansion” formed just 11 days ago in opposition to the Super Wal-Mart.

Tuesday night they drew more than 200 people to a meeting to learn more about the project and how they can stop it.

Many folks like James Island just the way it is....without a Super Wal-Mart.

“We’ve seen the growth and we’re tired of it,” said Robert and Cindy Blanton after the meeting. “Honestly we don’t need another grocery store. We’re right off Camp Road and we can get on our bikes and literally ride to any grocery store.”

Wal-mart wants to build a new super center with a grocery store next to its current building on Folly Road. It would then turn the existing store into a parking lot. To do that, the company would first have to fill three acres of wetlands and cut down 30 trees.

Wal-Mart says the new super center will create about 200 jobs and the company would purchase about ten acres of land to give to the city of Charleston as a protected area. Still it’s not a strong enough argument to convince the people who live there.

“This will siphon off business from other business. People will lose their jobs,” said Patricia Damico who started the group less than two weeks ago.

“Let’s just not have anything. Let’s just keep it the wetlands because what ever they do they have to fill in the wetlands and our wetlands are precious to James Island.”

Still some shoppers welcome the upgrade and cheaper groceries.

“I think it would benefit in a lot of ways, groceries and prescriptions and all kinds of things,” said dedicated Wal-mart shopper Jean Craven outside the Folly Road store.

Here’s what’s next:

Wal-Mart will still have to purchase the land from the city and request a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to fill-in the wetlands. The company says it plans to hold several more meetings with the city and residents for more input on the project.

To sign an online petition against the project click: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/islanders-for-responsible-expansion

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Click Here for a Printer-Friendly Version