SOUTH CAROLINA SITE FIGHT: RILED RESIDENTS

Incoming Wal-Mart Supercenter riles residents [Myrtle Beach Sun-News]

A Wal-Mart Supercenter at the Garden City Beach Connector and U.S. 17 Business plans to open in fall 2008, company officials said Wednesday, and the project is already facing some opposition from residents.

The company submitted plans to the Horry County planning department in April. Those plans didn’t ask for variances, which could require the OK from a county board, so the project only needs the county’s staff approval. That process could take several months, according to county planners.

The 184,109-square-foot retail center will include a grocery area, a garden center and a tire lube express, said Eric Brewer of Wal-Mart’s public affairs department.

The company will also lease out space in the front of the store, likely to a restaurant, salon, bank or optical center, Brewer said. Those leases will probably be signed six to eight months before the store opens, he said.

Several community members say they hope to start grass-roots campaigns to prevent the center from being built in such a congested area. They say they’ve been exploring whether petition drives or calls to county officials could stop the development.

“That’s a dangerous place because of the traffic,” said Murrells Inlet resident Jo Leipold. “How can the county do that without a public hearing? I don’t see why the community doesn’t stop it.”

Resident Debbie Bednar agrees.

“One of my major concerns, along with many, many people, is the traffic issues at the intersections involved,” she said. “Unless there are major road renovations in the plan, I cannot fathom the traffic coming off the ocean from the Garden City Point, Garden City Pier areas” to U.S. 17 Business.

Brewer said the company is responding to the demand that’s already there for the store.

“The No. 1 thing for folks to understand is when we put in a new center, that’s to capture existing traffic,” he said.

The company will work with state and local officials to create the best traffic plans possible, he said.

The building will be between Jamestown Drive and the Garden City Beach Connector, beside Wild Wings and the Krispy Kreme. It is unclear whether Wal-Mart will replace a vacant building or build on vacant land at the site.

Wal-Mart has five locations in Horry County, one in Georgetown County and three in Brunswick County, N.C.

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Thursday, June 07, 2007

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