TEGA CAY--Residents will get the chance to air concerns and comments about the proposed Wal-Mart on Monday, July 5 during a special Tega Cay City Council meeting, starting at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

City officials had canceled a closed-door city council meeting scheduled for this past Monday.

"Upon further reflection we decided it would be better to hold an open session with all the facts," said City Manager Grant Duffield.

This meeting will replace a public hearing that had been tentatively set for Saturday, July 10.

"I wish we could get more than one week's notice on this," said Teri Ackerman, spokesperson for a group of residents organizing against Wal-Mart.

Over the last few weeks Ackerman and other residents have been collecting signatures on petitions at some area retailers like Lowe's Foods, Fite's Hardware and Food Lion. On the petition, people can indicate whether they support a 203,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for a 30-acre site on the future Stonecrest Boulevard, across from Tara Plantation.

Nearly 90 percent of those signing the petitions oppose the proposed Wal-Mart, which would anchor Stonecrest's commercial development and provide the peninsula city with its first business district.

Out of 253 signatures collected as of last Friday, Ackerman said, only 27 have been in favor of the giant retailer.

Ackerman and her group said the harm that could be created by the Wal-Mart outweighs the benefits, but they want to hear what the developer and others think during the upcoming meeting July 5.

"We're not fighting development," Ackerman said. "That land is going to be developed, and we would strive for something of high quality that adds value to the community."

"Wal-Mart says they provide jobs, services and products communities need. We don't need their jobs. The services we've got and the products we can get," Ackerman said.

The proposed Wal-Mart has yet to come before the Tega Cay Planning Commission for its consideration. That is expected sometime next month.

Developer Bryan Tuttle of the Tuttle Co. will be at the July 5 meeting with a site plan and a preliminary drawing for the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Tuttle won't make a presentation, but he will be there to answer questions, said Skip Tuttle of the Tuttle Co.

"There will definitely be an increase in traffic with a commercial center of this size," Tuttle said about some residents' concerns about traffic. "We have a five-lane highway leading to an eight-lane interstate, and the layout of Stonecrest itself together will be more than adequate to handle it, though."

For more
Plans are underway for a 400-home subdivision on Gold Hill Road, not far from the proposed Wal-Mart. For more, turn to page 7A.