FORT MILL TOWNSHIP--A majority of residents favor Wal-Mart building a supercenter, according to an independent poll conducted by the Fort Mill Times Friday.

The poll found 53.3 percent - 834 of 1,564 Fort Mill and Tega Cay residents polled - support the Wal-Mart deal being proposed by The Tuttle Co. for Stonecrest, a 122-acre mixed-use development off Dam Road and Hwy. 160 West. In the poll 37.7 percent, 589 residents, said they opposed the Wal-Mart deal. Nine percent, 141 people, said they remain undecided.

But the poll results mask striking differences between Fort Mill and Tega Cay residents' opinions about the controversial deal.

Tega Cay residents were evenly divided over the issue: 46.7 percent were in favor and 43.3 percent were opposed. And 10 percent of Tega Cay residents said they were undecided - more than any other area of the township.

Residents who live outside of Tega Cay, but west of I-77 in the 29708 ZIP code, ex-pressed the strongest opposition to the deal: 52.9 percent were against it, and 40.3 percent were in favor of it.

However, in Fort Mill an overwhelming majority said they supported the Wal-Mart deal: 61 percent in favor to 29.3 percent against.

Do you want a Wal-Mart in Tega Cay?
A majority of Fort Mill Township residents polled favor Wal-Mart coming here, but Fort Mill and Tega Cay residents’ opinions differ, with Fort Mill residents much more strongly in favor of Wal-Mart than people living in or around Tega Cay:
About the poll
The Fort Mill Times independently polled township residents by telephone Friday, Aug. 27. The group randomly sampled was the Fort Mill Times database of 8,347 current or former local subscribers, and 1,564 valid responses were recorded. Residents were asked whether they support or oppose the proposed Wal-Mart supercenter off Hwy. 160 West, or whether they were undecided. Overall margin of error is ±2.33%. (For each subgroup, margin of error is: ±3.09% for Fort Mill, ±5.99% for Tega Cay, and ±4.57% for the western side of the township.)

Some of the 240 Tega Cay residents who took part in the poll said they do not want a big box in Tega Cay.

"I don't believe a big box merchandiser needs to be sitting across the street from a residential neighborhood," one resident said. "It will kill their property values."

"I won't shop there if they come. Unfortunately, I think it's going to be shoved down our throats," she added.

Another resident said she doesn't want the traffic or the people a Wal-Mart would draw.

"I like Wal-Mart, I shop at Wal-Mart. I just don't want it in my backyard," she said.

But others said they support the Wal-Mart deal because they believe Wal-Mart is preferable to apartments - the swap Stonecrest's owner and developer are offering if the Tega Cay City Council signs off on the Wal-Mart deal.

"I live in Tega Cay and I don't want 300 some apartments in Tega Cay," Jim Galmish said. "If I can get less people and less trailers, I'm all for it."

Some residents on the west side of the township said they are looking forward to the convenience of having a Wal-Mart in Tega Cay.

"I don't shop at the Rock Hill Wal-Mart or the one on [Hwy.] 49 as much as I'd like to because it's inconvenient," one resident said.

But others disagreed.

"I think it being so close to the schools would be a nightmare," Bridget Tkacik said. "Just for the safety of our kids, it should go elsewhere."

Another resident said she's disturbed by the fast pace and scale of development in Fort Mill Township. She grew up in Fort Mill and has seen it change a lot, and she is concerned about the amount of traffic a big box like Wal-Mart would create.

"I lived in Charlotte, but I moved back to get away from the traffic and development," she said.

Some residents living in Fort Mill and the eastern part of the township said they favor the Wal-Mart, because of the convenience.

"I'd like it even though I know most of my friends wouldn't," said one resident who lives in the eastern part of the township. She is looking forward to the convenience of a Wal-Mart in Tega Cay.

"It would be very close to me, only a few blocks up the street," she said.

Resident Tyler McGalliard also mentioned the convenience of the central location.

"We live over that way and would like to have one because we like to shop there," McGalliard said.

But not everyone in Fort Mill is in favor of a Wal-Mart.

"We haven't been to a Wal-Mart in years," one resident said. "If we need to shop, we go to the Carolina Place Mall."

She said she doesn't care whether the supercenter is built, but she is opposed to it because she worries it would hurt the property values of the residents who live nearby the site.