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Lowe’s hits glitches in North Charleston
By Molly Parker
Staff Writer
A Lowe’s Home Improvement store opens somewhere in the nation roughly every three days, but concerned residents are asking the hardware giant to take its time in building a second store in North Charleston.
Augusta, Ga.-based Hull Storey Retail Group, Lowe’s development company, appeared before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals Sept. 4 asking for myriad variance requests for signage, lighting and parking for the new store it plans to build on a 276-acre parcel near the intersection of Dorchester Road and Wescott Boulevard.
After several residents complained to the board that they lacked time to properly vet the building proposal, Hull Storey Vice President of Development Kendal Jones agreed to postpone her company’s requests until a later meeting.
The board could not require Hull Storey to negotiate with its would-be neighbors, but ZBA Chairman Timothy Wiand urged the company to do so.
“I’m sure you guys want to be the best neighbors you can be,” Wiand said.
Lowe’s is looking to build a 140,013-square-foot building near a cluster of residential neighborhoods on Dorchester Road, prompting concerns from the people who live there about traffic and aesthetics.
Having filed the proper paperwork in a timely manner, Jones seemed reluctant at first to wait until a later ZBA meeting for a decision on the proposed variances.
“My charge is always to move as quickly as possible, and they’re always looking to get it open as fast as possible,” Jones said to the board, noting that “in most communities you deal with (specific objections) at the meeting.”
Jones was quickly informed that the neighborhoods around the planned construction site cannot be summed up as “most communities.” Years ago, residents braced themselves for the realization that Dorchester Road was likely to become North Charleston’s next booming corridor, and in 2000 formed an alliance of area subdivisions—the Dorchester Corridor Coalition of Neighborhoods—aimed at ensuring responsible growth. That coalition includes neighborhoods such as King’s Grant, Coosaw Creek, Whitehall and River Oaks.
“This area (Hull Storey) is representing, it’s a really fast-growing neighborhood,” Wiand said.
“Every month we’re hit by more development and more development. (Residents) want good neighbors and businesses to grow this city. All they’re really asking is for a little time to sit with them and say, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’”
Sid Straw, a resident of the nearby Whitehall subdivision and past president of the property owners association, said he doesn’t object to Lowe’s; it’s one of his favorite stores. But like other residents, he wants to make sure it is built to the neighborhoods’ specifications so that Dorchester Road doesn’t begin to look like the retail-clustered Rivers Avenue.
“The question is, what do you do to preserve the tranquility associated with a residential area when you create a business that has high traffic, a big box in particular?” he said.
James Till, president of the nearby Wescott Plantation Homeowners Association, said Lowe’s, for instance, can blend into the neighborhood by landscaping in such a way that the parking lot is hidden from view from the road and nearby subdivisions.
The planned site of the Lowe’s store is within a district zoned for general business, so there’s little the city could do to stop the construction as long as the building meets city codes, said North Charleston Planning Director Bill Gore.
However, Hull Storey, on behalf of Lowe’s, is requesting a number of exceptions to the rules, prompting the company’s appearance before the zoning board.
There was no debate at the meeting, but Gore read the requests and city recommendations to aid the discussions between the developer and neighbors.
Among them, Lowe’s seeks to:
• Provide 119 fewer spaces than the city requires. North Charleston requires one off-street parking space for every 200 square feet of store space. Lowe’s would provide one space every 250 square feet of store space. City staff recommended approval after the company provided a report showing average parking needs at similar-size stores nationwide.
• Increase the amount of wall signage allowed from 100 square feet to 485.44 square feet, so that the store could advertise its main entrance, garden center and lumberyard. City staff recommended approval.
• Erect 25-foot-high light poles for the parking lot, as opposed to the 18-foot poles allowed in that area under city zoning regulations. The store would have to install 71 poles to properly light the lot, as opposed to 42. City staff recommended denial, saying the store is simply attempting to avoid excess costs.
• Allow parking in the front of the building as opposed to the back as is required in the Dorchester Overlay District that the site sits within. Otherwise, customers would have to walk 360 feet from behind the building to reach the main entrance. The aim of the requirement is to hide parking lots and maintain a rural feel in the neighborhood. City staff recommended denial of the request.
If built, this will be the second Lowe’s in North Charleston.
Molly Parker is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her directly at mparker@charlestonbusiness.com.
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