Lowe’s, the nation’s number two building supply chain, suffered a significant defeat this week at the hands of residents of Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Here’s one of several reports we received from this small island community under attack: “Victory at last!!! Residents of Pawleys Island can breathe a sigh of relief. After 2 hours and 32 speakers (2 minutes each) the County Council for Georgetown County, SC, by a majority of 4 to 3, voted “NO” to Lowe’s for the rezoning variance of the 18+-acre lot on the Waccamaw Neck. A lot was against us. The final conflict was when South Carolina State Senator McGill (relative of the 18+ acre land-owner Charles McGill) began putting pressure on the swing vote member of the County Council to vote in favor of Lowe’s. We thought we were finished. But, our community worked hard together and did a tremendous amount of research and eventually triumphed. Lowe’s seemed to realize before the vote was initiated that they were done. They raced out of the 1000 seat auditorium so quickly I don’t believe their feet ever touched the ground. Let others in our situation know it can be done! With enough community support you can achieve anything! Flyers, e-mails, a constantly updated website, research, traffic reports, and door-to-door approaches made this tiny community become a giant fighting machine. We had group meetings and e-mails to organize our speeches and avoided repeating ourselves and going astray. Each of us touched on poignant topics and we managed to cover everything we needed to. Everyone was courteous, polite, and respectful to all Council Members. The bee and honey theory works best. We are aware that this victory made be short lived and Lowe’s may rear its ugly head again if they decide to sue the county, or put in for another form of a variance. One of the commercial landowners directly involved (on the profit end) already threatened a lawsuit if the council voted against Lowe’s. But we’re hoping that Lowe’s sees that County Council has spoken, as well as the people of Pawleys Island.”
For more background on Pawleys Island, search this database by the name of the community. Another big box store gets slam-dunked.
