Mount Pleasant homeowners tell “big box” developer: Not in my backyard

MOUNT PLEASANT — Lush, green yards slope to a pastoral view of water and woods behind houses on Babington Way in Wando Lakes.

“We have bald eagles back here,” resident Amy Hardee said. “This is one of the last green spaces that we have in this part of Mount Pleasant. It’s a shame to develop it in such a vast way,” she said.

The developer, Ben Henrich, came to Damon and Jamie Meek’s Babington Way home today to discuss his plans for a nearby shopping center. Jamie Meek said it was only 273 feet from her house to a discount shopping club that would be part of a “big box” store center Henrich envisions on 40 acres.

“I think he (Henrich) has done a lot of work. It’s a great plan. I’m just not sure it’s a great spot,” she said.

Henrich told the residents that the location, known as the Gregg Tract, is one of the most desirable places in the region for developers. It is across from Towne Centre, the heart of shopping in Mount Pleasant.

In response to residents’ concerns, Henrich said three “big box” stores have been pulled back from the property line as far as possible and that extra buffering has been added in the form of mature trees and an eight-foot-tall fence. Lighting will be “straight down” at a 90 degree angle and trucks will not unload merchandise late at night, he said.

“We’ve really tried to consider what you are seeing out your back window. It’s important to us to do the best that we can with buffering,” he said.

Read more in tomorrow’s print editions.