Hope Mills leaders give green light for new Walmart
HOPE MILLS, N.C. (WTVD) -- Town leaders in Hope Mills have given their okay for another Walmart to come to their town.
In a split vote Wednesday night, town commissioners approved rezoning 11 acres around the Elk Road Legion Road intersection. That's where Walmart wants to build one of their smaller Neighborhood Market grocery stores.
For weeks, opponents of the plan tried to convince town leaders the deal was no good for their town. Walmart would be on an already heavily congested road. They argued there are more than 3,000 children in surrounding schools and daycares. They said a new Walmart would add more traffic, crime and danger for those kids.
"They [the children] will run out into traffic, and if there happens to be a fast food restaurant over there, they are going to run over there. They will be back and forth across the road," said Doris Luther, a lifelong resident and former town board member.
Luther says she lives in another Hope Mills neighborhood that went downhill when the zoning was changed from residential to commercial.
"I don't have a home anymore, I have nine vacant houses around me that were homes, now they are being vandalized, I have vagrants living next door to me," she said.
Wednesday night's vote was 3-2, and several commissioners said it was a tough decision.
"This has been one of the hardest cases that I have been through," said town commissioner Bob Gorman.
Sheila Hanrick one the property owners said it is been an up and down fight.
"This land has been in our family since 1869. Hope Mills is our hometown. We love it and never wanted to do anything that was so controversial," she said.
The case has also been divisive - at times, pitting neighbor against neighbor.
"So all the controversy that we had - the pros and the cons, and the division of a town - I think it was terrible that we acted like this," said town board member Pat Edwards.
In an email statement, a Walmart Spokesman said the company was pleased with the vote, and said their smaller Neighborhood Market grocery store would be a good fit in the location.
Meanwhile the property owners will be moving on and very soon. They say by Thanksgiving they have to be off the property that's been in their family for more than 100 years. Coming to the conclusion that progress can be a two-edged sword.
