Residents of the Sherwood Forest neighborhood were shocked to wake up to the sound of construction equipment in full gear on the other side of Highway 17 this past Monday. They were even more shocked, however, when they found out that the contractor was there to install 300 new parking spots in the K-Mart shopping center.
“We put in the request about 30 years ago and it only got approved last week,” says lot owner Kenneth Kreeger.
The request originally went before the Council when the plans to build the K-Mart were approved. At the time, K-Mart representatives expected an average shopper volume of approximately 1,500 shoppers per hour. Since opening, however, that number has decreased slightly, but that hasn’t stopped Kreeger from going forward with the build.
“I got it in a contract that K-Mart will pay me $50 a month for each parking spot I can add to their lot, and that contract don’t run out until 2014, so I’m building them,” says Kreeger.
Since there’s no space to add the parking lots in front of K-Mart, Kreeger is building the new lots behind the big box shopping center, paving over about 100 yards of wetland and a confirmed Indian graveyard.
When asked about these apparently protected areas, Kreeger simply states, “I got a permit.”
The new lots are expected to be available for parking by the end of April.
Happy April Fools!
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