No Tow Zone

Warner “Turky” Burky has gone back to the drawing board to satisfy city planners and concerned neighbors in hopes of opening a new tow-yard within Charleston City limits.
Last week, Burky petitioned the city’s planning commission to approve the annexation of a large, three-parcel lot he purchased along Savannah Highway close to the intersection with Wappoo Drive into the city.
The petition also requested the commission to recommend to City Council grant him a zoning designation that would allow him to locate and run his Turky’s towing company yard on that lot.
The lot in question is also located next to a memorial for the Charleston 9 fallen firefighters, and runs all the way through to a bordering street, Pebble Road, and contains several existing automotive garages.
But the commission voted 4-2 against the recommendation, largely, it appears, because of Burky’s desire to use a back gate that empties onto Pebble Road.
Burky did not waiver, and lost.
More than three dozen neighborhood residents lined up to voice concern and opposition to the quiet, kid-strewn street becoming a thoroughfare for massive tow-trucks hauling vehicles.
Local realtor and county planning commission member Charlie Smith lives a few blocks away from the lot, which sits within shouting distance from the former Limehouse vegetable shed he fought unsuccessfully earlier this year to save from demolition.
Smith helped stir up opposition to the location. After the vote, Smith said it was heartwarming to see West Ashley turn out. “That isn’t what usually happens,” says Smith. “From all accounts, (West Ashley) will be a controlling factor in the mayor’s race, and by standing up for ourselves, any candidate for mayor best be aware of that.”
City staff said that Burky could, if he desired, have his property remain in the county and open his planned auto center, where he would also sell oddity cars, like vintage Mini Coopers.
City planners and councilmen had worked and negotiated with Burky in recent weeks to guide the development of the property, which most agree had become a vacant eyesore in recent years.
City Councilman Bill Moody, whose district includes the lot, directed staff to give Burky guidelines regarding beautification of the site in order for it to be considered for annexation.
Those guidelines included substantial fencing along the sides facing the memorial park and Pebble Road, as well as landscaping along the frontage on Savannah Highway.
Moody said this week that Burky’s plans to occasionally use the back gate when traffic was busiest along the highway was a definite roadblock to annexation.
“When isn’t Savannah Highway busy,” Moody asked.
John Tecklenberg, Burky’s realtor and a mayoral candidate, met with his client after the no-vote.
He said that Burky was concerned that if he ceded use of the back gate, he would lose legal access to Pebble Road, driving down its future value if he decided to subdivide or sell at a later date.
But after a day to cool down and consult with experts, Tecklenberg said he was able to convince his client he could close the Pebble Road gate to his tow trucks, and still retain legal ownership of the gate and its future appropriate uses.
Tecklenberg said that his client wants his business, currently located on James Island, to be part of the city, as he has been a fixture in the city for years prior to his move to James Island.
Last year, Burky sold what had been his location since the early ‘90s near the corner of Folly and Albemarle roads in the shadow of an onramp linking St. Andrews Boulevard to the Connector bridge into downtown and James Island.
Tecklenberg said he “heard the concerns of the neighborhood loud and clear, and was able to advise Mr. Burky that the requests that he not use Pebble Road for truck access were most fair and reasonable.”
Friday, Burky released a statement saying, in part, that Pebble Road had become a traffic short cut that city planners and law enforcement hadn’t adequately addressed. He went onto “challenge” the city to address the issue with sidewalks.
Additionally, Burky, along with his general manager daughter, Allison Boone, pledged not to use the back gate for “tow truck access,” and said he would grant the city a no-cost easement to construct a sidewalk along the part of his lot that runs alongside Pebble Road.
The matter could go before City Council for further discussion, debate, and a potential vote as early as the second Tuesday of next month.