If progress is a double-edged sword, then West Ashley’s Motor Mile is definitely a two-lane street.
Actually, it’s less than three miles long, starting at Baker Motor’s Maserati showroom, and running up past Lexus of Charleston’s lot to Church Creek. And, to be even more accurate, it’s got five lanes, including a middle lane for turning.
The Auto Mile has brought with it a substantial tax base; the ability to fill-in failed businesses’ spots; and employ thousands of locals, all while providing a needed spot for the region to buy cars.
But it has also brought congestion, a somewhat monolithic economic presence, competitive land-grabs between Baker and Hendrick Automotive Group, and complaints that the “mile’s” presence may hamper the future revitalization of West Ashley.
Mayor John Tecklenburg, and his predecessor, Joe Riley pointed to the Avondale Pointe shopping district and neighborhoods as the model to emulate going forward.
That’s hard to imagine happening with a car lot, used or new on the corner. One of the big pushes that has come out of the ongoing “DuWapp” revitalization planning events held jointly between the city and county is the desire for no more new lots.
At 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 25 a group of executives from Auto Mile dealerships will present their case of what they bring to the community at a panel hosted by WAJIBA – or West Ashley James Island Business Association at the top of the Holiday Inn Riverview (Round Holiday Inn). Cost to attend is free for members, $20 for non-members and incudes a buffet lunch.
Brad Davis, a longtime Hendrick Motors employee has signed on to present, and will come armed with economic impact statistics from the state that the state’s auto dealerships commissioned; as well as records of local and county tax contributions.
“Currently, we have between 650 and 700 employees working at our dealerships along Savannah Highway,” said Davis, who added that with no large parcels of land still available along the highway he doubts there will be any new dealerships coming in the near future.
Hendrick is in the process of opening a second new, gleaming dealership on the plot that formerly housed a Kmart and Sears’s appliance shop on Savannah Highway. He said the company also recently purchased a former carwash for employee parking, where workers are shuttled to their jobs from.
County Planning Commissioner Charlie Smith, who lives in a neighborhood abutting the Auto Mile, is not a big fan of the dealerships’ footprint.
“Checking with county staff, I found that there are 114 acres of Savannah Highway frontage dedicated to the sales of automobiles,” said Smith, who is calling for the city to change its policies regarding dealerships.
“There is not another place in the county where any particular sector has so much control and so much of a presence” in a defined stretch of road,” said Smith.
“If we’re moving to biking, walking, and other alternative modes of transportation, why are we letting huge dealerships eat up all of our frontage,” asked Smith, who also complained about trucks disgorging their double-decker trailers along Markfield Road, and not on the lot.
“What will Savannah Highway look like if there is another Great Recession,” asked Smith.
City Councilman Bill Moody lives behind the Auto Mile, too, a few blocks away from Smith, and said that the trucks do unload cars there, and test-drives often takes place in his neighborhood. But, he said incidents of both barely and rarely rise above nuisance levels.
“Look, I think the automobile dealerships have done a great job, particularly in beautification with trees and flowers along Savannah Highway,” said Moody, singling out Both Baker and Hendrick. But, he said he does worry when he sees trucks unloading cars in the middle of the highway, as it could cause a safety issue.
As for Smith’s worry about future economic downturns morphing the Auto Mile into a dust bowl, Moody declined “to get into a theoretical discussion like that – look, you’re not going to get me saying anything negative about the Auto Mile,” which resides in his district.
Moody pointed out that the Auto Mile has shrunk even as Hendrick took over the massive Kmart spot, by moving the former Hyundai dealership and clearing a way for the local Palas Hospitality group to buy the spot for future hotel development.
City of Charleston planning director Jacob Lindsey said the city “is going to be pragmatic and responsive to the issue of managing the Auto Mile, but it’s not going to take a hard line or not do anything, and its not going to do anything Draconian.”
If dealerships or car lots’ business begins to “encroach” on neighborhoods, then the city would take an active role, Lindsay said. “We are not going to turn a deaf ear to a legitimate complaint.”
For more information about the WAJIBA motor mile forum, email wajibiz@gmail.com.
 

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