Turky’s Throws in the Tow(el)

Allison Burky Boone, the owner and general manager of Turky’s Towing, has said she will stop her family company’s attempt to open a car yard along Savannah Highway if funds can be raised to purchase it with public money.
“I’m not a dummy; I know when we’re not welcome,” said Boone of efforts to stop Turky’s from developing three parcels fronted by 1901 Savannah Hwy. “I have no desire to sign up for a piece of property where others will make it feel undesirable for years to come.”
Earlier this year, Boone’s father, Warner “Turky” Burky, set off protests from several nearby neighborhoods and residents when he purchased the three parcels that abut a small public park that memorializes nine local firefighters who died fighting a furniture store blaze, for $1.6 million.
Some in the community criticized the move, saying a tow yard replete with dinged-up cars, would impinge on the solemnity next door.
Some residents and neighborhood associations protested, saying that the parcels also fronted onto Pebble Drive, and tow trucks going up and down the residential street would affect their quality of life and the safety of their children.
The Burkys tried unsuccessfully to get annexed into the city, in part to be able to bid for lucrative city contracts, and attempted to mollify concerns by signing off on several documents requiring them to close the back gate for use, improve lighting, and install pleasant landscaping.
A recent meeting brokered by City Councilman Bill Moody between neighborhood association members and the Burkys fell through, and both sides seemed entrenched.
Boone, who lives a few blocks away, felt like she had made good-faith efforts to meet the demands of her nearby neighbors, but to no avail. Neighbors began pitching various other uses for the parcels — a park, a farmer’s market, a new fire station, among others.
Nearby resident Charlie Smith, a realtor and member of the Charleston County Planning Commission, is now trying to supply a solution. Smith had earlier attempted to stop the demolition of a vegetable shed a few blocks away at the corner of Wappoo Road and Savannah Highway but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Now, he has begun an effort to tap into greenbelt funds, raised through a special local option sales tax, to purchase the parcels for a West Ashley farmer’s market.
Smith has started a petition campaign and begun writing public letters to get the either the City of Charleston or Charlerston County to purchase the property.
Boone said she understood Smith may be close to securing the funding, and added, “I don’t care if he gets ‘purple’ belt money; if he gets enough, we’ll sell it to him and he can get his tomato shed.”
Burky said the public-purchase option has a small window of time, and if they can’t come up with the full $1.6 million, her family will move quickly to sell the three parcels.