New Lowe's on the Outer Banks?

Lowe's is proposing to build a new storefront on the Outer Banks of North Carolina along U.S. 158 in Kill Devil Hills. This new store would be built on about 12.8 acres that is currently filled with trees and shrubs and is one of the last and largest parcels of undeveloped land left in the town’s commercial zone. The building plans show a 120,587-square-foot building with a 38,467-square-foot garden center and 410 parking spaces. Across from the building site is the most northern tip of the Wright Brothers Nation Memorial, which is land owned by the National Park Service. Residential development surrounds the building site on the two other sides and residents worry that Lowe's will be able to skirt the zoning standards after the lot's zone had changed from limited business to commercial in 1991.

Locals are worried about the possibility of flooding that would come from blacktop run-off, truck traffic and idling at loading docks, and the traffic that would result from the new store. One of the major environmental problems with this project is the water drainage from the parking lot, but officials are proposing that a complex system of pipes and swales is being billed as a solution to preventing runoff from the site. The commissioners that have been assigned to the project have a table that provides formulas to allocate the right number of parking spaces based on square footage of the storefront. The commissioners will consider Lowe’s proposal to only have 410 spaces instead of the 795 spaces that should be built for the 120,587 square foot building. Lowe’s engineering consultant Todd Simmons said, “We don’t want unnecessary parking spaces.” The increase in unnecessary parking has the potential to increase the total surface area contributing storm water run off, effect nonpoint-source pollution for the area, as well as threaten local wildlife due to loss of habitat. Lowe's storm water management system will have to be constructed to follow the Clean Water Act as well and before it is built have an environmental impact statement written, because it is obvious that this project will have an effect on the surrounding area. Currently the plan for the parking lot to be built and function under zoning regulations for Kill Devil Hills and the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources states that pervious pavement (pavers that allow water to seep through) will be laid in the front parking lot area as well as having two infiltration basins being dug and connected with a 36” pipe between them. This will allow for storm water to seep into the ground similarly to the way it would have, had the woods and shrubbery still been present. All in all, five drainage areas will be created that will slow water from the parking lot that will then feed into the infiltration basins.

I believe that putting in this building would be inappropriate for this area, given that there is a Home Depot within seven miles from where the Lowes will be built. I also believe that destroying a wooded area, even though it is less than 13 acres in total area, could have a large negative impact on local wildlife. Despite the fact that you are on the Outer Banks, there are still deer and other critters that live in shrubbery and wooded areas. The huge parking lot area will cause excess of non-point pollution in an already heavily trafficked area. Is it really worth it to build this building when the community present on the Outer Banks is getting along just fine without it? I don’t think it is. Now, I do understand that the regulations for storm water run off exist to lessen the impact people have on an ecosystem – but regardless of any regulation of the total maximum daily load that says the Albemarle Sound can take X amount of pollution means that there is going to be more pollutants going into the sound that before. So what is this new storefront accomplishing? I say nothing. What do you think?

As mentioned previously, there was nothing stopping the Lowe's store from being built as long as the plans followed the code of requirements that the town of Kill Devil Hills provided. The town's board of commissioners voted 5-0 to approve the site plan on September 16 after Lowe's had made some changes to their original plans. Despite everything in the plans being legal, residents still have opposing ideas on the situation.