After multiple meetings and discussions, the city of Greenwood and the developer building a new Goodwill outlet and warehouse have reached an agreement on how to replace trees that were cut down.
The Greenwood Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously approved Sullivan Commercial’s modified landscaping plans, allowing the company to continue construction nearly a month after the city issued a stop-work order on the retail store portion of the project.
Sullivan Commercial met with the board three times to discuss solutions, including a new landscaping plan, after too many trees were cut down. The new plan not only replaces trees that were cut down but also adds more trees to what was originally included, Sullivan’s commercial developer Scott Rogers said.
Crews will plant more than 40 trees and more than 100 bushes, according to documents filed with the city. And if any of the bushes, shrubs or trees die, Sullivan Commercial has to replace them.
When Goodwill got the city’s approval to build the 125,000 square foot facility on Emerson Avenue, south of County Line Road, the existing trees on the south end of the property were to stay because they served as a buffer between other businesses, including a sleep therapy office.
But crews hired to construct the building cut down too many trees, and the city pulled the construction permits.
“The modified design will look better than the previous landscaping. It will be much improved,” board president Phil Tinkle said. “Before this happened, we didn’t have anything that allowed us to enforce what it looked like. It’s all much improved.”
Sullivan Commercial will have until June 1 to finish planting the trees, shrubs and bushes, Greenwood Planning Director Bill Peeples said.
