Newberry to consider regulation of big box stores 

The Newberry City Commission directed staff to gather data and examples to guide consideration of city code for big box stores. The discussion item was on the Monday agenda in preparation for the possibility of more large businesses following on the heels of Publix. 

Publix broke ground for the new store in January, but the commission approved the development application in May 2022 with a shroud of mystery over what store would be built. The coming store is rumored to be the largest Publix in the county, and Mayor Jordan Marlowe has said the store’s presence will bring more businesses to town. 

Bryan Thomas, director of planning, building and economic development, told the commission that Newberry will likely become the target of at least one large-scale retail development “in the near future.” He said staff wants to give the commission the opportunity to consider the possibility and whether to amend the Land Development Regulations before applications begin coming in. 

Newberry currently does not have special regulations for big box stores, so the developments would fall under the same regulations as any other retailer. Thomas said he expects the stores would be on the State Road 26 and 45 corridors, but that they could put in a large parking lot in front of the building, call it a 500-foot buffer, and be exempt from corridor design standards. 

Thomas told the commission big box stores could potentially bring both positive and negative impacts to the community. 

On the positive side, the stores could bring convenience and a variety of products, job opportunities, competitive pricing, increased tax revenue and an economic stimulus for the community. 

Potential negative impacts include job quality concerns, empty large buildings left when the stores shut down, homogenization of local culture, infrastructure strain, tax dependency and a threat to small local businesses. 

Thomas said Newberry’s small businesses are not concentrated in one place, so they likely would not be as heavily impacted as those in Live Oak when Walmart came to town. Commissioners discussed Live Oak and Crawfordville as examples of towns that benefited or were damaged by big box retailers. 

Thomas told commissioners that how the large retailers would affect the town depends heavily on the specifics of the community, and suggested the city could run an economic impact analysis on a hypothetical store. He also suggested the commission could require large retailers to run their own economic impact analyses when applying to develop. 

Thomas’s other suggestions of possible future action included changing zoning regulations to restrict size and location, amending the comprehensive plan to prioritize the preservation of local businesses, creating size restrictions, making approval of a large retailer contingent on a conditional use permit and opening up to receive community input. 

The commission voiced consensus that a town hall would be a good idea, that it wanted more examples of how other towns have dealt with the issue, and that it wanted more data on the impact of a big box store. 

Commissioner Tim Marden said flexibility would probably be key to making the regulations work, referring specifically to the possibility of a conditional use contingency. 

Commissioner Mark Clark said he is not thrilled at the prospect of big box stores coming to Newberry, but that he knows they will be. He said his main concern in dealing with those that do come is making sure they are set back from the road, with rules about how they look. 

“At what point do we hurt each other by allowing the conglomerate to absorb everything?” Clark said.