From Staff Reports 

TRAVELERS REST, S.C.  — The Travelers Rest Planning & Development Committee on May 5 voted to reject annexation and rezoning requests that would have allowed the building of a proposed four-star luxury hotel along Altamont Road for 19 acres on Paris Mountan,” Greenville television station  WYFF 4 reported later May 5.

WSPA noted on May 5: “The proposal to annex the land will not move forward to (Travelers Rest) City Council.”

Grant Bumgarner, a TR councilman and mayor pro tem, was the only committee member to vote in favor of moving the matter forward, SpectrumLocalNews.com reported.

After the vote, the Spectrum website quoted Baumgarner as saying the following:

“The overall scope and intent of this project meet the parameters that we as City Council have given to our staff for economic development within the city.

“The benefits to the city of TR and the entire northern Greenville County area to have a hotel, including lodging and banquet and meeting facilities, is one of a kind.”

During a public hearing before the vote, among the speakers were Emily Wyche, a senior attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center, who said the development would permanently degrade Paris Mountain, bring traffic and destroy wildlife and habitat.