Country store sues Aynor after town stalls deal for Tesla charging station

By Nicole Ziege
nziege@postandcourier.com

AYNOR — When Devin Dorman decided to build a Tesla charging station beside his country store, he didn't expect to face pushback.

Dorman co-owns Palmetto Farms, a Main Street spot in Aynor known for its homemade grits and cornmeal. He signed a five-year lease with the electric car company in August 2022, and Tesla planned to turn 10 parking spaces in front of the store into a station capable of charging eight to 10 vehicles at once.

"That's a lot of traffic for our store, but not enough that would create any sort of traffic issues in Aynor," Dorman said. "All the businesses around us seem to be all about it because it doesn't do anything but help bolster their business."

But the project remains in limbo. For months, town officials refused to issue a building permit for the station. This prompted Palmetto Farms to sue the town on June 29.

"There is no substantial justification for Aynor's failure to act," the lawsuit stated. "Aynor's Zoning Ordinances do not prohibit Palmetto Farms from having a supercharger station. By refusing to decide on the building permit application, Aynor deprived Palmetto Farms of an economic use of its property through an unreasonable regulatory delay."

Aynor Town Manager Tony Godsey declined to comment on the matter, and the town has stated in court documents that the station doesn't match the zoning for that area. Mayor John Gardner did not respond to a request for comment.

"The vehicle supercharger station that (Palmetto Farms) wishes to install does not fit in the existing zoning classifications, and the town has been in the process of considering a Uniform Development Ordinance that might impact (the store)'s application," according to the response the town filed in court.

A unique spot

Dorman, who drives a Tesla, said he wanted to bring a charging station to Aynor because of the outside traffic it could attract. Tesla officials have estimated more than 2,000 vehicles would charge at the Aynor station during the summer months.

Aynor sits along U.S. Route 501 nearly 30 miles west of Myrtle Beach and about 45 miles from Interstate 95.

Although more than a dozen Tesla charging stations line the Grand Strand from North Myrtle Beach to Litchfield, they are all more than a half-hour's drive from Aynor. There are also about seven stations located along I-95 from Dillon to Florence, but those are also more than 30 minutes away.

South Carolina lags behind its neighboring states in building out a network to charge electric vehicles, even as BMW and Volvo push ahead on plans to build electric vehicles here and a number of companies across the state plan to make battery components.

The assessments put South Carolina behind not only early adopters such as California, but also almost all its Southeastern neighbors.

A study from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy advocacy group put South Carolina fifth among six Southeastern states for rolling out electric cars and chargers.

Georgia and Florida were far ahead of the rest, with only Alabama lagging behind South Carolina.

Palmetto Farms used to be an IGA grocery store, and Dorman said the site has enough available commercial power for a Tesla station. If the charging station is constructed, the store would have a secondary entrance leading into a lounge area with 24-hour amenities. Drivers would access that area with a specific code from the charging station.

"It's a lit parking lot and a nice area of town. It's good and safe," Dorman said. "All those things together is what made Tesla want to be there in the first place because they wanted good experiences for their people that were customers coming to charge."

Under its agreement with Palmetto Farms, Tesla could terminate the contract if the local company is unable to obtain all the required permits and approvals after one year. Although the one-year term expired Aug. 28, Dorman confirmed Tesla is awaiting the outcome of the lawsuit and has not yet canceled the agreement.

A delayed denial

To construct the charging station, Palmetto Farms needs a building permit from the town. The process of reviewing building permits takes approximately one to two weeks, according to the lawsuit.

Dewberry Engineers, a firm working with Palmetto Farms and Tesla on the project, sent a building permit application and plans for the station to town officials in an email on Oct. 18, 2022.

Nine days later, a town official told the firm in an email that the plans were unable to be approved because "there is nothing in the town's zoning ordinance to allow [a supercharger station]," according to the lawsuit.

"There was nothing in the ordinance to address it, and that meant that they wanted to talk about it after there was something on the books or the ordinance qualification to address it," Dorman said. "It wasn't technically shut down at that point."

Godsey then told Tesla in an email sent Nov. 3 that the town would review the permit "when time permits," which he expected to be the first of the year, according to court records.

At a Nov. 29 Town Council meeting, Palmetto Farms owners were told the permit would be decided once the town adopted a unified development ordinance, which town officials said could take six to eight months.

However, in late March, town officials extended the expected timeline for implementing the development ordinance from May to December, according to the lawsuit.

On April 5, Dewberry Engineers submitted another permit application to build the Tesla supercharger station and demanded a response to the application by May 5.

"Currently, Palmetto Farms cannot build the supercharger station because Aynor's building inspector has not ruled on the building permit application," according to the lawsuit. "For the same reason, Palmetto Farms cannot appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals — there is no building inspector decision to appeal. As a result, Palmetto Farms is stuck in limbo and does not have a supercharger station to draw customers to its retail store."

On July 18, 19 days after the lawsuit was filed, Frank Anderson, Aynor's building official, informed Palmetto Farms and Dewberry Engineers that the town would not issue the permit, according to court documents.

"Per planning and zoning, current zoning classifications for this property do not allow this type of activity," Anderson wrote in the email.

However, Dorman said this response does not line up with the town's previous answers over the past year.

"In my opinion, there's nothing that actually declines it in the (zoning) ordinances," Dorman said. "And it seems weird to me that you could shut something like that down just by pressing pause until you can discuss making an ordinance that maybe will block it."

On Sept. 8, the town filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the case. Town officials admitted they had not formally rejected the building permit application until July 18, but they said now that they have issued a decision, the case is moot.

The store filed an appeal on Sept. 1 and the town's Board of Zoning Appeals will hear the matter on Oct. 17, according to court records.