Update: Travelers Rest rejects Inn at Altamont

Your voices were heard! 

In a 4-1 final decision on the Inn at Altamont, the Travelers Rest (TR) Planning & Development Committee voted against advancing the developer's request to annex and rezone approximately 40-acres on Paris Mountain to accommodate the proposed 150-room hotel and event venue. 

TR's Planning & Development Committee, comprised of five TR city council members, affirmed the city's planning commission's recommendation to deny the project following overwhelming public opposition at the April 24 public hearing.

Huge thanks and congratulations to everyone who engaged TR's elected and appointed leaders with courtesy and respect.

Next steps

Please reach out to thank these four TR City Council members on the Planning & Development Committee who voted "NO" on the annexation and rezoning request for the Inn at Altamont:

• Council Member Kelly Byers (kelly@travelersrestsc.com)
• Council Member Shaniece Criss (shaniece@travelersrestsc.com)
• Council Member Sherry Marrah (sherry@travelersrestsc.com)
• Council Member Brantly Vest (brantly@travelersrestsc.com)

Why UF opposed the Inn at Altamont project

• Construction of the hotel and associated parking lots would without a doubt negatively impact sensitive ecological features of the mountain, a steep terrain with largely contiguous forest and a healthy population of wildlife where the project is proposed.
   
• Construction would also pose a direct threat to headwaters of the Reedy River — critical for water quality.
   
• Approval would set a dangerous precedent for using annexation to side-step Greenville County's "Environmentally Sensitive District" zoning — a tool intended to prevent such high-intensity development in this location.
   
• Millions of private and public dollars have been invested in Paris Mountain’s protection so the community can enjoy a natural respite within an otherwise urbanized area.

In closing, thank you again to the many residents of Travelers Rest and Greenville County at-large who raised their voices in opposition, knowing there are places in the Upstate so beautiful, ecologically important, and iconic that their highest and best use is their natural state.

Stronger protections must be enacted soon to better protect Paris Mountain, but for the moment, breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate this victory for our local environment.