Earlier this year, a developer announced plans to construct the Inn at Altamont, a 150-room hotel, close to the western face of Paris Mountain, a fixture of the northern Greenville County skyline. The mountain and Paris Mountain State Park provide an easy escape for mountain bikers, hikers and families looking to beat the summer heat by swimming or boating in the lake.

Casey Jo Cooperman—who has lived within ten miles of Paris Mountain for most of her life—heard the news and had a strong gut reaction. The press release made it sound like a done deal, so she turned to social media to see if others were talking about it. She quickly realized that she wasn’t the only one worried about the project’s environmental impacts.

Someone mentioned a petition, and even though she had never created one before and had no idea how to start, she agreed to start one. The next day, it was live, and quickly exploded to thousands of signatures. From there, the grassroots movement Save Paris Mountain was born.

“Paris Mountain has always been a part of my life: hiking as a kid, weekend picnics, getting married there. It’s personal,” said Cooperman. “And when something you love is at risk, you speak up.”

Paris Mountain has been recognized as an environmentally sensitive area by Greenville County, with strict development limits to protect it. To bypass these decades-long zoning protections, the developer sought annexation into the City of Travelers Rest.

SCELP joined forces with this energized coalition of environmental and citizen groups in opposing the project, which would have had grave impacts on the precious ecological haven found on the mountain, including loss of crucial habitat for wildlife and other species, environmental degradation and increased erosion and sediment runoff. The project also raised a number of public safety concerns, including more traffic and more people using already overburdened infrastructure.

As the group grew, so did their initiatives. “We made the now-famous red shirts, handed out bumper stickers and got a booth at the farmers market,” said Cooperman. “We went door to door to collect petition signatures. The more I talked, the more it grew.”

The coalition showed up to public meetings in large numbers, and representatives of multiple environmental groups spoke out, including SCELP’s Upstate staff attorney, Emily Poole.

“The coalition of nonprofits brought depth, credibility and resources we didn’t have on our own,” said Cooperman. “They helped us understand the legal process, the zoning implications and the environmental risks in ways we couldn’t have done alone.”

And the city listened! Despite the initial support by some City Council members and the mayor, the Travelers Rest Planning Commission voted 5-1 in late April to recommend that the City Council deny the annexation request, showing strong support for protecting this Greenville landmark. On May 5, the Planning and Development Committee voted to deny the annexation request, effectively killing the Inn at Altamont project. The swift denial of this project shows what can happen when a community comes together to preserve a beloved landmark and to protect the environment from destruction.

The threat isn’t over yet, as the developer has stated intentions to develop the property with housing, but we will continue to stay engaged and fight to protect this Upstate treasure.