Marquez has gathered 250 signatures from the Landing neighborhood in Lake Wylie asking Wal-Mart to consider resident input before designing or building a store at the Three Points location.

"A lot of times with things like this, people just end up complaining," said Marquez, who has lived in Lake Wylie for about four years. "What we wanted to do is to galvanize people in a positive direction."

Marquez knows the Wal-Mart Supercenter is coming one way or another to the Mill Creek Commons development at the S.C. 274/557 intersection. She wants the new store to be as attractive as possible, especially for her Landing neighbors who live within eyesight of the new center.

"We just hope it looks nice," Marquez said. "We want it to have a certain look and keep the feel of Lake Wylie as we know it."

Across the lake, Tega Cay residents and city leaders had plenty of say on how its new Wal-Mart would look. The store recently opened with a village ambiance that looks anything but big box.

The Lake Wylie group hopes to accomplish similar results.

York County Councilman Tom Smith, who represents Lake Wylie, has passed the Marquez's petition on to Wal-Mart.

"They're certainly not coming in with the old blue box," Smith said.

Plans for the Wal-Mart exterior have not been filed with York County, though the other Mill Creek Commons anchor, Lowe's Home Improvement, has filed plans. The Lowe's site will be the standard store layout, company spokeswoman Maureen Rich told the Lake Wylie Pilot earlier this year.

Smith also sent Wal-Mart a letter from the newly formed Citizens for the Preservation of Lake Wylie addressing similar cosmetic concerns.

"We are pretty close to the darn thing," said group organizer Matt Cullen, also a Landing resident. "I think the way it looks, the aesthetics of the Wal-Mart, are pretty important to all of us."

A construction time frame for Wal-Mart has not been released.