News - Local/State

Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

Chester County joins Great Falls in legal fight over former mill

CHESTER -- The battle over who can buy an old Great Falls textile mill gained another warrior this week.

The Chester County Council is joining the town of Great Falls in a lawsuit against the county's Forfeited Land Commission, which wants to sell the Republic Mill No. 2 to Virginia businessman Don Saulsgiver.

"It just puts a really bad taste in my mouth," County Councilman Alex Oliphant said of the lawsuit. "It's like family suing family."

Great Falls' attorney filed the lawsuit last month. Town and county leaders claim the commission doesn't have a binding contract to sell the mill to Saulsgiver, who initially told county leaders that he wanted to convert the mill into a plastics recycling business. He also said he wanted to restore old cars and furniture there.

But the recycling proposal alarmed many Great Falls residents, who remember the massive fire that claimed another Great Falls mill in 2006. Smoke from that fire contained hydrochloric acid. Shifting winds blew the smoke in every direction and caused evacuations of more than half the town.

One of the businesses destroyed in the fire was a plastics recycling operation.

Despite his initial statements, Saulsgiver sent a letter to the county last month saying he wouldn't put a plastics recycling business in the mill.

But most local leaders want the commission to sell the site to Bob and Nancy Harllee, who hope to build a hotel and senior living center in the mill.

The Harllees' project involves a business investment of nearly $20 million, while Saulsgiver has proposed spending about $2 million on his venture.

Many officials believe the Harllees' work could revitalize a town that hasn't economically recovered from losing its major textile mills.

The Harllees, who first expressed an interest in the property earlier this year, also contend that the commission doesn't have a binding agreement with Saulsgiver, because no money has been exchanged for the property.

But the commission, a group of four elected officials who oversee land and buildings no one typically wants, disagrees.

Jack Kindle, county treasurer and FLC chairman, has said a 2006 contract between the commission and Saulsgiver obligates the commission to sell the old mill to him.

'Oh, good for them'

When The Herald told Kindle about the county's decision to join the lawsuit, he said he wasn't surprised.

"Oh, good for them," he said. "Might as well get everybody in the boat."

The commission recently hired a Columbia law firm to represent it in the case, Kindle said. Although the commission was preparing to sell the mill to Saulsgiver, Kindle said the lawsuit puts everything on hold.

"Nothing can be done right now, which is good," he said. "Everything just comes to a halt until everything gets cleared and the air gets cleared. ... The main deciding factor is do we or do we not have a legally binding agreement with the first buyer. Once the judge determines that, then we know which way we can go from there."

The lone County Council member opposed to joining the lawsuit is Mary Guy, who said she doesn't want the county to get bogged down in an expensive legal matter.

Suing the land commission, she said, "just didn't settle right with me 'cause I know it's probably going to be some more debt."

Oliphant said he had "mixed emotions" about supporting the lawsuit.

"I didn't like voting for it," he said. "(But) it needs to be settled and cleared up as soon as possible."