Just how many more homes can be built in the Rock Hill region? Well, here’s what’s coming
What if twice as many homes and apartments as are in Fort Mill today were squeezed in among what’s already built in York and Lancaster counties?
Now, think of those new homes and apartments as if they’re already on the way.
There’s no clear trend in the number of new homes and apartments approved in the region since the COVID-19 pandemic. But there is one consensus. A whole lot more homes and apartments are coming.
The Herald reached out to public officials in hotbed growth areas just south of the state line to see what’s coming. We combined that data with recent reports of projects now in the works.
Conclusion: Some areas are approving more new homes than ever. Some aren’t.
A picture emerges in York and Lancaster counties where decisions already made will further alter the local landscape. Even by a conservative estimate, those areas have well more than 20,000 homes, townhomes or apartments that are approved, but aren’t yet built.
Here’s a roundup of what we found:
Fort Mill
Fort Mill residential growth has been among the highest in the region for more than a decade. The more than 24,000 residents in 2020 is well more than double the 2010 count, at fewer than 11,000 residents. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Fort Mill, as of mid-2021, had almost 28,000 residents.
Yet new home approvals aren’t coming as rapidly.
In 2020, Fort Mill Town Council didn’t approve any new residential developments. The same is true for last year, when council reviewed but denied an annexation request for 80 new homes.
The town did approve annexation, rezoning and a development agreement in 2021 for the Crossroads project. That proposal will add up to 460 age-restricted residences and new commercial development in the Fort Mill Parkway and Williams Road area. Close to half of those residences, at 220 units, are part of an independent or assisted living facility with memory care.
Council initially denied a plan for Crossroads before agreeing to modifications. Council denied two more residential plans in 2021 that could’ve added 318 homes.
Town leaders have spoken for some time about the pressure new homes put on area roads, schools and other public infrastructure. Mayor Guynn Savage told area elected and road officials last month she still recalls the message from her first meeting with the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study policy committee.
“I was told, Fort Mill’s got to stop growing,” Savage said. “You just have to stop permitting houses. Quit growing.”
Recently, Savage said, there’s been a shift.
“We’ve turned down quite a few,” Savage said. “It doesn’t make the paper, the ones we turn down. It certainly does the ones we accept. In the last two years, we’ve turned down more than we’ve accepted.”
Related to roads, Savage told the group, the hope is that fewer approved new homes will ease pressure points.
“We heard you,” Savage said, “and we understood that we were contributing to the problem that we all have.”
It may be a long while still before the recent shift away from new housing approvals becomes apparent. The town has about 7,000 new residences already entitled, or allowed for construction by past decisions or existing zoning. Town leaders say the final residence count could be significantly smaller due to land use or property constraints, like wetlands. Many of the entitled homes come from agreements set to span decades, so the impact won’t hit all at once.
The big driver in new homes is the Lennar project along Fort Mill Parkway, Elizabeth. Land formerly owned by U.S. Rep. John Spratt came up for development almost a decade ago. The initial request involved 3,400 residences. The town worked that number down to a 2016 approval for about 2,600 residences. The plan further evolved to fewer than 2,000 homes.
York County
Unincorporated York County saw a peak for new home plans in 2020. There were nine projects with 895 lots whose plats came to the county planning commission. That lot count was almost four times what it was in 2019, at 239 lots.
There were more projects — 15 — in 2021 but there were about half as many lots requested. There were 449 residences approved in 2021, a number that dropped by almost half again last year to 241 residences.
County planners didn’t provide an exact number of how many approved homes can still be built in unincorporated parts of the county, but the figure is significant. Just among projects that came to the planning commission from 2019 to 2022, there were 1,824 lots approved. As of the new year, the county only listed one of those projects — a 50-lot subdivision — as under construction.
Rock Hill
The past three years brought a steady increase for Rock Hill residences. There were 899 units approved in 2020. The amount increased to 1,270 units in 2021 and 1,627 units last year.
City planner Alex Boyce said the city doesn’t track the number of homes and apartments approved but not yet built. Sometimes projects are approved but never built. Some approvals expire in two years, leaving some units unbuilt. Then, there are projects approved many years back that still have work ongoing.
For units approved from 2020 to 2022, however, there were 375 units with certificates of occupancy as of year’s end. Which leaves 3,421 units approved in that span without one -- or yet to be fully built.
Indian Land
Lancaster County keeps tabs on its panhandle (the Indian Land area), its main residential growth area for more than a decade.
The county has a list of approved, active and recently completed subdivisions there. At year’s end, there were 17,759 homes and apartments on that list.
More than two-thirds of those residences, nearly 12,500 of them, are homes. About 5,200 are apartments.
Last year saw 411 new home approvals in the panhandle, less than half what the prior year brought. Apartment unit approvals dropped 38% in a year.
The past five years brought a shift in housing type. In 2018 and 2019, only a sliver of the more than 3,000 approved residences were apartments. From 2020 forward, there have been more apartment units than homes approved. Last year there were more than twice as many apartments as homes.
There’s likely plenty more of both to come.
Only 56% of homes and 48% of apartments on the approved list in the panhandle have been built. At year’s end there were 8,211 approved residences that hadn’t yet started construction. Of them, there are almost 5,500 homes and more than 2,700 apartments.
Tega Cay
Tega Cay residential approvals bounced back in 2022.
“There were no new developments in 2020 and 2021,” said Susan Britt, city planning and development services director. “Permits issued in those years were for the continued development of existing subdivisions.”
The city approved 432 residences last year. There were 160 homes and 225 apartments at the former Game On site now informally known as the city “Main Street” project, and 138 homes at Windell Woods. Windell Woods should be complete by 2025, the former Game On site by 2027.
Like other area communities, recent approvals are just part of what comes next. As of the start of 2023, Tega Cay had 859 homes and apartments approved but not yet built. Apart from the former Game On site, all those homes and apartments come in projects slated for completion by 2025.
Towns of York; Lancaster County
Expected new homes aren’t confined to the state line area.
As of October, the town of York had 14 active or recently approved projects under development. Another was pending. The western York County city had 2,412 homes and townhomes included.
Lancaster is another non-traditional hot spot for residential growth. The Roselyn development south of Andrew Jackson State Park on U.S. 521 was approved for more than 1,800 homes in 2019. Several others south of the panhandle followed.
Last fall, Lancaster County development services director Rox Burhans said the county has five years worth of residential growth approved but not yet built. There are more than 8,000 homes and townhomes that can be built without further approval. More projects have come in since.
In late January, Lancaster City Council moved forward with plans for almost 500 new residences. Combined with the Red Rose Village project from December, the city looks at more than 700 new residences in total.
