A school bond, hospital, mega home site. They’re all set to arrive in Fort Mill.
Fort Mill, Tega Cay and York County officials have updated several large, ongoing projects -- from a hospital to the next school bond.
The York County Regional Chamber of Commerce held its annual state of the community breakfast Thursday morning at the Glennon Center. Timelines were given for some of the biggest construction jobs in the area.
Here’s what leaders had to say:
New Fort Mill hospital
Mark Nosacka, CEO of Piedmont Medical Center, said groundbreaking will come soon for the new hospital planned along S.C. 160, near the Peach Stand.
“We’ve never been closer,” he said. “We plan to break ground in first quarter of next year and open in the fourth quarter of 2022.”
Earlier this year Nosacka and his team proposed a 100-bed, three-story hospital at about 200,000 square feet with a four-story medical office adjacent to it at 80,000 square feet.
Elizabeth subdivision
Land clearing on a major residential subdivision is about to become more evident.
Elizabeth is the subdivision plan for what was known several years back at the Spratt property. So named for long-time owner and former U.S. Rep. John Spratt.
The Elizabeth property on the Catawba River has a 20-year buildout plan. Mayor Guynn Savage said there will be a visible impact soon for drivers along Fort Mill Parkway, but not all the planned construction will happen at once. There will be several project phases.
In 2016 the town agreed to annex and rezone about 700 acres of property near Spratt Street and Fort Mill Parkway to allow new homes, commercial property and land donated to the town.
“This project will begin before year’s end,” Savage said.
An initial proposal for the site had up to 3,400 residences. The town and property owner whittled that number by the project approval date four years ago to no more than 2,650 residences, up to 1,575 homes and 1,075 apartments.
The project also included at least 350,000 square feet of commercial space and 60 acres donated to the town for recreation or other use.
Plans now are for fewer than 2,000 homes. Donated land will allow a $42 million wastewater treatment facility expansion set for 2022 completion. There also will be trails and improvements at an historical site on the property.
“It held the actual birthplace of Fort Mill,” Savage said.
Fort Mill school bond
Pre-pandemic projections showed that the Fort Mill School District would need several new buildings within five years. Then COVID-19 hit. About 650 of the roughly 17,000 district students went to homeschool, virtual school or some other non-district option. About 30% of district students chose a virtual option.
So what had been a 2021 projection for the next school bond, likely isn’t now.
“We don’t think we’ll need a referendum as soon as we thought we would,” Superintendent Chuck Epps told the breakfast group.
The thought now is a likely bond in 2022.
“And then we’ll see how it goes from there,” Epps said.
At a recent school board meeting, projections showed need for three more elementary schools, two middle schools and more high school space in the next decade. The district held a $226 million bond referendum in 2015 and a $190 million referendum in 2018. Both were based on five-year needs.
A COVID-19 vaccine could change school bond timing. Epps said he expects most of 650 student not in the district now to come back post-pandemic. Figures could quickly return to what those projections forecast.
“If the numbers had held firm, if the virus had not hit, we think we would’ve met that projection,” Epps said.
The district already has plans to open River Trail Elementary School in January when the winter break ends, and will open a new middle school for 2021-22.
Brewery and a big “ball”
Tega Cay is fewer than four square miles, with about twice the population of Clover or York. It’s about two-thirds the population of Fort Mill. There’s a higher population per square mile than Fort Mill, Rock Hill or anywhere else the area.
“Now it’s all built up,” said Mayor David O’Neal. “It’s all a house or apartment.”
That’s why commercial growth is good news to the mayor. Model A Brewing Company on Stonecrest Boulevard will go in near the Walmart.
“We’re anticipating that opening up hopefully this year,” O’Neal said.
There are 15 acres of commercial space coming with the Windhaven subdivision too.
Another city addition is a little more unusual -- a nod to the city golf course.
“The golf course is in as good a shape as it’s been in years,” O’Neal said.
The city intends to paint two water towers. One nearest the breakfast meeting site Thursday, near the Glennon Center, will have a special design.
“This water tower is going to be painted to look like a golf ball and a tee,” O’Neal said.
York County has a little history with sports-themed water towers. It’s also home to a tower off I-77 near the former Knights Stadium, painted like a giant baseball.
Road construction, repair
Michael Johnson doesn’t plan to be on York County Council in 2024 — the chairman is running for the state legislature this fall. Still, he has an idea what’s coming with the fifth Pennies for Progress referendum.
“We’re hoping to expand and put even more resurfacing on it,” Johnson said.
Pennies comes every seven years. It’s a countywide voter-approved one-cent sales tax for road construction and, as of the Pennies 4 vote in 2017, road resurfacing. Of the almost $278 million referendum from 2017, $50 million went to resurfacing more than 80 miles of road.
As Pennies and other funding sources is spent to build new roads, resurfacing becomes a greater concern.
“Unfortunately there’s just not enough state funding to get that done,” Johnson said.
Other large projects will come sooner.
There’s ongoing work at I-77 and S.C. 160 to widen and add lanes. Construction there should begin in fall 2022.
“That is going to revolutionize this area,” Johnson said.
Work continues at the first diverging diamond interchange of its kind in the state, at I-77 and Gold Hill Road. That project should be done next year.
