It’s the biggest issue in town. How five Fort Mill candidates aim to tackle it.

It’s the top issue facing Fort Mill, and thus the top issue facing Fort Mill Town Council candidates. It may be the top few.

So, what are candidates going to do with all this community growth?

There isn’t a “no growth” candidate in the Nov. 7 election. That’s when incumbent Larry Huntley and challenger John Beilsmith face off for Ward 3, while incumbent Trudie Heemsoth faces Julia Beilsmith and Patti Rumsey for an at-large seat. Councilman Jamie Shirey is running unopposed for his Ward 1 seat. All the candidates say the answer isn’t cutting off new construction, even if it’s just residential, but better preparing for it.

“It’s great in some aspects because you’ve got a lot of diversity coming in,” John Beilsmith said, calling growth a double-edged sword. “You’ve got retirement communities being built. You’ve got new homes and new schools and everything that’s coming in. At the same time the infrastructure I think is probably the thing that’s been the most concerning.”

The Beilsmiths — they’re husband and wife — moved to Fort Mill six years ago. He is regional operations director of a frozen drink company, she builds water and wastewater equipment. She also worked as a public works director. Julia Beilsmith said one infrastructure need in particular is concerning.

“We have a lot of eateries,” she said. “We have a lot of communities. We don’t have the roadways to support these people.”

Roads were a big part of the conversation when all five candidates for the contested seats met for the first time, at a roundtable organized by the Fort Mill Times. Heemsoth and Huntley said they understand and feel frustration concerning roads and traffic, but it’s also important to understand what municipal bodies handle which issues.

“For the most part those roads are county,” said Heemsoth, a long-time resident who spent time on the Fort Mill School Board and with the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce before starting on council early last year. “The county takes care of all those roads.”

For larger traffic or maintenance issues, typically it’s the state in charge of solutions. Especially when it isn’t even a growing Fort Mill contributing to many of the issues.

“If there were no homes in Fort Mill, there would still be a traffic problem at 8 o-clock in the morning and 5 o-clock in the afternoon because we have so much pass-through traffic,” Huntley said. “That’s unfortunately a state problem. Well, it’s our problem, but it’s the state’s responsibility.”

Huntley, a resident of more than three decades who retired from a plant manager job in Van Wyck 16 years ago and started on council five years later, said there is a place for road advocacy on council. He and other town leaders have been vocal in Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study meetings where the idea of a new bridge from Rock Hill to Fort Mill floated. Huntley said it would move a Rock Hill traffic problem down the road into Fort Mill.

There is a need, he said, for more ways to get across town.

“We need more east-west arteries,” Huntley said. “(S.C.) 160 is about it.”

While some said traffic isn’t as big an issue except at rush hour, Julia Beilsmith said it’s “a luxury to be able to stay out of traffic” and many families within children in school, who work or participate in other activities can’t plan their trips around it. She also isn’t content ceding road concerns just because the county or state is in charge.

“If we made a precedent with the county, and we petitioned the county, we petitioned the state and requested the funding?” Julia Beilsmith said. “When I was a director of public works we worked with the state to get that funding. And we brought to them the studies and said we have an influx, we have a need. And make it a point.”

Other concerns

Rumsey, a real estate agent who moved here a little more than a year ago, said roads are important, but are far from her only growth concern.

“I am concerned about the roads, but I’m really concerned about how 1,000 homes — the neighborhood I live in will soon be 1,000 homes — and I’m thinking, ‘are we OK?’” Rumsey said. “Is our water going to be OK? Is our electric grid going to be OK with that?”

Her thought, one shared by other candidates, is growth has a place in Fort Mill, but only if the county is actively preparing for and responding to it.

“My concern is, how is our electrical grid handling the changes?” Rumsey said. “How is our sewer system and our water treatment plant and things like that? How are those systems dealing with growth? Because growth is fantastic — if you’re managing it.”

Who has control?

As for the influx of new homes, incumbents again point to what areas a council member can impact and which ones he or she can’t. Heemsoth said council members “don’t have any choice” on allowing many of the new homes going up, but can make sure all rules and regulations are adhered to during construction.

“The housing developments that we are working on now or that are coming into play now, a lot of those were permitted (in), 2005? 2006?” Heemsoth said. “And they had a 20-year buildout. So those are things that have been approved and we have to go along with it.”

Huntley said considerable work is done at the planning commission level, where the smallest of details are examined before projects can begin. He often attends those meetings to get a better understanding of projects before council gets to vote on them.

“When they get through asking questions, there are no more questions to be asked on that particular subject,” Huntley said.

John Beilsmith said the perception many outside council have now is that projects come up quickly and get approved with little detail or input.

“I think that some of the concerns are the new stuff that’s coming on right now, and how are we handling that?” he said. “And how are we handling those companies that are wanting to build, whether it’s one of these large housing or building companies that are wanting to come into the area?”

If developers are going to build here, John Beilsmith said, the town needs to know what that developer proposes to improve the community as a whole. As for whether the town should respond to growth as it comes or solicit the type of growth it wants, he’d want to hear what more residents have to say.

“You’re not going to please everybody,” John Beilsmith said.

“We just know that’s the case. But, get a large group to give us their thoughts on it and make an educated decision. Right now I think the problem is it seems from the people that we talk to, it’s after the fact. This happened. Nobody knew about it. That’s the problem.”

Rumsey moved here from Greenville, a municipality that transformed itself over two decades into a place with a thriving downtown. She believe Fort Mill, through good planning decisions, can create the right atmosphere here, too.

“I’d like to see that happen for Fort Mill,” Rumsey said. “That’s my interest in running.”

Incumbents point to a number of accomplishments by the town in preparing for growth, from a sewer plant doubling its capacity to grant money for pipe replacement and other upgrades in the Paradise neighborhood, to a capital improvement plan outlining needs. Huntley points to the new town hall space, which came with no debt or bond. And to new ballfields in town.

There was a time years ago, Huntley said, when the town would show up at a bank about this time each year looking to borrow money to make payroll. Then, the town would pay it back with property tax revenue when it arrived. The town, he said, is in much better shape now due to town management and council work.

“That’s not the situation we’re in now,” Huntley said.

Heemsoth came to Fort Mill before she finished high school, and is retired now. Huntley has been here more than half as long. The Beilsmiths arrived a half dozen years ago and Rumsey hasn’t finished two years yet. And all of them expressed reasons why they love the town and what drew them here. All have areas where they say the town can be better. They want to preserve town history, its downtown, acknowledge residents who have been here decades or generations. They also want what’s best for all the new residents.

Which is why all say they have something to offer — experience to fresh ideas — council.

“Also that the newcomer to Fort Mill has a voice on town council,” Rumsey said of why her limited time here shouldn’t work against her. “That’s important to me. I think that’s a big segment of voters.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 6:19 PM with the headline "It’s the biggest issue in town. How five Fort Mill candidates aim to tackle it.."