Letter to the editor for June 20
Development or urban sprawl?
Recent discussion and action by the York County Council regarding approval of the proposed Comprehensive Plan for York County suggests that the proposed expansion of the Urban Service Boundary east of Rock Hill is all about economic development. If that were so, we might expect to see plans for another project like Waterford that houses a significant number of business and industry employers.
But in this case all we know about is a movie studio proposed on Catawba Indian reservation property and the proposed housing development on the old Bowater tree farm property. The Catawba project could clearly qualify as economic development by providing jobs and producing films that are sold elsewhere generating new revenue for the area. The proposed housing development with perhaps three thousand homes doesn’t qualify and even if it did, there are significant reasons to stop this urban sprawl.
Infrastructure to support this expansion of homes doesn’t exist. There is only one access road and it clearly isn’t sufficient to handle 3,000 to 6,000 additional cars per day.
There is no water and sewer service, and limited fire protection in the area. At an average of only one child per home, we could expect 3,000 new students to serve, creating the need to build more schools. We have experienced all this from the recent explosive growth north of the Catawba River, and we know that tax revenue from these homes will not cover the cost of all this infrastructure.
The proposed Comprehensive Plan is full of information about the quality of life in York County. We are blessed with rivers, streams, forests and open land, and we have towns and cities for those who prefer an urban life style.
Census data from 2010 shows that we had 47,760 workers who commute out of the county every day and 39,434 who live and work in the county. The number commuting out has surely gone up in the past five years.
We need to focus on real economic development that creates good jobs and enhances the quality of life in our communities. We don’t have to rush to gobble up our rural communities for ill conceived housing developments.
A public hearing and second reading on the Comprehensive Plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. today in council chambers. If you are interested in preserving your quality of life in York County, you want to attend and perhaps share your opinion on this topic.
Dennis Merrell
Rock Hill
Editor’s note: The author is former president of York Technical College in Rock Hill.
This story was originally published June 19, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Letter to the editor for June 20."