Wedding & Event Venue Near York, SC.

A potential billion dollar deal in York County is a step closer.

York County Council has an economic incentive deal proposed for an unnamed company listed for now as Project Cobra. The company could invest $1 billion in the county, records show.

Council voted on two items Monday night related to the project. Both passed unanimously as part of council’s consent agenda, meaning there was no discussion or debate.

The first and larger item involved an incentive agreement between the county and company. Council passed the second of three votes needed to set up the incentive. A third and final vote would come with a public hearing at a later meeting. Council has its next scheduled meeting Aug. 21.

One part of the agreement would allow the company to pay a negotiated fee rather than taxes for a set period. Such agreements are fairly common in the region for large employers who look to enter or expand in a market.

The other vote council passed Monday authorizes an application for a $200,000 state economic development grant for Project Cobra. There’s no local match required from the county. The county authorized a similar application, for the same amount, for another proposal on Monday called Project Firecracker.

Last month council started the Project Cobra incentive deal vote process for what documents describe as a new data center. Submitted documents showed the company planned to invest at least $1 billion and create a dozen new full-time jobs within eight years.

The deal would require at least $900 million of investment and 10 new jobs to get the proposed tax incentives. The county would then allow the company to pay a fee instead of taxes for 40 years and would set an assessment rate below the typical rate with an adjustable millage rate.

The company would be allowed special source credits against those fee payments that would go to infrastructure costs.

Documents made public related to Monday night’s votes offer the same information. They state the company is based outside South Carolina, but don’t list a name. Investment, fee and other details remain the same from the decision last month.

This story was originally published July 18, 2023, 9:57 AM.

Land use decisions dot the York, Lancaster and Chester counties area that could bring a wave of new homes and business.

Some are large like the Costco coming to Indian Land, or the former Herald site in Rock Hill. Others are smaller steps in the months or sometimes years of planning that goes into development.

Below are some of the ongoing projects happening now in the Rock Hill region:

? Warren Norman Company applied to rezone almost 8 acres at 3151 Hwy. 21 in Fort Mill to create a two-story indoor storage facility with an enclosed RV storage building. The site is across the main highway from Regent Parkway, and east of I-77. The 50,000-square-foot construction will leave about half the property remaining for future development.

? MJ Rooster Investments applied to create a 74-acre subdivision called Southern Pine Lake. The site would have 38 new homes. The Riddle Mill Road location is between S.C. 557 and Oakridge Road in Lake Wylie. The site is beside the Patrick Place subdivision.

? The planning commission in Tega Cay saw plans in June for the third phase, second map of the city’s Windhaven development. Documents from builder Lennar show 66 townhome units on 10 acres at Gold Hill Road and Hubert Graham Way, as part of a larger 109 proposed townhomes on almost 17 acres.

? The city planning commission also saw a revised preliminary site plan for Windell Woods. The Shea Homes plan involves 137 homes on 52 acres and Dam and Gardendale roads.

? True Homes applied for final plat in the second phase of Penley Place in Clover. The second and final phase will be 56 townhomes on almost 10 acres. The full Penley Place project will be 134 units on 19 acres. The development is located on U.S. 321, or North Main Street.

? Owners of 1573 Old North Main St. in Clover applied to annex the 47-acre property and zone it for high-density residential use. The site is near Westgate Industrial Park, Clover Liberty Pentecostal Church and the Penley Place townhomes. According to the application to the town, the owner doesn’t have an intended use listed for the property.

? Boma Vacation Rentals applied to rezone 219 N. Main St. in Clover to high density residential, to allow for remodeling of an existing building into duplex rental units. The property is less than an acre.

? True Homes, the Lancaster County Forfeited Land Commission and B&C Landholdings asked for a preliminary plat for a new Edgewater phase in Lancaster County. The county planning commission will hear the case June 20. The development would be 47 acres at Edgewater Parkway and Gateway Drive, and would include 106 homes and 49 townhomes.

? Exeter Development Company applied for an extension of time to build its Patterson Preserve subdivision. The county planning commission approved plans in 2019, but vested rights expired earlier this year. Original plans showed 181 homes in two phases, on 103 acres adjacent to Harrisburg and Barberville roads in Indian Land. The planning commission will hear the request June 20.

? Spirit 1st Ministries received a special exception from the county zoning board of appeals that will allow a Christian campground site on Kendelwood Drive, northeast of Lancaster. The site on the south side of Shiloh Unity Road is 335 acres, but the campground and RV plan involves 20 acres for retreats, team building and similar activities.

? In December the county approved a development agreement for Shiloh Woods, a subdivision of 398 homes along West Shiloh Unity Road. Such an agreement typically allows a developer five years to start the project. A change earlier this week clarified the property owner will have five years from the point development agreement conditions are met, deeds recorded and other matters to come, rather than from the mid-December approval date.

? The Timmons Group and others applied for a permit to put a Tommy’s Car Wash automated facility on 3 acres at 168 Fort Mill Highway. The county planning commission will review the request June 20.

? Fielding Homes withdrew its request in Chester County to rezone 180 acres for a new subdivision on Grant Farm Road. Prior company plans showed a request for a 400-home subdivision called Richburg Meadows. At the Chester County Council meeting earlier this month, county staff indicated the property owner would look to move forward with site development, but with a new builder.

? Homebuilder D.R. Horton asked council to hold off on decisions related to another home subdivision in Richburg, until June 20. Magnolias Trace is a D.R. Horton proposal for close to 500 acres and could add more than 1,100 new residences.

The canvass of York County to determine critical road needs is halfway home.

After last week’s meeting in Clover, the citizen committee tasked with creating the next Pennies for Progress road list heads into its summer swing. The committee already has heard from Tega Cay, Lake Wylie and Clover, plus groups that serve urbanized and rural areas countywide.

The latter half of its public meeting list visits York on June 21. Then to Fort Mill on July 19 and Sharon on Aug. 16 before wrapping up in Rock Hill on Sept. 20. Future meetings are still a possibility.

Pennies for Progress is a voter-approved one-cent sales tax to fund road work. A referendum sets up the tax for seven years. It started in 1997 in York County, and the next vote is expected in November 2024. The citizen commission, after visiting areas countywide for input, will create a list York County Council either can approve or deny in full for the ballot next fall.

At the halfway point, here are the projects presented to the commission thus far:

City staff presented four widening and two repaving projects in March. Widening Dam Road to three lanes from S.C. 160 to Gardendale Road with a new roundabout at Gardendale would serve the new “Main Street” project the city envisions at the former Game On property. Plus new home developments Windell Woods and Cadence use Dam Road.

Widening Sutton Road to four lanes from Mills Lane to the I-77 northbound ramp would match it with other four-lane stretches in the area that serves Baxter, Mason’s Bend, Catawba Park and more. It also would create a better alternate route for interstate congestion.

Widening Pleasant Road to four lanes from S.C. 160 to Gold Hill Road would continue that Sutton Road collector system. It has access along schools now served with an older, two-lane, farm-to-town road setup.

Widening New Gray Rock Road to three lanes from Sutton Road to Bluebell Way would help with demand from the buildout of Lakeridge, Cadence, Windell Woods, Catawba Park and Catawba River access.

The city presented repaving projects on Dam Road from Gardendale Road to Coralbell Way, and Stonecrest Boulevard from Hubert Graham Way to Dam Road.

The Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study covers urbanized areas of York and Lancaster counties. Catawba Regional Council of Governments serves rural parts of York County. Both groups presented projects jointly in April.

Widening of U.S. 21 to five lanes in Fort Mill, from S.C. 160 to the Catawba River and Rock Hill, would serve large areas like Kingsley, Baxter and Riverwalk. It’s also the likeliest corridor for future mass transit, and the main option now to bypass I-77 during high traffic times.

A new pedestrian flyover bridge added onto the ongoing S.C. 160 and I-77 interchange project, over S.C. 160, is an option. So are improvements on the S.C. 160 corridor for future transit options like bus routes. RFATS presented interchange upgrade needs at Exit 77 in Rock Hill, and recommendations from a recent corridor study on S.C. 49 in Lake Wylie from Buster Boyd Bridge to Three Points. RFATS also pitched widening of Dobys Bridge Road in Fort Mill as an alternative to S.C. 160 heading to Indian Land.

On the western side of York County, Catawba Regional offered two widening and six intersection improvements. They center on safety upgrades. Widening work, both in Clover, would involve S.C. 55 from Rockford Way to Clinton Avenue near downtown and U.S. 321 Main or Main Street from Flatrock to Marion streets.

U.S. 321 intersections at Johnson/Devinney roads, West Liberty Street and Alexander Love Highway were proposed. So were Old North Main Street and U.S. 321, and at Memorial Drive and Clinton Avenue in Clover. Old Limestone and Meadow roads in York also made the recommendation list.

The Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce, with a committee including Clover School District officials and others, presented earlier this month for an area where population has increased significantly in recent years. More new home development and even a new high school are coming.

Lake Wylie requests include directional island, raised medians and other S.C. 49 improvements listed in the recent RFATS corridor study. Improvement of lanes in front of Clover High School made the request list for safety. So did a Montgomery and Bonum roads connections to Robinwood Lane, to create a parallel route to S.C. 49. To the south, there’s similar Carrol Cove and Evergreen roads connections to Hamiltons Ferry Road.

Larger ideas include an extension of Pole Branch Road and a new bridge across the Catawba River, connecting Rock Hill either to Tega Cay or Fort Mill, to take traffic off Buster Boyd Bridge.

Widening of Paraham Road and repaving of a host of other roads also made the request list.

A main concern offered in Lake Wylie wasn’t for a new road project, but a long-awaited one. Pennies approved new work on S.C. 557 as part of its 2003 campaign. The project carried over to its 2011 referendum.

“The taxes have been collected and that road needs to be done now or soon,” said Susan Bromfield, president of the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce. “It is a safety issue.”

Further delay, Bromfield said, could impact how voters in the Lake Wylie area feel about the next Pennies vote when they head to the polls.

Earlier this month Clover Town Council approved its list to present to the Pennies commission. Clover offers two widening, three resurfacing, five intersection and five sidewalk projects. Many are connected.

Requested widening jobs are S.C. 55 from Griggs Road to Charlotte Highway, and from Jackson Terrace to Clinton Avenue and Sumter Street. They combine for almost five miles. Resurfacing work would come on Old North Main Street from North Main to Columbia streets, Jackson Terrace from Bethel Street to Hampshire Lane/Valley Avenue and McConnell Street from South Main to White streets.

The North Main and Old North Main streets intersection made the recommendation list, as did intersections at North Main and Columbia, Bethel Street and Jackson Terrace, South Main and Flatrock Street/Huffman Way and Tom Joye Street at St. Paul Church Road, Saturn Lane and Memorial Drive.

Sidewalk requests are sections of S.C. 557, Soaring Eagles Road, Guinn and North Main streets, Jackson Terrace and Clinton Avenue.

Cities, towns and public groups presented projects in the first half of commission meetings, and others will in the coming half. But anyone in York County can suggest a road or intersection. There’s an online option at penniesforprogress.net.

This story was originally published May 23, 2023, 8:23 AM.

School soon will let out for summer. In some areas this fall, and perhaps more to follow, it won’t come back the same.

Some school districts will transition to a modified calendar this fall.

Others will do so next year. Students will come back sooner from summer break. In some places, new week-long breaks will be added during the year. Change could be short-term or, if successful, could alter when students attend school each year.

“We’re all looking for innovative ways to support student learning,” said York School District public information officer Latoya Dixon, whose district starts a modified calendar Aug. 7. “We’ll all be watching to see what the benefits are.”

For years, area school officials bemoaned a state requirement that school start no sooner than the third Monday in August. Depending on how late that third Monday falls in August, the requirement can complicate schedules particularly at the high school level where classes run one semester. The 2024-25 school year is one such year when it will be hard to balance those semesters on either side of a winter break.

In recent years districts began to look closer at the third Monday rule, which states districts must follow it unless they implement a modified year-round calendar.

“We’ve talked a lot in here about, what is a modified calendar?” Fort Mill School District public information officer Joe Burke said when that district board met Tuesday night. “And my response has been, nobody knows.”

Rather than a full year-round calendar, districts began to look at smaller changes that could keep a shorter but still relatively long summer break while adding time off during traditional school months. Those changes vary considerably.

Burke said he visited websites for the almost 80 districts statewide to see their coming calendars. About 50 of them have modified calendars beginning this fall. Burke said start dates ranged from July 21 to Aug. 14. Some added a week to spring break. Some used off time to help students catch up, while others used it as full breaks from school.

“I saw everything,” Burke said. “So again, there is no standard for what actually would be a modified calendar.”

York and Clover schools will start with a modified calendar this fall. Fort Mill schools will and Rock Hill schools may start modified calendars for the 2024-25 school year.

York schools run Aug. 7 to May 30. In addition to the typical winter and spring breaks, there are weeks off scheduled for students Oct. 9-13 and Feb. 19-23. Clover schools will run Aug. 8 to May 30. There are slight variations, but Clover schools have the same October and February weeks off as York does.

“While this will be a mindset shift and adjustment for our community,” York superintendent Kelly Coxe said in announcing the change earlier this year, “this calendar provides us with an option that we have not had before.”

York will be able to use additional time off during the year to help students who fall behind in classwork, something discussed in other area districts as well.

The Fort Mill school board voted Tuesday night to adopt a modified calendar for 2024-25. Initially Fort Mill had drafts similar to York and Clover, with extra weeks off during the school year but a shortened summer. Instead Fort Mill will run Aug. 8 to May 23 to shift the calendar earlier. It won’t start as early as other versions, but also won’t have the extra weeks off school.

Teachers having to come back in July was an issue in the feedback process, Burke said, which caused concern with the model more similar to York and Clover.

“Everybody generally sees July as, that’s at least my summer month,” Burke said. “Nothing is going to get taken away there.”

Rock Hill has a more traditional calendar this fall but has been soliciting public feedback for the 2024-25 year. One draft in Rock Hill runs Aug. 19 to June 5 that year. Another runs Aug. 5 to June 5 with extra weeks off for students in October and February.

The Lancaster County School District has a traditional calendar for the upcoming school year. The Chester County School District starts back Aug. 7 and school won’t end until May 31, 2024. Included are full week breaks for students in October, November and February in addition to winter and spring breaks.

Because Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are so close, school calendars there can impact the Rock Hill region from availability of summer workers at Carowinds to childcare options for parents or teachers who may live and work on opposite sides of the state line. CMS schools traditionally start later than York County ones. For the coming school year, CMS schools run from Aug. 28 to June 7.

Teachers in the York School District will get paid more starting this fall.

On Tuesday night, the York School District board voted unanimously to approve a $3,000 increase in teacher pay. The change starts with the 2023-24 school year. Superintendent Kelly Coxe said she believes people make the difference in her district, and the board decision reflects it.

“When we can put action to our words, our people can feel the impact of that,” Coxe said.

The district is hopeful the increases will help with recruitment and retention. Especially at a time of widespread teacher shortages across the state and nation.

“Investing in our teachers will have a direct impact on the quality of education and care that the children of our district receive each day,” said assistant superintendent and finance officer Amy Hagner.

State legislators presented versions of a state budget that would increase the minimum teacher salary by $2,500. Yet that move wouldn’t impact area districts, like York, that already pay above the state minimum.

The South Carolina Department of Education publishes salary schedules for districts statewide. For the current year, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would make $42,180 in York. That figure is below what the same teacher would get in the Fort Mill ($43,700), Clover ($43,511), Rock Hill ($43,418) and Lancaster County ($42,940) districts. It’s the same amount the teacher would get in Chester County.

Teacher pay increases as years of service accrue, and with more degrees for teachers. A teacher with a doctorate and 20 years experience would get $78,641 in York compared to $81,121 in Clover, $80,171 in Rock Hill and $79,342 in Fort Mill.

The state education department lists average teacher salary by district as recently as the 2021-22 school year. That year, York paid almost $1,000 more than the state average. At $55,786, York was right between Fort Mill ($55,832) and Rock Hill ($55,709). Those districts were above the average pay in Lancaster ($54,036) and Chester ($53,415) counties.

Clover, at $57,436 average pay, was fourth highest among 79 listed districts statewide.

For perspective on the $3,000 increase for York schools, the highest average pay district on that 2021-22 list was Dist. 5 in Lexington and Richland counties which paid a little more than $4,600 more than the state average.

Other districts may plan their own bumps for the coming school year. But, based on salary schedules for the current year, another $3,000 for the first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would make York the highest-paying district in the state for that position.

This story was originally published May 10, 2023, 2:10 PM.