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With less than a week until they’re set, school attendance lines in Fort Mill are still changing.

Some parents want to know where their neighborhoods will go. Others want to know why the district would send any students to the two schools set to open.

The school board heard a new attendance zone recommendation on Tuesday night that would impact thousands of elementary and middle school students starting next year. That’s when Flint Hill Elementary School is set to open on Gold Hill Road. Flint Hill Middle School will open in 2026.

Those schools will share a campus that’s right beside the controversial Silfab Solar property on Logistics Lane.

Many property owners in the area have spoken out against Silfab operating there, concerned that the company will store and could potentially release dangerous chemicals. The company states it will adhere to all state and federal safety guidelines, and that it won’t harm the environment.

The board saw preliminary attendance line changes Oct. 1, then had a revised version two weeks later.

About 450 emails came in between, with parents across the district asking about the impact to their neighborhoods. About 200 more emails arrived in the past two weeks.

The latest version moves the Zoar Road area to Tega Cay Elementary School to improve bus routes. The Reserve at Gold Hill moves back to Pleasant Knoll Elementary School, from Flint Hill Elementary.

The Holbrook Road area on the district’s southern end goes back to Forest Creek Middle School, after prior versions had them moving to Fort Mill Middle School.

About 2,700 students would’ve been impacted by a move to a new school under the prior line change option. The new recommendation dips that number below 2,400 students.

On Friday, a group of “parents, family, friends and neighbors of children” that would attend the Flint Hill schools under the district proposal emailed and sent a letter to the district.

They asked administrators and board members for details on their decision to build schools in a light industrial area. They also asked why the district didn’t speak out, as a neighboring property owner, against York County allowing Silfab to operate on its property.

The letter includes 115 signatures.

Within the past week, the district reached out for legal advice related to Silfab, board Chairwoman Kristy Spears said at the meeting Tuesday. No details were provided.

There are two ongoing court cases with Silfab.

In one, the company appealed a county Zoning Board of Appeals decision that solar panel manufacturing shouldn’t be allowed in light industrial properties. The other case involves a group of citizens seeking an injunction and restraining order to stop Silfab from producing solar panels on Logistics Lane.

All district schools have emergency plans that include possible evacuation, reunification sites and related details, said district spokesman Joe Burke. The district doesn’t share those details publicly for security reasons and because they could change depending on a given emergency.

Chemical storage at Silfab would be similar to properties near other schools, district officials say, like the US Foods distribution site or rail lines that might transport chemicals. The Flint Hill schools will have a full complement of emergency response plans just like schools in those areas do, Burke said.

Board members hear concern from the Habersham area, with its 192 elementary and middle school students, not wanting to leave the Pleasant Knoll schools. Knightsbridge, Hawk’s Creek and the Reserve neighborhood have been vocal about proposed changes.

Some of the most complaints come, not surprisingly, from some of the biggest neighborhoods in the areas that have to be rezoned near the new schools.

Some of those neighborhoods combine for 200 or more elementary and middle school students. Switching them to account for all the public feedback could put some schools over capacity even with the newly opened schools.

“We are talking about a very large amount of kids,” said board member Michele Branning.

New lines are based on about 8,200 elementary and 4,500 middle school students. Elementary students take up 80% of the total district capacity at that level. With a new school, students would use 71% of elementary capacity. Middle school students would go from taking up 80% to 66% of their capacity.

More than 200 students are frozen now, meaning they live in one attendance area but are sent to another school with more capacity due to crowding. The new schools and lines would unfreeze those students.

The Flint Hill schools each are being built for up to 1,200 students. No existing elementary or middle school has room for more than 1,000 students.

Flint Hill Elementary would get 840 students when it opens, based on current projections. Flint Hill Middle would get 568 students. Schools across the district would have their enrollment balanced, but not perfectly.

Today, Riverview Elementary School is at 60% capacity. Gold Hill Elementary is at 92% and Springfield Elementary is at 95%. The new lines would keep all elementary schools at or below 79% capacity for next school year.

Riverview still would be lowest at 62% capacity, due to ongoing construction in its attendance zone like the massive Elizabeth neighborhood.

“We have open space for the areas that we think that we’re going to have some growth in,” Burke said of the proposed elementary recommendation. “All of our schools are getting pretty well utilized there.”

Gold Hill Middle School is at 96% capacity now. Pleasant Knoll Middle School is at 90%. The new recommendation lowers both those figures, but they remain highest among middle schools at up to 90% for Gold Hill. T

he new recommendation has higher capacity at schools where residential construction is largely built out already, Burke said.

The district expects the latest attendance line version to be the same or similar to what the board will choose on Nov. 5. There could still be changes, however.

The district only recently learned, for instance, of a downtown Fort Mill apartment development that could bring 225 apartments.

The latest proposal is online at fortmillschools.org. Parents can comment on the new attendance lines by emailing communications@fortmillschools.org.

This story was originally published October 30, 2024, 12:47 PM.

The Herald

803-329-4076

John Marks graduated from Furman University in 2004 and joined the Herald in 2005. He covers community growth, municipalities, transportation and education mainly in York County and Lancaster County. The Fort Mill native earned dozens of South Carolina Press Association awards and multiple McClatchy President’s Awards for news coverage in Fort Mill and Lake Wylie.

Thinking about buying a new home? Odds are the Rock Hill region still will have plenty of them under construction when the time comes.

Since the start of October, communities across York and Lancaster counties have seen numerous new subdivision requests. Nearly a dozen of them working through or just finished with approvals would combine for about 2,000 homes and apartments.

Those figures don’t include the thousands of residences approved but not yet built across the region.

Here’s a look at where some of the larger new residential projects may go:

▪ Rock Hill City Council amended an agreement Nov. 11 that could lead to a property sale downtown. The result will be a 300-apartment project on the former Herald newspaper site at Main Street, White Street and Dave Lyle Boulevard. The project, by developer White Point, will take up a block at about 7 acres.

▪ The Fort Mill planning commission recommended a rezoning that would allow hundreds of downtown apartments last month, but Fort Mill Town Council voted Nov. 11 to hold off on a decision until at least January. Williamson Mill would have commercial space along with 225 apartments at Williamson Street, Watson Street and Railroad Avenue. The converted former mill sits on a 16-acre site.

▪ Pulte Homes got the Fort Mill Planning Commission to approve a sketch plan Oct. 15 for the Williams Reserve subdivision. It allows for up to 408 residences as a mix of homes, townhomes and senior living sites. The 78-acre site is at Williams Road, North Dobys Bridge Road and Fort Mill Parkway.

▪ Titan Land Partners asked to put 37 home lots on 212 acres in Lake Wylie. Called Legacy Point, the homes would be off Concord Road on a large peninsula near Catawba Nuclear Station. The York County Planning Commission approved plans Nov. 12.

▪ On Oct. 7, the Tega Cay Planning Commission approved 33 homes on 9 acres, as the latest part of the city’s River Falls subdivision. Homebuilder Taylor Morrison is behind the project at Gold Hill Road and River Falls Drive.

▪ Gladden Builders applied to build 20 homes on 29 acres near York. The Old Hope Farm site is at York Highway and Tirzah Road, opposite the end of Billy Wilson Road. The county planning commission approved plans Nov. 12.

▪ Riverchase Estate Partners and LGI Homes applied to put 343 more homes in Lancaster County’s Riverchase Estates subdivision. The county planning commission approved the almost 580-acre project last month. The property is west of Riverside Road and south of Cobblestone Way.

▪ Springland, Inc. put a request in with the city of Lancaster for the Scarlet Grove subdivision east of U.S. 521 Bypass. The company needs a special exception to put 319 homes on 117 acres. The city zoning board of appeals will hear the case Nov. 18. The property is between Pageland Highway and Flat Creek Road. It’s part of nearly 1,500 new homes approved in recent months by the city, for buildout in the next 10 years.

▪ True Homes applied to build Eagles Landing, the next portion of Edgewater in Lancaster County. A 66-acre site off Edgewater Parkway and Crooked Stick Drive would add another 125 homes. The larger Edgewater project has about 1,000 homes built, with several large phases remaining.

The county planning commission is scheduled to decide on the plan Nov. 19.

▪ The city of Lancaster’s planning commission held public hearings on two residential projects on Nov. 5. Coulston Enterprises applied to put 66 townhomes on nearly 8 acres at Lynwood Drive, Lymon Reece and Reece roads. A separate decision involves property at 450 Elm St.

▪ On Nov. 12, Lancaster County passed the second of three votes needed rezone property for a subdivision at Lancaster Bypass and Kershaw Camden Highway. BRD Land & Investments, affiliated with Buller River Developments, applied to build on the 27-acre Connor family tract. A sketch plan shows 58 new homes there.

This story was originally published November 15, 2024, 9:06 AM.

The Herald

803-329-4076

John Marks graduated from Furman University in 2004 and joined the Herald in 2005. He covers community growth, municipalities, transportation and education mainly in York County and Lancaster County. The Fort Mill native earned dozens of South Carolina Press Association awards and multiple McClatchy President’s Awards for news coverage in Fort Mill and Lake Wylie.

FORT MILL — With construction nearly done on one school and work to begin on another, the Fort Mill School District Board of Trustees wasn't swayed by the idea of waiting to open the facilities for possible developments for a nearby proposed solar panel plant.

The board took a 6-1 vote on Nov. 5 to proceed with a student attendance realignment process that will send students into Flint Hill Elementary and Flint Hill Middle School across the next two years. But that vote came after boisterous objections disrupted the board meeting and Chairwoman Kristy Thames Spears called for a break to settle the room.

Some parents wanted the board to wait for legal disputes to settle regarding Silfab Solar's plant, which will be within eyesight of the new schools. The schools are on the north side of Gold Hill Road, while Silfab is leasing a warehouse on Logistics Lane, north of the school properties, where it will produce solar panels.

Residents are concerned about either long-term exposure risk or explosive disaster from the plant, which will use silane and hydrochloric acid in its manufacturing process. The warehouse is in a light-industrial area, whereas opponents said such manufacturing belongs in a heavy-industrial zone. Silane is a colorless, poisonous gas that’s easily ignited in air.

Business

Some board members said they've been satisfied with the work done by the schools, York County and the state Department of Public Health to be confident that the facility will be safe to be near the schools.

"We have very stringent guidelines that we look at to make sure our schools are safe," Trustee Scott Frattaroli said. "We trust in the agencies, so it's very difficult for a group of people to tell me, 'Don't trust the processes that have worked for us before. But trust us. Trust the research we've done on the internet and what we believe this company is going to do.' It's difficult for me to reconcile that."

Trustee Joe Helms made the sole vote against proceeding with the realignment. While he said his conscience led him to vote no, he was concerned how some observers might interpret his vote because his children will be future Flint Hill students.

"The reality is, if I voted no, it would sound like, 'Oh, he just doesn't want his kids to go there,' " Helms said.

District spokesman Joseph Burke said crowding issues and the finances of building schools, but not opening them would put the district in a difficult spot.

"We have several hundred kids now that are on enrollment freezes and we're trying to alleviate that," he said.

A delay, even for a few months, wouldn't allow the district to staff the schools, Burke said.

"We'll have the principal usually come on a minimum of a half year in advance and start staffing the school," Burke said. "Contracts for all school districts go out in April or May. If you're not hiring by then, you're not putting anybody in that school until the following year."

The Tuesday night vote coincided with Election Day. Incumbents Spears, Frattaroli, and Anthony Boddie retained their seats against challengers Ellen Abramo, Denise Casey and Michelle K. Hoffman.

Lamaur Stancil writes about government, business, schools and entertainment in York County. He can be reached at 803-687-3436 or at X at @LamaurStancil

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