Committee to decide what can be built on Fort Mill bypass

FORT MILL, N.C. — Wednesday night is the final chance for neighbors to speak out about what they want, and don't want to see built along a major new Fort Mill Road.

A $41 million bypass is being built around the town of Fort Mill. Within two years, it will save commuters time and unclog city streets.

However, a committee of city leaders and residents are trying to decide what should be allowed along the new road.

The 4-mile-long southern bypass will link Highway 21 coming out of Rock Hill to Highway 160 heading toward Indian Land and it will take some traffic off congested streets downtown.

It's being built thanks to York County's 1 cent sales tax program called Pennies for Progress.

Now, the concern of officials and citizens is concerned over zoning along the new road. Thanks to input from neighbors, there will not be any strip clubs, title loan places or used car dealerships anywhere on the southern bypass once it opens.

The proposed zoning overlay district bans those kinds of businesses.

Committee members also want to make sure that other types of larger retail stores are built in the most public areas.

Fort Mill Town Councilman Tom Adams is on the committee and is planning for future development along the bypass.

"We don't want it to wind up looking like any other commercial street in America," Adams said. "Where you have a bunch of fast food and big box retailers."

The committee is working toward keeping the area livable, safe and uniform in what is allowed there.

"We want it to be a desirable place to be," Adams said.

Another goal is to protect homeowners by making sure there are buffers between residential areas and businesses, according to the committee's plans. However, some homeowners are still dealing with the frustration of having the new road going right through their property.

Jake Kimbrell showed Channel 9 the wooden stakes marking out where a cut-through road will go that across his rural front yard.

Just feet away from his home, heavy machines are building the road bed.

"Everything's coming right at us, and now it's right here in the front yard," Kimbrell said.

His parents have owned the home there for years and he can't imagine thinking about moving.

"I've always lived here. So, just basically having to get up and move from everything I've always had," he said.

The town of Fort Mill has more than doubled its size in the last 15 years. Much of that growth has been along Dobys Bridge Road on the southern end of the city, and along Highway 160, east of town.

City leaders said because of the explosive growth, developers are already clamoring to build along the southern bypass. That's why they appointed a committee to help lay some ground rules for development now.

The advisory committee has already met several times, and heard public comments. Next, the committee will present its plans for the overlay district to the town council for a vote, likely in November.

WSOC