FORT MILL, S.C. — A debate is heating up over what happens with a piece of land at a busy Fort Mill intersection.
A Charlotte company wants to rezone and build on the site at Highway 21 and Flint Hill Road, but it’s getting pushback from some neighbors.
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The property is currently covered with trees, and Fort Mill neighbor Jalen Hodges said he would like it to stay that way.
“What I would like for it to be is maybe like a park space, you know, green space for us,” Hodges said.
SDP Charlotte, LLC is asking to rezone the land near Highway 21 and Flint Hill Road from general commercial to light industrial, allowing a warehousing flex space on the site. Leaders said it would house tenants for individual companies.
At a meeting this week, neighbors raised concerns about the proposal.
“We have concerns about the traffic that will be generated by the warehouses,” one speaker said during the meeting.
Neighbors said the area is already congested.
“I think it’s the type of traffic that would happen if they built this, you know, all the trucks, it would just be a lot,” Hodges said.
Some residents are also concerned about the types of businesses that could move into the site if the rezoning is approved.
Council members voted to require a traffic analysis before a final vote. They also want restrictions put in writing that would limit the types of businesses allowed to operate there.
“... Striking them from ever possibly being able to go there to help ease some of the concerns that we’ve heard from some of the neighbors,” Councilman William Bump Roddey said.
Things, such as data centers and shooting ranges, would be prohibited under the proposed restrictions, along with several types of manufacturing.
Hodges said he is waiting to see what happens next.
“So we’re hoping that maybe like the traffic study will show them that, you know, this is just too busy right here,” he said.
County leaders said Walmart currently owns the land. The site was once intended for a Walmart grocery store project, but those plans never moved forward.
Council will take a third and final vote after the traffic study is complete.