Home Care In Fort Mill, SC

FORT MILL, S.C. — Some seniors in York County are speaking out, concerned they may be left without a home. They say there's just not enough affordable senior housing, making it a challenge for them to make ends meet.

For years, Marie Smith said she's been praying for more affordable senior housing in Fort Mill, collecting newspapers, magazines, and pretty much any document she can find to try to figure out why more affordable options haven't come.

She's lived in the town for decades, but as she's aged and moved to a fixed income, she said she's had fewer options for places to live.

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"I finally found this apartment, but it made me sick. I was so stressed out because where are you going to go?," Smith said. "They make comprehensive plans -- it says, ‘Partner with the Housing Authority and increase the supply of affordable housing.’ Well, is any of this happening?”

Tricia Hall, who's also a senior, has lived in Fort Mill for more than 20 years and said she's now looking to move to Rock Hill. She is on the waiting list for housing there.

Hall has been working part-time to supplement her fixed income to make her rent payments as the cost of living rises.

“I’ve already discussed with my daughter that eventually, maybe, I'm probably going to be moving in with her," she said.

Feeling unheard and unsure of who to call, they contacted WCNC Charlotte and we began contacting local leaders to learn more about the issue.

Connie Howard, who leads the Fort Mill Housing Authority, said there's limited housing across the board, not just for seniors.

“There hasn't been any affordable housing built. Nothing," Howard said, referencing recent years. "January, we took 1,500 applications. We have 141 units.”

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Howard said her office tried to attract developers, but some have turned them down because of the cost to build in Fort Mill.

"There's one in particular that was really working with me and he found land and it was $2.5 million dollars," Howard said. "Well, you've got to have money to do that."

Mayor Guynn Savage said the town has seen an increase in senior housing overall, but she said, it lacks the infrastructure to qualify for much of the funding that would help secure affordable developments.

"We do not have adequate workforce housing and affordable housing in Fort Mill, but we also do not qualify for a lot of the funding that's available to municipalities to build such housing," Savage said. "We don't have mass transit. We don't have areas that are walkable to grocery stores and to the services that people in those types of situations would need. So, I have traveled, as have other members of our staff, and looked at affordable housing in Charlotte and in other areas. We're in constant conversations with Rock Hill and other municipalities about how to go about it."

She added, "Fort Mill's blessed and challenged with very high property values.... It is a complex situation that certainly we look at and I would certainly like to find a reasonable approach to add affordable housing in Fort Mill.”

The seniors said they are just hoping for a solution soon.

"It's like, we're just on the back burner," Hall said.

Contact Kayland Hagwood at [email protected] and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.

This story is part of WCNC Charlotte’s efforts to focus on solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Charlotte. WCNC Charlotte is committed to reporting on the issues facing the communities we serve, including affordability. We tell the stories of people working to solve persistent social problems. We examine how problems can be solved or addressed to improve the quality of life and make a positive difference. WCNC Charlotte is seeking solutions for you by providing the following assistance programs in Charlotte:

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The deal would create 800 jobs and aims to meet the needs of the growing solar energy industry in the Carolinas.

FORT MILL, S.C. — A solar panel manufacturer is hoping to come to Fort Mill. The company got its second round of approval from York County leaders Monday and needs one more vote before moving forward.

The news comes as solar energy gains popularity in the Carolinas.

"10 years ago it was less than 1% of our energy mix in the Carolinas," explained Duke Energy spokesperson Ryan Wheeless. "Today it’s about 6%."

Duke Energy’s solar plant in Monroe has 600,000 panels and powers about 10,000 homes a year. Wheeless said North Carolina is fourth in the nation for solar power. He added about 42,000 homeowners have roof solar panels in North Carolina.

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"What you’re gonna see in the future is Duke Energy building more of these solar facilities," Wheeless said. He added Duke Energy recently signed contracts for 15 more solar panel plants across the country.

According to Wheeless, Duke Energy gets most of its solar panels from large manufacturers in southeast Asia.

"It'd be better if the panels were manufactured closer to our home," Wheeless said.

Silfab Solar wants to meet that need. Silfab is inching closer to approval from York County leaders to move into an existing Fort Mill facility. The deal would create 800 full-time jobs. The manufacturer's corporate office is in Ontario, Canada, but its website says its panels are exclusively made in the U.S.

Nearby, neighbors support clean energy but worry about the traffic the business would create on US-21.

"Everything over there is a one lane road in each direction," Fort Mill resident George Maloney said. "It’s going to add a lot of volume."

The facility is near land currently being cleared for future Fort Mill schools, which concerns neighbor Danielle Graham.

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"It's just a little too dangerous," Graham said. "It needs to sit in a rural area where it's got a buffer zone."

Graham said community members have raised several questions about air and water quality impacts the manufacturing facility could have and they're still waiting to be answered.

As more homeowners and energy suppliers in the Carolinas choose to soak up the sun for energy, Silfab Solar hopes to meet the demand. It’ll need one more vote of approval from York County leaders before moving forward.

The next York County Council meeting is on Sept. 5.

Silfab Solar has operations in Bellingham and Burlington, Wash., and Toronto, Canada. Silfab has been in the solar business for more than 40 years, the company said in a news release from the state Commerce Department.

Silfab Solar designs, engineers and manufactures its own premium brand of high-efficiency solar panels for residential and commercial use.

“Silfab Solar’s investment in South Carolina strengthens our North America manufacturing capabilities, creates good-paying jobs and provides the ideal East Coast location to serve our growing customers,” CEO Paolo Maccario said in the news release. “We look forward to expanding our industry-leading position for made-in-America solar. The company specifically chose York County as the ideal location to expand because of the community’s commitment to innovation, its quality of life and the availability of a skilled workforce. Silfab Solar looks forward to hiring and to begin production of next-generation solar modules.”

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The company is leasing a 785,000-square-foot building at 7149 Logistics Lane in Fort Mill for a facility that will manufacture the next-generation solar cell technology and boost U.S solar cell production, the release said.

“Silfab Solar selecting York County for a project that requires a highly skilled workforce shows that our workforce development investments are paying off in a big way,” Gov. Henry McMaster said in the release. “Our people are South Carolina’s greatest resource, and we are confident they will help Silfab Solar thrive in its latest venture. Congratulations to Silfab Solar on this project and welcome to South Carolina.”
Operations are expected to be online in the third quarter of 2024. Jobs are posted online.

“With an established West Coast presence, we are delighted that Silfab Solar chose South Carolina for its new, East Coast operations,” Commerce Secretary Harry M. Lightsey III said in the release. “Our state is proud to be a proven destination for growing companies seeking long-term success. Silfab Solar’s 800 new jobs represent incredible opportunities for York County and beyond.”

The Commerce Department’s Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job develoment credits related to the project. The council also awarded a $2 million Set-Aside grant to York County to assist with the costs of building improvements.

A sexual assault suspect is still on the run after attacking a woman in Fort Mill.

FORT MILL, S.C. — Editor's Note: This story discusses sexual assault, which may include descriptions of violent acts. Reader discretion is advised.

A typical Monday morning run was interrupted by a stranger.

The York County Sheriff's Office said the incident happened around 5:30 Monday morning along North Sutton Road while a woman was out jogging.

"I screamed, I did not know I had those screams in me," the alleged victim said.

The woman said she could hear footsteps behind her getting closer but assumed it was another runner.

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"He grabbed around my body from the back," she said. "Still at this point I don't think I'm being attacked, I think this is a runner friend and someone is really happy to see me."

Her thoughts quickly changed after being tackled and thrown to the ground. That's when she started tussling and yelling in an attempt to get away from her attacker.

"He began touching me inappropriately and I started screaming and kicking," she said.

The victim said she’s not sure what made the suspect go away, but she quickly ran into the road toward headlights, getting the attention of a driver coming down the street.

"I thank whoever that driver [was], thank you -- that night I lost innocence," she said. "Now when I hear footsteps, I'm going to run faster or go to the other side of the street."

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While this incident has encouraged lots of precaution, she said it will never stop her from doing what she loves.

"I will run alone again," she said. "I am not going to be scared because he doesn't get to win."

She said it's a freedom she is hoping other women who run will not let be stolen away.

K-9s were requested to track the suspect and were able to pick up a track but could not find the man, according to deputies. The suspect is described as a white male who is approximately 5-foot-8. He was wearing dark clothing, a gray hat and possibly jeans and a mask, investigators said.

Anyone with information on the suspect's whereabouts is asked to contact the York County Sheriff's Office at 803-628-3059.

Contact Tradesha Woodard at [email protected] and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.

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FORT MILL, S.C. — A convicted felon accused of having pipe bombs at his apartment also called in a bomb threat to a high school, a search warrant says.

Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz was able to obtain the search warrant Wednesday for 50-year-old Derek Johnson’s south Charlotte apartment.

Nothing was ever found at Fort Mill High School, but authorities did find pipe bombs at Johnson’s apartment.

Johnson allegedly called in the bomb threat on Oct. 13 just on the other side of school grounds. The school was put on lockdown.

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In the search warrant, investigators said Johnson called 911 that morning and said, “you’re gonna need fire... I put a bomb in there last night and if anybody tries to leave everybody’s gonna die... They’re gonna appreciate our veterans.”

Authorities traced the call and said Johnson made it at the Peach Stand gas station a mile from the school. Once they matched the phone to Johnson, investigators went to his apartment on Farmhurst Drive.

At Johnson’s apartment, the property manager showed officers the red Cadillac sedan that Johnson drove. Police were able to run the car’s plates and got a hit in the area of the Peach Stand. It matched the time that the threat was made to the high school. CCTV footage from the Peach Stand showed Johnson, in the red Cadillac, pull into the parking lot just before the call was made.

As Sáenz first reported on Tuesday, last Thursday, a bomb squad and others descended on Johnson’s south Charlotte apartment off Farmhurst Road.

According to the search warrant, investigators searched his apartment and car and found two filled pipe bombs, a semi-automatic pistol, four firearm magazines, screws and coins, among other things.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is leading this investigation.

Johnson is still in jail. He’s facing several charges in Charlotte and also several felonies in South Carolina.

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FORT MILL — Kassie Netherland’s life plan appeared to be curtailed when doctors told her she would need open-heart surgery last year.

But a new opportunity was opening close to home.

The 23-year-old Rock Hill resident and University of South Carolina graduate thought 2023 would be the year she would begin earning her master’s degree.

But an irregular heartbeat, known as supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), began affecting her health and she returned to her parents’ home to recover and prepare her Plan B.

As Netherland had her surgery last summer, Laurel Institute of Technology prepped to open in September its campus in Fort Mill off of State Road 160 south of the Tega Cay area.

Officials there said based on feedback from Rock Hill area employers, the first program they wanted to launch was for cardiovascular technology.

Given her field of study — exercise science — and her physical ailment, Netherland said her interest was piqued and she enrolled as one of the first 15 students. She and others in the courses are learning to perform cardiac sonography and echocardiogram procedures.

“Our family has had a history with cardiac conditions,” she said. “And I always wanted to be in a hospital setting.”

Netherland is on her way to completing Laurel’s 16-month certificate program for cardiovascular technology. The Fort Mill site is the Laurel’s fourth, following their locations in Morgantown, W.V., and the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Penn.

“We noticed a lot of people moving from western Pennsylvania to the Charlotte area,” Laurel President Douglas Decker said. “It kind of became a natural place to look to expand. We wanted to serve an area that’s growing. We spent over two years prior to opening the school just meeting with people, seeing where there was a need for what we do.”

They met with local leaders like Dean Faile, CEO of the York County Chamber of Commerce, who connected school officials with area hospitals and medical offices. That allowed the school to choose cardiovascular technology as the initial program, Decker said, based on the feedback.

“They want to be a real good partner,” Faile said.

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While Laurel just opened its Fort Mill site last year, plans are for staff and students to move to a larger building in the same block later in 2024.

Decker said that should be accompanied by an additional certificate program, but he and other school leaders are still assessing what that could be.

For Laurel’s other campuses, it offers a variety of other healthcare disciplines, as well as programs in business, education, culinary arts, trades and cosmetology.

“We’re looking at that middle-skills occupation group, something that takes less than a bachelor’s degree but more than a high school diploma,” Decker said. “They’re the ones that get things done in our economy. And those folks have never been more in demand than they are now.”

Folks who want to try some of the best-known Rock Hill and Fort Mill restaurants can do it on a deal, with the arrival of two restaurant weeks.

South Carolina and Charlotte each have restaurant weeks where eateries set fixed-price menus. They overlap this month. Most options include appetizers, an entree and dessert, and many restaurants encourage reservations.

Last year, York County launched its own restaurant week with the YoCo Taste Trail Week. That event happens in the summer.

Restaurant Week South Carolina began Thursday, and runs through Jan. 21. Six York County restaurants are participating:

? Carolina Ale House in Kingsley has a three-course lunch or dinner for $24.99. Entrees are a Buffalo zinger wrap and sourdough patty melt.

? Flipside Restaurant Group’s Salmeri’s Italian Kitchen, The Flipside Cafe and The Flipside Restaurant have three-course dinners for $32 or $35. Entrees at Salmeri’s include lobster and shrimp ravioli, Cajun shrimp fettuccine, pumpkin ravioli. Flipside sites have almost their full entree menus participating.

? FM Eatery, also part of the Flipside group, offers four courses for $40. Small plate choices include Cheerwine braised beef short ribs, buttermilk fried Argentinian red shrimp and braised lamb gnocchi.

? Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken is on the list, but a menu isn’t posted yet.

All of the York County locations are in Fort Mill or Rock Hill.

Four more Fort Mill and Rock Hill restaurants have deals on the menu with the return of Queen’s Feast in Charlotte. Charlotte Restaurant Week brings eateries together for prix fixe menus at $30-$50 per person. Reservations are recommended, and the dinner-only event runs from Jan. 19-28.

More than 100 restaurants will participate. The ones in York County are:

? Fish Market Bar and Grill in Baxter has $35 and $45 options, with entrees lobster mac and cheese, fig-glazed salmon, petit filet and Chilean sea bass.

? Napa at Kingsley is $40 per person with entrees like mushroom ravioli, pan-roasted salmon and braised short rib.

? Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails in Rock Hill lists a $40 menu with entrees country fried steak, Creole chicken linguine and autumn succotash.

? The Pump House, also in Rock Hill, also has a $40 menu, with entrees like shrimp and Anson Mills grits, mushroom pot pie, chicken and dumplings, slow braised short rib and grilled pork chop.

For some York and Lancaster county residents, the nearest participating restaurants may be across the state line. Communities like Ballantyne and Union County border the Lancaster County panhandle.

Steele Creek and Gaston County bump up against Lake Wylie, Clover and Tega Cay, while Pineville is connected to Fort Mill and Indian Land.

Those North Carolina communities have a combined 16 restaurants listed.

This story was originally published January 11, 2024, 12:05 PM.

FORT MILL — Gui Batista’s home is South Carolina.

His backyard view is that of North Carolina.

And that view, if the plans by the town of Pineville on the northern side of the border come to fruition, will feature an acre dedicated to an electric substation municipal leaders say is needed for the growing city.

“We’re in an awkward position,” Batista said about his family and his neighbors outside Fort Mill city limits. “We’re in York County. We won’t be getting benefit from this substation, we have no say in the votes, can’t vote for anyone on the council, and it will affect us as much as anyone.”

Pineville will hold a community meeting on the matter at 6 p.m. Jan. 4 at Town Hall. No firm date has been set for when the Town Council will hear the matter.

Utility officials says it’s a classic NIMBY issue — “not in my backyard.”

“Nobody wants a substation in their neighborhood,” said David Lucore, electric systems manager for Electricities of North Carolina, who is working with Pineville on the project. “We’ve looked at 10 properties, and this was the one that best fit the criteria we were looking for. It’s out of a flood plain, it’s near a Duke Power line and would be the least expensive location for the city.”

The geography of the diagonal state border complicates the dispute.

State Highway 51, also known as the Rock Hill-Pineville Road, is the east/west thoroughfare connecting Pineville to South Carolina. Near Miller Road, connecting to the south side of 51, is where motorists will see each state’s “Welcome To” signs.

The businesses and the homes off Miller on the south side of the highway are in Pineville.

Drive a block south on Miller, and Batista’s South Carolina home, where he moved six years ago, is on the west side in a subdivision called McCullough, where about two-thirds of the homes are in North Carolina and the rest are in South Carolina.

FORT MILL — For the first time in a decade, voters in the Fort Mill area will send a new face to the state General Assembly.

District 26 incumbent Rep. Raye Felder, R-Fort Mill, announced Dec. 4 that she will not run for another term in the House of Representatives.

She’ll serve out her sixth term through November 2024, when the next representative will be elected. She hasn’t said what she’ll do beyond that, beyond being supportive in general of the Fort Mill community.

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“I intend to retire for real this time,” said the former insurance agent who has grandchildren and great-grandchildren to spend time with. “It will have been 12 years by the time I finish. It’s just at the point in time I need to move on.”

The process to replace Felder starts just a few months from now. In March, filings open for all seats in the General Assembly.

“I wanted to announce early enough for anyone who wanted to run to decide,” she said.

Felder will hand off to the next representative a continuing series of challenges for Fort Mill as it absorbs growth from Charlotte.

“You have to sit in line for traffic in places where you didn’t have to do that 10 years ago,” she said. “We have grown so quickly, trying to keep up with staffing that the town needs is difficult.”

One legislative change that has helped the Fort Mill area deal with growth is allowing impact fees to be levied for schools, she said.

The Fort Mill School District has watched its student body triple in less than two decades, and it is building several schools in response. The district’s next school, in fact, will be paid for solely with impact fees, Felder said.

“This community has always invested wisely in education, recreation and cultural opportunities and I strived to make that my focus in representing you,” she wrote in a statement announcing the end of her House career.

She’s pleased with a few other changes enacted in Columbia, such as increasing teacher pay, allowing family members to be providers in the foster care system and increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates.

FORT MILL, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — There are more than 18,000 students in the Fort Mill School District, and it’s a number that grows by at least 600 students every year.

The district says the consistent growth has leaders updating their 10-year plan every year, and they’re getting closer and closer to needing more schools.

“Every year we look at this plan because it helps us determine when and if we’ll need to build schools in Fort Mill. We are often building schools,” said Joseph Burke with the Fort Mill School District. “When you have growth like ours that has been sustained over multi-year, we have to plan for what we’re going to need for students in the future.”

Exponential growth. Two words that school district leaders keep hearing. Burke says they annually update their 10-year facility needs to make sure their infrastructure is keeping up with demands.

“We’re not building projects under bond right now,” Burke explained. “We’ve completed our previous bond projects, but we have just recently started the construction for elementary school number 12. That one is actually being paid for by impact fee money. So that is actually a $67 million savings to our taxpayers that we will not have to include in any possible future bond to build schools coming up.”

Fort Mill is the largest district for enrollment in York County, while also being the county’s smallest geographically of the four. Crews are building the district’s 12th elementary school on Gold Hill Road.

Population growth means they’ll need a new bond measure to pay for more schools, renovations and programs to meet it.

“I have seen a number of schools freezing the registration and all of those things,” said one neighbor off-camera.

He says his concern is that higher taxes could send families elsewhere.

“They are to look at the taxes are not that high, because taxes is also one of the reasons that people want to be in this area,” the neighbor said.

Burke says the district’s reputation is one of the reasons Fort Mill has seen such fast growth.

“The school district is one of the major draws for the area,” Burke said. “We’re one of the top-performing in the state, so we know that we’re kind of a victim of our own success that’s bringing people in. But at the same time, the school district really tries to be very fiscally responsible for our taxpayers.”

Burke says officials can’t say how much construction will cost 10 years from now, but they want to plan for the future. He says people may look at the plan and see that there’s going to be an additional need for high school space. That does not mean there’s going to be an additional high school in that time frame, though.

“That means we have to look at options in the future,” he said. “But again, those are projects that would not be included in this particular time frame.”

The bond is just a possibility, and this is just a starting point. Officials are putting together plans that will eventually go to the school board for a vote — and then a public vote.

They’ll be discussing the topic more over the next couple of months.