CONTROVERSIAL DEVELOPMENT ADVANCES …
Looking to secure a $7 million pay day (at minimum), former U.S. Rep. John Spratt is pushing the town of Fort Mill, S.C. to annex, rezone and authorize the redevelopment of more than 700 acres of his family property.
It’s all part of a proposed “mixed-use” development that would accommodate 2,650 new residences, 350,000 square feet of commercial space and approximately sixty acres of government-administered parks and recreational facilities, according to reporter John Marks of The Fort Mill Times.
Can the town support such a development? No.
Fort Mill cannot afford the additional infrastructure – even with the expanded tax base developers are projecting – nor is it prepared for the increased capacity that would flow into its government-run school system.
That’s why its leaders recently attempted to put a moratorium on new building permits.
“Of course when Spratt wants to develop his property, it’s okay,” one source familiar with the negotiations told us.
Indeed it was okay … Fort Mill approved the annexation and proposed rezoning unanimously.
Their logic? If the town didn’t annex the property, York county or the nearby city of Rock Hill, S.C. would.
Spratt represented South Carolina’s fifth congressional district in the U.S. Congress from 1983-2011. From 2007-11, he chaired the House’s budget committee. He was ousted in the 2010 election by U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney – a one-time tea partier who has veered wildly toward the liberal “Republican” establishment in recent years.