YORK, S.C. (WBTV) - Protesting Fort Mill residents made the drive to York for Monday’s county council meeting that included debate over a Silfab solar panel production facility.
“Primarily we’re looking for an area in York County, and try to work with this company to move them to a properly zoned location, which is heavy industrial away from schools, away from families, away from the most vulnerable in the area,” Fort Mill father Brendan McCluskey said.
Citizens Alliance for Government Integrity (CAGI) and Coalition to Protect Fort Mill (CPFM) have joined forces to move Silfab. Carl Young is an analytical chemist by trade, as well as a father to children in the Fort Mill School District.
“When I learned about the information of the silane, silane is a pyrophoric gas, meaning it will combust spontaneously with an air,” Young said. “I learned about the quantity that’s going to be stored on the site and then I saw the proximity of the elementary school and my brain just went, ‘no, this shouldn’t be so close to an elementary school.’”
One after the other, concerned Fort Mill residents addressed the council asking them to revoke the county-issued permits to Silfab.
Greg Basden serves as Silfab’s director of operations. When asked what he would say parents wary of students so close to the business he said the company was “following all the requirements and regulations from DES, from the county, from EPA.”
“Those requirements are built into all of our processes,” Basden said. “They’re built into our reporting.”
Still, there’s an effort moving through the courts for Silfab to cease and desist. Silfab legal team member Brandon Gaskins offered a statement that said: “County council does not have authority to issue a cease-and-desist order. Only the zoning administrator can in certain situations when there is a violation of the zoning code, an uncured violation, and here, we have no violations, and we have no notice of such.”
According to CAGI and CPFM, there are 12 schools and daycare facilities within one mile of the site, and they believe the hazardous materials used at the solar facility could be dangerous.
If the company is allowed to carry out their mission, Brendan McCluskey said his family’s options are to “send our kid to a dangerous school next year or to homeschool using SC connections online.”
The council did not address any of the statements made during the public comment section of the meeting, citing advice from their attorney as they wait on a decision from the court.
According to Silfab’s website, they expect to bring $1.7 million in property taxes a year for Fort Mill Schools, over $155,000 a year in property taxes to York County, along with 800 new skilled jobs, in addition to providing a product that improves access to clean energy and reduces carbon emissions.
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