‘A lot of good projects’: Panel cuts York County road projects list, seeks price details
The group tasked with picking roads for the next Pennies for Progress ballot wants pricing details on some of the biggest proposed projects.
The six-member committee met Tuesday night in Rock Hill to review the 150 or so requests they’ve received. The group sent a shortened list of project proposals on for more detailed cost estimates. County staff will price the projects before the citizens’ committee makes the final call whether to include them in the fall 2024 referendum.
The commission opted to price several large projects, but not others submitted at previous public meetings by municipalities, public agencies and citizens. Projects that didn’t make the pricing cut aren’t necessarily eliminated. But many don’t have much support among the group, or aren’t seen as high priorities given the limited funding.
“There are a lot of good projects,” said commission member Zachary Zapack. “We can’t pay for all of them.”
Many projects submitted by the public, said Pennies program manager Patrick Hamilton, are either part of active work projects, duplicates, or are not realistic to include. Also, discussion Tuesday focused on larger projects and not resurfacing work which could be priced separately, and later.
Which projects will be priced?
Two projects submitted by the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study, the group that allocates federal road funding for the eastern half of York County, made the pricing list. One is a five-lane widening of U.S. 21 in Fort Mill, from Sutton Road to S.C. 160. Initial estimates put it at $35 million-$40 million. It would create capacity for an alternative route to I-77.
The other project from that study involves a variety of possible improvements on S.C. 49 in Lake Wylie, estimated at $25 million. The S.C. 49 corridor improvements also came from the public meeting in Lake Wylie.
Other projects for which precise pricing will be sought include a $2 million-$4 million resurfacing of Maynard Grayson Road to include better alignment with S.C. 55. That road is near Bethany Elementary School and creates a difficult path for parents leaving the school.
“This was a heavily requested citizen project,” Hamilton said.
Two Tega Cay projects will be priced. A more than half-mile stretch of Dam Road from Gold Hill Road to Gardendale Road would widen to three lanes. Initial estimates are $8 million-$13 million. The other project involves almost two miles of Sutton Road, from Mills Lane to I-77. Widening to five lanes there could cost $31 million-$36 million.
York and Clover
In the western part of York County, intersection improvements largely outweigh the type of road widening work needed in places like Fort Mill or Lake Wylie.
In Clover, a widening of S.C. 55 from Jackson Terrace to Clinton Avenue made the pricing list. The other five included projects were intersection upgrades.
The commission didn’t recommend sending any of the submitted York projects in full for pricing. But intersections within those project did make the pricing list.
“They requested them as part of a larger project,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said upgrades to half a dozen intersections in that area, like at both ends of Church Street, could make significant improvements at a relatively lower cost compared to widening jobs. Still, commission member Steve Mellon said larger projects in York shouldn’t be discounted. Like a requested southern connector project that Mellon said would serve a walking community near the downtown area.
“York neighborhoods don’t look like Fort Mill neighborhoods or Rock Hill neighborhoods,” Mellon said.
The commission also has to account for what may still come to the area.
“York is almost doubling in the next five years,” Mellon said of approved residential growth there. “We’re going from 6,000 to 12,000.”
No guarantee projects will be on the ballot?
Just because a project goes to engineering for pricing, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to be on the upcoming Pennies referendum.
“We haven’t heard from everybody yet,” Zapack said.
The commission has a public meeting in Fort Mill on July 19. Meetings in Rock Hill and western York County follow.
“You know there will be some (projects) that get added to the list,” said commission member Chris Leonard.
Even prior to Wednesday night’s meeting in Fort Mill, Hamilton asked the commission to send along two large projects from that area that the town would present. One involves widening U.S. 21 and the other, Fort Mill Parkway.
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Also, some projects that advanced to pricing don’t have much support from the commission. The group sent them ahead because they were top priorities in an area and thus worth investigating.
The more detailed pricing process also could disqualify projects. Hamilton said there’s a project in Clover, for instance, that went on to pricing but he anticipates higher than normal costs due to rock and utility placement concerns.
“That may give us the justification we need, if we have to walk away from it,” Zapack said.
Voters have make the final decision
Pennies for Progress is a one-cent sales tax that York County residents will vote to approve. The money pays for road work. The program dates back to 1997. Campaigns run seven years. The fall 2024 vote will be Pennies 5, and could generate $350 million-$400 million, or more, for roads.
By law, a citizens’ commission creates a list of roads to be put on the ballot. Money collected has to go to those roads, in the order they appear. York County Council can approve or deny the commission’s list in full, for whether to put it on the ballot. But the council can’t change the list.
The citizens’ commission has already met in Tega Cay, Rock Hill, Lake Wylie, Clover and York. Those cities and towns, minus Rock Hill which has a second meeting scheduled, presented their top road concerns.
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The commission is most focused on how road projects will improve traffic. There are, however, other factors. Chairman Britt Blackwell, who formerly held the same role on York County Council, talked about the need to spread projects across the county to benefit all areas and to garner support.
The Pennies vote wouldn’t have a chance if it leaves out large areas, something Blackwell mentioned in the York discussion on including full city requests or modifying them to focus on key intersections.
“We’ve got to have that geographic diversity with what we pick,” Blackwell said.
The group also is mindful of any projects where other funding sources may be available, or where it may be perceived that a high-dollar project would serve only a relative few people or groups. The commission discussed a blanket policy, too, against projects that add only sidewalks. Sidewalks are highly requested but also expensive, and aren’t used by the wider group of people who would drive on a road.
“I think that’s tough to sell to the public that drives along these roads, to pay for sidewalks,” Hamilton said.
Plenty of steps remain before a final ballot is ready. On Monday night, York County Council approved two contracts related to the Pennies vote. The separate decisions involve up to $250,000 each for companies to estimate costs and assess risk related to potential road projects.
