Criminal Defense Attorney inCampobello, SC

INMAN — Construction of a 31-mile rail trail on the inactive Saluda Grade railroad line in South Carolina and North Carolina could begin within five years if negotiations with Norfolk Southern are successful.

Three nonprofit groups including Conserving Carolina, Upstate Forever and PAL: Play. Advocate. Live Well., continue to negotiate with Norfolk Southern to purchase the railroad property.

The line was active from 1878 to 2001. Sixteen miles of the rail line are in South Carolina and 15 miles are in North Carolina. The trail would pass through Inman, Campobello and Landrum in South Carolina, and through Tryon, Columbus and Saluda in North Carolina.

The S.C. Legislature earmarked $5 million for the trail project. Andrea Cooper, Upstate Forever executive director, told The Post and Courier negotiations with Norfolk Southern are ongoing.

“We expect to have a signed purchase agreement by the end of this year,” Cooper said. “We are moving forward in a good position.”

If a purchase agreement is reached, Norfolk Southern will go through a federal transportation board to abandon the rail. Laura Ringo, PAL executive director, said the process would likely take about 18 months to complete and construction of the new rail trail could begin as soon as mid-2024. The cost to purchase the abandoned rail line is about $30 million. It would cost another $30 million to develop the rail trail.

“Those are certainly the estimates we have been working off of but we are still in negotiations for purchasing the corridor so we don’t know the final purchase price,” Ringo said. “Once we get a final purchase price and agreement we will start the planning process as part of that and we will have a better idea on what it is going to take to construct the trail and the cost.”

Ringo estimated the trail could attract up to 125,000 people annually. The new rail trail could also generate up to $11 million combined for area towns along the route, Cooper said.

Inman City Administrator Joe Lanahan said the proposed rail trail, if approved, would boost the local economy.

“We are very excited about it,” Lanahan said. “Our City Council and downtown merchants are very excited about the process and connecting all of Spartanburg County across the state line to Tryon.”

About 3 miles of the proposed rail trail would pass through Inman. The city has already experienced business growth downtown. The prospect of a new rail trail has generated more interest.

“There are people definitely interested in buying property here in anticipation of the trail coming,” Lanahan said. “We are getting ready as a city to expand our parking footprint and make downtown more walkable.”

Landrum Mayor Bob Briggs supports the proposed rail trail, as well.

“I can say that if it wasn’t for the railroads, these towns like Inman, Campobello and Landrum probably would not exist, and it was the railroad that brought economic prosperity to the area,” Briggs said. “Now that the railroad no longer runs, converting the rails to trails would have a similar effect in providing the kind of economic impact to the area with the kind of tourism and small businesses we saw 100 years ago.”

State Rep. Josiah Magnuson, R-Campobello, held a town hall meeting Oct. 22 at the Campobello Oaks Event and Lodging Center off Old Mill Road. The proposed rail trail would pass near the center. About 10 property owners attended the meeting.

Magnuson said while he isn’t against the proposal he believes the process should be more transparent and take into account what infrastructure may be needed for the rail and how it will be funded.

“We feel like it is moving pretty quickly and I feel like we need more answers than we are getting so far,” Magnuson said during the town hall meeting.

Magnuson expressed some doubts that the project would move forward since Norfolk Southern has not agreed to sell the abandoned rail line property. If the project does move forward, Magnuson said safety along the trail needs to be addressed.

Brian Vogel, who recently renovated the Campobello Oaks Event and Lodging Center, questioned the project by asking how law enforcement would keep people walking or biking the trail from coming on his property. Vogel also asked how long it might take to develop the rail trail if a purchase agreement is reached.

Campobello Mayor Jason Shamis attended the town hall meeting. Shamis said if the trail was developed, there would likely be new vacation rental housing in the area.

“I have asked (Campobello) residents and everybody seems to really enjoy the idea (of a rail trail),” Shamis said. “I am very supportive of the idea and from my perspective it is a good thing.”

Ringo said fundraising efforts for the proposed rail trail continue and local, state and federal funding opportunities will be considered.

Duke Energy Progress won’t file state regulatory applications for months for its proposed S.C. substation and 45-mile transmission line to a planned new Asheville plant.

But the S.C. Public Service Commission has already opened a file in the case — to hold complaints the commission is already receiving about the proposed transmission line.

That is how it has gone for Duke as it has rolled out its plan for the power line, part of its $1.1 billion “Western Carolinas Modernization Project.”

People in Asheville have generally welcomed the plan. Duke proposes to replace the company's 376-megawatt coal-fired plant in Asheville with a 650-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas plant at a cost of $700 million. Duke will also put a small solar project on the property.

And it proposes to build a substation in Campobello, S.C., that would be connected to the plant by a roughly 45-mile transmission line. That part of the project is expected to cost $360 million and run through Spartanburg County, S.C., and western North Carolina's Henderson and Polk counties.

Regulatory approval

The line would connect the newly expanded power supply available from Duke Progress in Asheville to Duke Energy Carolinas’ grid in northwestern South Carolina. That would make it easier for the two utilities to share power, a tactic Duke says has saved customers millions since corporate parent Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK) bought Progress Energy Inc. in 2012.

The transmission line's route must be approved by the utility regulators in North Carolina as well as South Carolina. Duke plans to submit applications for the route early next year. It has already filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to connect the Duke Progress and Duke Carolinas systems on the new line.

Residents along the route have generally opposed the plan.

“The proposed routes would all have 140-foot tall transmission towers marching through one of the most scenic and environmentally important areas of upstate SC,” Michael and Arcada McCoy have written to Lib Fleming, a member of the S.C. Public Service Commission. “This project, if approved, will adversely impact the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway (S.C. Hwy. 11), property values and resulting tax revenue from a growing multi-million dollar equine industry, numerous conservation and historical tracts in the area, and the property of many ordinary citizens.”

Riled, not relieved

Three informational meetings Duke held along the possible route from July 14 to July 23 appear to have done nothing to allay residents' concerns.

The Times-News of Hendersonville reported Sunday the meetings “have riled rather than relieved residents.”

The newspaper reports:

Flat Rock resident Travis Rockey, who was among those attending Thursday night’s meeting at Blue Ridge Community College, called that gathering a “disaster.” He said Duke “separated everybody like sheep and they don’t have any answers. What they’re doing is just feeding people little bits of information.”

Duke spokeswoman Mehgan Musgrave defends the meetings and their format. She says public hearings will come later. For now, she says, Duke seeks to give residents as much information about the possible routes.

Limited alternatives

She says getting input from the residents on those routes will help the company make the best decision on the final proposed path for the line from the substation to be built in Campobello to an existing station just south of Asheville.

“When we do siting projects like this, we understand there are various perspectives and we need to consider all of those,” she says. “We appreciate the work the residents are doing and their reaching out to us.”

There are dozens of possible permutations of the route on a swath through the three counties that is more than 20 miles long and as much as 36 miles wide.

But one complaint residents have made is that Duke is adamant that the substation has to be built in Campobello, which then dictates that the line will run through what they consider sensitive areas.

“The numerous alternative routes were based on the assumption that a new transmission substation must be built at the intersection of SC Highway 11 and I-26 near Campobello,” McCoy complains in his letter. “No alternatives were presented for other possible substation locations.”

Existing infrastructure

Sally Spencer, whose mother’s land at Lake Summit is on the proposed routes, also wrote Fleming, who represents Greenville-Spartanburg district on the commission.

“Duke’s proposal is incomprehensible, and their explanation of why their towers cannot be located on taxpayer property (the Green River Water Shed, which is also undeveloped) reflects a total disregard for the property owners they will affect,” she writes. “I was told at the Landrum Information Meeting (which was a farce) that Duke Power was told there was no chance they could build the towers there because it would harm the environment. Why then is it acceptable to harm private property owners’ property?”

Duke's Musgrave says the substation must be built in the proposed location because it is close to existing Duke Carolinas transmission infrastructure that can most effectively handle the flow of power in and out of Asheville. But she says Duke welcomes comments about the specific route from there. In addition to the informational meetings, which are now finished, Duke is taking comments on its website for the project, by mail and by phone.

CAMPOBELLO, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - A controversial proposed RV park in Spartanburg County took a step forward on Tuesday.

The potential park on Landrum Mill Road in Campobello has been in the works for two years, and the Spartanburg County Planning Commission is giving it the OK.

“The threat to all of this is real. Health, safety, the environment,” said Sally Rock.

Rock is part of a group of neighbors fighting these plans.

They’re concerned about safety on the narrow road and environmental impacts.

“It’s not harmonious development to dump that type of septic sewage next to a conservation area, to add 75,000 vehicles through there,” she said.

Alex Shissias is the lawyer representing the developer, Blue Sky Associates, LLC., and believes it comes down to neighbors not wanting an RV Park in their backyard.

“Last time I checked, this is America. And you’re allowed to do with your land what you’d like to do,” he said.

An initial application for the development was granted conditional approval by the Planning Commission in March 2021.

Neighbors filed an appeal for a septic tank permit approved by DHEC staff. That appeal was successful, and the DHEC board rescinded the permit. The permit was reinstated after a challenge to the South Carolina Administrative Law Court because the initial appeal was filed too late. That decision by the Administrative Law Court is now being challenged by neighbors and their lawyers.

A new application for the RV Park was submitted in February, the two changes from the previous application were making the lot from 50 spaces to 49 and changing the water supply source.

Spartanburg County Planning Commission voted 6-2 to grant conditional site approval on Tuesday. The approval is contingent on receiving approvals from Spartanburg County Public Works for a stormwater permit, SCDHEC for a well permit, and withdrawing the previous application from 2021.

“We have no doubt they’ll appeal the planning commission decision to the circuit court and then to the court of appeals, and in the meantime we’re going to proceed on with our other permits,” said Shissias.

While Tuesday’s meeting did not include a public hearing for this development, one person was given five minutes to speak, but neighbors say they want more opportunities to make their case.

“It’s a clearcut situation of the people being denied an opportunity to be heard on a major development in their community,” said Rock.

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An environmental group has appealed the conditional approval by the Spartanburg County Planning Commission issued last month of the site plan for an RV park near Campobello in northern Spartanburg County.

The appeal was filed Tuesday, April 4, in Spartanburg County Court of Common Pleas by Southern Environmental Law Center against the Planning Commission and Blue Sky Associates.

Frank Holleman, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said Blue Sky's site plan for the proposed T. Tree Farms RV Park "violates the county's Unified Land Management Ordinance by harming an ecologically sensitive forest, clean water and a rare and threatened species – the Dwarf Flowered Heartleaf."

Blue Sky attorney Alex Shissias issued a response on behalf of the RV park developer:

"We fully expected this and will be vindicated on appeal," Shissias said Wednesday. "The appeals are desperate attempts by these groups to control land they do not own."

Residents cite environmental concernsResidents say planned RV park in northern Spartanburg County could cause harm to environment

Multiple RV park appeals filed

The appeal is the latest legal maneuver by residents to try and prevent an RV park proposed for a 38.68-acre site at 1970 Landrum Mill Road.

Residents have said the roads are too narrow and winding to accommodate RV traffic, and that runoff from the site could pollute area streams that feed into the North Pacolet River. The river feeds Lake Bowen, a primary source of drinking water for the Spartanburg Water System.

Last month, the S.C. Environmental Law Project (SCELP) agreed to represent four Campobello-area homeowners groups that have filed an appeal with the S.C. Court of Appeals over the septic permit issue.

The appeal seeks to overturn an Administrative Law Court (ALC) decision issued Nov. 29 that reinstated the previously DHEC-staff approved septic permit. Earlier, the DHEC Board had overturned the septic permit.

SCELP claims DHEC staff did not properly notify residents prior to issuing the septic permit, leading to what the ALC determined was an untimely appeal by residents.

Holleman said SELC's appeal asks the Court of Common Pleas to reverse the Planning Commission's decision and vacate the conditional approval of the RV park site plan.

Holleman: RV park plan fails to address site's ecology

Holleman said the developer's site plan fails to take into account the presence of the rare plant or the existence of ecologically sensitive areas, which the county's Unified Land Management Ordinance requires.

"This beautiful forest, clean stream and very rare plant are important parts of Spartanburg County's natural heritage," Holleman said in a statement. "The site plan approved by the Planning Commission would do real harm to this special place."

The S.C. Native Plant Society has also joined opponents in fighting the RV park plan.

"You can't find this plant anywhere else in the world, and this development is not designed to protect this special plant and its habitat," stated Kathryn Ellis, president of the S.C.. Native Plant Society.

RV park plan first approved two years ago

At issue is a proposal by a developer, Blue Sky Associates, to build T. Tree Farms RV Park on a 38.68-acre property at 1970 Landrum Mill Road east of Interstate 26 and southeast of Landrum in northern Spartanburg County.

The Spartanburg County Planning Commission gave conditional approval on March 2, 2021. The approval required the developer to obtain public water from a new line extended from Interstate 26, a DHEC-approved septic system and a traffic plan approved by the county's engineering department.

At that time, Planning Commission Chairman Whit Kennedy said Blue Sky's plan met all requirements laid out in the county's Unified Land Development Ordinance.

In June 2021, DHEC staff issued a septic permit to the developer. And the four homeowners associations representing more than 100 members and three conservation groups appealed to the DHEC board of directors.

In December 2021, the DHEC board voted to rescind the septic permit that was issued by DHEC staff in June, stating the developer's application was flawed because it proposed an undersized septic system.

Nearly a year later on Nov. 29, 2022, the ALC overturned the DHEC board's decision, ruling that the board "acted outside of its authority" and that the residents' request for final review was not timely. The ruling reinstated Blue Sky's septic permit that was originally approved by DHEC staff.

Then on Dec. 20, 2022, the homeowners' groups filed an appeal with the S.C. Court of Appeals. The case has not yet been heard.

New RV park plan gains conditional approval

On Feb. 8, 2023, Blue Sky Associates withdrew the original plan and submitted a new application to the county Planning Commission, which reduces the number of RV spaces from 50 to 49; and states that drinking water will be provided by an on-site well instead of a public water line.

Shissias also said the decision to drill an on-site well instead of obtaining a public water line was made because of opposition to the public water line from residents. He also said the state Administrative Law Court (ALC) reinstated a septic permit issued by DHEC staff in June 2021, so that has been addressed and not needed as a new condition.

Last month, the Planning Commission voted 6-2 to approve the new site plan contingent on approval of a stormwater permit, and an on-site well permit from DHEC.

Shissias said the developer has no plans of withdrawing its RV park plan.

"These are not people who are into RVs near them," he said last month, referring to the opponents. "They don't want people like you or me with them. They don't want an RV park in their backyard, period."

Once proposed as the site of a power substation, nearly 200 scenic acres in northern Spartanburg County are now permanently protected, thanks to a partnership between Duke Energy, The Nature Conservancy and Upstate Forever. The 2015 powerline controversy ends with great victory for conservation.

TBP Properties, LLC, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, has donated the property to The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which immediately signed a conservation easement with Upstate Forever to ensure the land will remain rural in perpetuity. As part of the agreement, TNC may subdivide the 198.54 acres into three homesites.

“This is a win-win,” said Mark Robertson, state director for The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina. “The rural character of Campobello will be maintained, while the resale of the property will generate needed funds to protect more land in the Upstate.”

The Campobello tract has traditionally been used as pastureland and includes about 770 feet of frontage along Scenic Highway 11 and 760 feet along Interstate 26. The property sits adjacent to Smith Chapel Baptist Church and cemetery, as well as the historic Smith Chapel Elementary School. Former slave John Henry “Buck” Smith founded the congregation circa 1900.

“By permanently protecting this property with a conservation easement, we preserve the scenic viewshed from Highway 11, I-26 and the church, minimize impervious surface to maintain water quality, and provide for the traditional agricultural and equestrian uses of the land,” said Scott Park, Upstate Forever Land Trust Program Director.

The property was originally acquired as part of a 2015 plan by Duke Energy to build a 40-mile long transmission line connecting a new natural gas plant in Asheville, N.C., to a new substation in Campobello. After thousands of citizens expressed opposition, the company found an alternative solution and cancelled the substation project.

“After receiving feedback from the community through our public input process, we revised our plan to strike the balance of addressing concerns from the public, minimizing environmental impact, and meeting the power generation needs of the area,” said Clark Gillespy, president of Duke Energy South Carolina. “We are pleased that the end result will be a benefit to the community.”

Upstate Forever is a land protection and advocacy organization that works to balance growth and protect the Upstate’s natural resources. The nonprofit group now permanently protects 109 properties totaling 20,438 acres across the Upstate through voluntary conservation agreements with landowners. Upstate Forever plans to commemorate the protection of this property with an event in early 2017.

Upstate Forever is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that protects critical lands, waters, and the unique character of the ten-county Upstate region of South Carolina. Founded in 1998, Upstate Forever now has nearly 2,000 members, two offices, and a staff of 18. For more information, visit upstateforever.org.

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the web at nature.org/sc.

Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 7.4 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest, representing a population of approximately 24 million people. The company also distributes natural gas to more than 1.5 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

– article submitted by Nancy Fitzer/Upstate Forever