Anderson County Council has approved a memorandum of understanding agreement with the Pelzer Heritage Commission (PHC) regarding development of the former Pelzer Mill property.
Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns said under the agreement, the County will take possession of the property and PHC will remain in an advisory position.
According to PHC representative Larry Coker, Anderson County officials met with members of the PHC in December and are in discussions with Greenville Water Works about running a 12 inch water main across the lower mill properties.
Coker said Burns offered to have county attorneys handle details with Greenville Water.
“We agreed to vote on letting Rusty Burns and their attorneys handle the situation and protect our property for redevelopment,” Coker said.
Coker said the County also offered to take over all of the PHC mill properties, do a Master Plan on the properties and help market the properties for redevelopment. All profits from the sale of the property would go to the Pelzer Heritage Commission, Coker said.
“It is a valuable property,” Burns said. “Everything is heading in that direction, from both directions.”
“We plan to have professionals come in to do a master plan for the property and to have citizen input on what they would like to see it used for,” Burns said.
According to Burns, the County will help develop a complete master plan with input from citizens, which will be “from the bottom up, not top down.”
Burns said the Town of Pelzer also has valuable property and he has talked with Pelzer Mayor Will Ragland about development in Pelzer. “We want to do it all in one fell swoop,” Burns said.
The Pelzer Heritage Commission is a local non-profit group that acquired the old mill sites in 2013. Since then, the PHC has been involved in site cleanup and remediation efforts.
The “Upper Mill” properties are comprised of five tracts of land totaling +/-18 acres. The sites are located along Woodcock, Anderson, and Smythe Street.
The “Lower Mill” properties are comprised of eight parcels totaling +/-20 acres. The sites are located along Lebby, Murray, and McCaughrin Street.
The majority of the parcels are located in the nationally-recognized “Pelzer Manufacturing Company & Mill Village Historic District”.
The “Lower Mill” properties include one of the old mill’s cotton warehouses as well as an office building. The County will be seeking historic preservation funding to assist with rehabilitation of both structures.
One of the Lower Mill properties has more than 1,300 feet of frontage along the Saluda River, just below the hydroelectric dam where Highway 8 crosses into Greenville County.
County Council District 7 Councilmember Cindy Wilson thanked Administrator Burns, County Attorney Leon Harmon and Steve Newton, Governmental Affairs Anderson County Administrator’s Office, for working with the Pelzer Heritage Commission on the project. Wilson said that when Gerber left Pelzer, it was devastating for the town. “It is a wonderful opportunity for Pelzer to evolve into a vibrant community again.”
