Rock Hill City Council approved the rezoning, land sale, zoning map amendment and restated incentive resolution for the Octapharma plasma manufacturing plant Thursday morning, passing all four items by unanimous 7-0 votes at an 8 a.m. special session in Council Chambers at City Hall.
The votes ended a public dispute between the city and York County over how much of the project’s fee-in-lieu-of-taxes revenue would be redirected to Rock Hill Schools, a fight that played out over the county’s second and third readings and drew sharp language from the dais Thursday. Council members spent roughly 45 minutes on the final item, with all members speaking, along with an executive from Octapharma. Mayor Pro Tem John Black described the county’s late changes as a “mob shakedown,” Councilwoman Sarah Vining said the episode should make voters question whether four to five county council members are fit to hold office, and Councilman Derrick Lindsay warned the outcome sets a “dangerous precedent” for future deals. Several members apologized to the company directly.
The company plans roughly $1.5 billion in investment over 10 years and about 1,500 jobs at the site, an executive told council. The property sits on approximately 50 acres at 3286 Palmetto Parkway inside what the city is now calling Palmetto Research Park, the former Carolina Panthers headquarters site. York County Council approved its portion of the agreement earlier in the week.
Planning Commission recommendation on M-2026-06
Council considered a Planning Commission recommendation on petition M-2026-06, filed by Bolton and Menk, Inc., with Sean Paone listed as the applicant representative, to rezone approximately 50 acres at 3286 Palmetto Parkway from Industry General to Master Planned Business/Industrial Park. The affected property is a portion of tax parcel 664-00-00-021.
Council approved the recommendation 7-0.
Disposition by sale of Palmetto Parkway property
Council took up second reading and adoption of an ordinance providing for the disposition by sale of city-owned property on Palmetto Parkway to Project Palmetto Rock, the code name used for the Octapharma project throughout the approval process.
The ordinance passed second reading and was adopted 7-0.
Zoning map amendment
Council took up second reading and adoption of an ordinance amending the zoning ordinance of the Rock Hill Code, changing the official zoning map for the same approximately 50 acres on Palmetto Parkway from Industry General to Master Planned Business/Industrial Park. The ordinance mirrors the Planning Commission recommendation acted on earlier in the meeting.
The ordinance passed second reading and was adopted 7-0.
Restated and amended consent resolution
The final item drew all of the meeting’s discussion. Council reconsidered its previous related approval and took up a restated and amended resolution providing conditional consent to the inclusion of the project property in a joint county industrial and business park for a limited period, along with conditional consent to property tax incentives including Special Source Revenue Credits for the property taxes or fees in lieu of taxes paid on behalf of the project.
Black spoke first and opened with an apology to Octapharma and to the state.
“What we experienced the last few weeks was completely unnecessary,” he said, calling the episode embarrassing for York County and for South Carolina’s reputation with future prospects.
Black said the project came to Rock Hill directly rather than through the state Commerce Department or York County Economic Development, and that the city spent years repurposing and marketing the former Panthers site toward biopharmaceutical and medical uses after that project collapsed. He said the terms were negotiated months in advance and approved at first reading on that basis, and that changes pushed by two county council members at second and third readings amounted to “nothing more than mob shakedown and extortion.” He said the county has been taking a 10 percent share off the top of such agreements without the city’s consent, and argued that because school taxes make up the largest share of the levy, that practice takes money from the schools the county says it wants to help.
Black also drew a distinction between the disputed fee agreement and the city’s tax increment financing district, saying the TIF was a negotiated agreement signed by all parties, including the school district, and produced items such as school resource officers. He said the University Center site would not have been redeveloped privately because of environmental liability, and that the district never lost revenue it otherwise would have received.
Vining read from a prepared statement thanking city staff and said the city had spent more than a year on the project, hiring consultants and committing staff time and taxpayer dollars. She said she believed the city and county had an agreement in place before the county’s second reading and would have called every county council member had she known otherwise. She said the carelessness shown by five and then four county council members should make people question their integrity and their ability to hold office. Vining also raised concerns about a Rock Hill Schools employee advocating for the city to receive less under the agreement, saying she was told by a school board member that the employee acted as a private citizen. She said she has a hard time with that as a business owner, and that the seven-member school board is capable of advocating for itself.
“If we are going to change an agreement that has been carefully negotiated, then I expect those changes to be based on facts, not vibes,” Vining said.
Councilwoman Anne Harty, who has served on council for just over a month, said she spent 14 years as York County treasurer and finance director and 20 years as chief financial officer for the city of Rock Hill, giving her more than 30 years of experience with fee-in-lieu agreements. She said Rock Hill residents pay city, county and school district taxes, and that each body goes through its own public budget process with its own authority to set revenues. For one governing body to redirect another’s revenue, she said, is poor representation and a disservice to the voters who elected the other board.
Councilwoman Nikita Jackson thanked city management staff and said she and Vining both joined council in January, when news of the project became public. She described the dispute as a fight over credit that lost sight of residents, said the conversations that happened afterward should have happened first, and called on elected officials to set egos aside. Jackson said the outcome will be transformative for Rock Hill households but put the school district on notice that it will be held accountable for how the additional revenue is spent, pointing to graduation rates, school safety and preparing students for the jobs the plant will bring.
Councilman Kevin Sutton kept his remarks short and focused on partners, thanking York County Council members A. Watts Huckabee, Sr. and Andy Litten for supporting the project from the start, and Vice-Chairman Tom Audette for attempting to bridge the gap after second reading. He credited the Rock Hill Area Chamber of Commerce and public pressure from residents with getting the deal across the finish line, and noted that the landowning family put the property on the market years ago expecting a Panthers project, and that council had turned down data centers and warehouses in favor of a transformational use for the site.
Lindsay said the last two weeks are water under the bridge, “muddy water,” but pressed for what comes next. He said the city capitulated because it wanted the project, the roughly 1,500 jobs and wages above $100,000 a year, and the tax base growth that benefits the city, county and school district alike. He rejected the idea that the county’s move was a cry for help, calling it a flex of muscle, and said collaboration should have happened during the year and more of city work on the project rather than two weeks after first reading. He asked the school board and the county to define a path forward. Jackson followed with additional comments asking Octapharma to hire fairly from Rock Hill and York County so local residents can reach those wages.
Mayor John Gettys then invited Barry Pomeroy of Octapharma to speak. Pomeroy said company founder and chairman Wolfgang Marguerre placed no geographic restriction on the nationwide site search, and that he and Chief Operating Officer Alice Stewart, who between them have more than 70 years in the region, ultimately recommended looking locally. He said the company will invest up to $1.5 billion over 10 years and bought more land than the first phase requires so capacity can be doubled later at the same site, describing the decision as multigenerational rather than a 10-year commitment. Pomeroy said the company has no plans for additional U.S. manufacturing elsewhere, operates 180 plasma collection locations across 35 states, and employs about 11,000 people worldwide making therapies used in more than 120 countries. He thanked the county for its vote earlier in the week and spoke on behalf of Marguerre, Deputy Chairman Tobias Marguerre, Flemming Nielsen and Stewart.
Gettys closed the discussion by thanking city staff and outside partners, saying the site is now Palmetto Research Park “not in theory but in practice.” He credited Gov. Henry McMaster and the state Commerce Department, and said Winthrop University and York Technical College have turned their attention to preparing local workers for the jobs, with partnership announcements from both institutions expected in September. Gettys said York Tech purchased the Business Technology Center across Anderson Road and is retrofitting it with state funds to train workers for the plant specifically. He thanked York Tech President Stacy Moore, Winthrop President Edward Serna, who is starting an advanced manufacturing degree, city economic development director Lisa Brown and her team, the city manager and staff, the chamber and its leadership, and Marguerre and the Octapharma team.
Council approved the restated and amended resolution 7-0 with no opposition. The meeting adjourned without committee reports or miscellaneous business.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
