Rock Hill City Council Delays Vote on Panthers HQ Zoning Changes

ROCK HILL, S.C. – A punt from Rock Hill city leaders on Monday night.

They’re delaying plans to rezone 280 acres of land for the Carolina Panthers new headquarters and practice facility.

“You don’t have an agreement on anything, until you have an agreement on everything,” explains Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys.

Gettys can’t say much about what’s going on behind the scenes, but it was enough to defer the vote.

The Panthers HQ would go on 280 acres south of Eden Terrace and just west of I-77.

Gettys says it would be a $2 Billion dollar mixed-use development including apartments, retail, and entertainment venues.

“The complexity that goes with that, as you can imagine, um is a lot,” Gettys explains.

He does say the county and schools need more time to do their “due dilligence” on the project.

“The city itself has been involved in negotiations like this, this type of negotiation. But the other governing bodies, this isn’t how they’ve done things,” Gettys says.

Near the future project site, Frank Knotts says a road is planned directly behind his property.

“I think it’s going to be one of the best things that ever happened to Rock Hill,” he says.

Neighbors like Knotts support the project, as does Don Lanning.

“We’re sorta excited about it. One, we are thinking that the real estate’s gonna go up here in the neighborhood and we’re anxious to get some of the amenities that’s going to go along with all of this,” Lanning says.

Richard Hardin says he’s taking more of a wait and see approach.

“Traffic and how they’re going to do the roads. So it could be a good positive,” he says.

Back at City Council, Gettys says the deferred vote isn’t expected to delay the project.

The next council meeting will be in January.

“I’m hoping we’ll have it resolved before then,” he says.

And if it is resoved sooner, council could hold a special meeting just to do the Panthers zoning changes.

Council says roads and infrastructure will be paid for with the Panthers property tax dollars.

They want to emphasize they don’t expect taxes to go up for Rock Hill residents.