Victor Mill problem frustrates community, city

The grass at Victor Memorial Veterans Park is well-kept. Flags fly at one end, immediately before a large, brick monument. An old Army helicopter and armored vehicle are on display.

The scene is solemn and serene - and just beyond it is one reminiscent of a war zone.

Buildings of the once-thriving Victor Mill stand in ruin. Light fixtures dangle and creak in the breeze, and the charred remains of one building are a reminder of a fire two years ago. Walls are crumbling. Piles of debris are everywhere.

It's like being on the set of an old war movie, except that this is literally someone's back yard. The Greer city limits surround the property, but the 22-acre site itself is in Spartanburg County.

The county government for 10 years has been trying to solve the problem of Victor Mill, a process that's dealt frustration to both the community and county officials.

Residents complain about the contamination, the vermin and crime it attracts, and the danger it poses to curious children. The land, unsuccessfully, has gone to auction twice. It sits in limbo in the delinquent tax process - its past owners are nowhere to be found - ready for someone, potentially the county, to take ownership and clean it up.

"We're working on developing a complete picture for the site that's not just what the cost of cleanup would be, and the remediation of the soil and all those sorts of things, but what the development potential would be, and what kind of revenue the county could generate by participating in a public-private partnership," said Assistant County Administrator Tom Gates, the latest official to take up the project.

Gates has submitted an application for a $200,000 grant through the Environmental Protection Agency to assist with cleanup. He's begun researching other grants and low-interest loans. He's talked about working with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to establish a contract that would relieve the county of any liability and allow it to take ownership of the site to begin cleaning it up. And he's had informal conversations about the future development of the site - a chunk of land less than a quarter-mile from the prestigious new City Hall in downtown Greer.

It's a natural extension of downtown, and residents say they'd like to see something in place that's safe for their children, like a park or a day care or both, and perhaps something for senior citizens. Some talk about seeing neighborhood retail space open up, though there is a lingering fear that cheap rental housing will come in and offer no help to the area.

"We have not had specific conversations with specific developers. But we've talked to two or three who see an attractive community here ... who believe there is significant development potential. But the stumbling block has been the cleanup, and the associated costs when you try to clean up contamination."

Cost estimates aren't available - though it would easily cost more than the $200,000 the county is hoping the EPA will award - because of an estimated 300 cubic tons of rubble that could be hiding contamination beyond what has already been identified.

Tyeshia Wallace, 17, has lived next to the mill's old parking lot for about four years. That site became a dumping ground for debris during a so-called recycling effort that stripped the property of valuable materials and left the county holding the (unpaid) tax bill.

"There is a lot of kids in this area. I think a convenience store would be good. A recreation center," Wallace said. "It'd be nice if there was something instead of just looking like this."

Don Arnold, director of Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement, said his office has received about 60 calls for service at the Victor Mill site so far this year - complaints of vagrants, vandals, juveniles, scavengers and others who aren't supposed to be at the fenced-in site. Only a month ago, two teenagers found themselves atop a barely standing tower on the north side of the property.

For Gates, that's all the reason to move faster. He's gotten a mixed response from elected officials, some of whom are leery of the county getting into the redevelopment business.

County Councilman David Britt, for instance, believes the government should find a "responsible party" and either give away the land or sell it for $1. He believes that with the right series of tax abatements and help with getting state and federal cleanup dollars, a private entrepreneur would be up to the task. He's afraid that continuing along the present course will mean the county does all the cleanup work and then those claiming to be the rightful owners will show up to reap the benefits.

Gates believes that if there was any private interest in such an endeavor, it would have surfaced at one of the two tax auctions when the property was up for bid. Gates said he won't approach County Council about putting tax dollars toward the project until a developer has been identified, along with a plan on how the government can recoup at least as much money as it puts in.

County Councilwoman-elect Jane Hall, who takes office in January, says Gates is on the right track. She disagrees with Britt's line of thinking.

"I don't think we can do that (give it away). Who's going to take on the responsibility of cleanup, which we know is going to go well over $1 million? And there's no protection for the people in the neighborhood, in terms of what will be developed there," Hall said.

"I feel like the county needs to be involved in this. We need to get it developed, so then if some developer wants to come in after it's clean, the county stands to make a profit off the work that was put into it."

Hall, too, is concerned that if a wholly private endeavor is undertaken, that developer is going to expect a never-ending series of incentives, which will cost the county in the long run. She points to a Web site that has been created by a community activist, and to the more than 130 people who showed up at a recent community meeting about the EPA grant, as signs that there's an eagerness for something to happen.

Judy Agnew was at that meeting, held at a church that borders the mill site.

"It brings the value of my home down. It really needs to be cleaned up. I'd be willing to go out and clean up with my hands ... my husband, also my son - they would help," said Agnew, who heads the local neighborhood watch.

"All the dirtiness, you know, not keeping things up - you can tell there's places for crime. When we have those types of things in our neighborhood, it says it's OK to come in ... and do what you want to do."

There's talk of another public meeting to get input as to what the community wants to see in place of the ruins of Victor Mill.

But for it to succeed, based on comments residents made at the church, the people there have to be shown that their energy won't be in vain, that there is a real promise for redevelopment - that, like the park next door, there's something worth fighting for.