Upcoming public hearing to decide fate of 22-acre property in Swepsonville

The Swepsonville Town Council wants to hear local residents’ opinions on what to do with the Virginia Mills property, the site of what was a historic textile mill along the Haw River. 

“We have not had a true downtown area ever,” Mayor Henry Carrouth said. “The council a few years ago began talking about taking the 22-acre mill site, the former Virginia Mills site, and developing it into a town center, a downtown area, if you will.”

For decades, the property remained untouched after a fire burned the former textile mill to the ground. However, the previous Swepsonville Town Council bought the property from a private owner in 2010.

“Once that information was obtained, the council then started thinking about ways of how to create a heart of Swepsonville,” said the town administrator, Brad Bullis, in an informational video. 

In August, the Swepsonville Town Council released a mock-up of how they initially envisioned the property to be used. But Carrouth said that it's not set in stone.

“I would call it a tentative site plan from the standpoint that that could change, but we had to have something to go forth because it is the site of an old textile mill,” Carrouth said. “We had to have something in place that the Department of Environmental Quality, the DEQ with the state, could use that.”

The mock-up has been met with some approval but also some backlash. Locals on the Swepsonville Happenings Facebook group voiced their concerns.

Catherine Hurd wrote in a comment, “If the residents of Swepsonville don't have the guts to stand up for what they want then I can't make them but if they don't do it they will wish they had. This is our town and we have the right to live in it as we want it to be.”

She also wrote how she has no objection to a new town council and is advocating for a full town voting. 

This Tuesday, the Swepsonville Town Council is encouraging locals to give their feedback on what they think should be done with the 22-acre site. The meeting will take place at the Swepsonville United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. Sept. 22.