Public interest meeting on old Darlington cotton mill set for Thursday
Jamie Durant/Morning News
Published: April 29, 2008
Published: April 29, 2008
If You’re Going
A public interest meeting will be conducted Thursday to discuss the demolition and clean-up of the former site of the old cotton mill in Darlington.
Adam Myrick, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, said the meeting is to help inform the public about the future of the former textile mill.
“What we’ll be doing Thursday is meeting with the community and sharing with them what’s been going on,” he said. “Since the early ‘90s we’ve known about some of the problems with the site.”
DHEC deemed the Milliken Mill in Darlington on Orange Street as contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls. These chemicals were banned in the United States during the 1970s because it was proven that they could cause cancer, liver damage and skin disorders in people, as well as cause immune system and neurological problems in children.
DHEC staff inspected the former cotton mill and concluded the mix of chemical traces, along with water damage, mold and dead wood, require the building be condemned.
The cost of cleaning up the site will fall to a General Instrument-affiliated company that last operated in the building.
On Thursday, DHEC officials will be sharing information with the community to bring them up to date on the situation, Myrick said, but also to offer the residents a chance to ask questions about how the mill got to its current state.
“It will be a two-way information session,” he said. “But, there will not be any decisions made, nor any firm plans announced. It’s just going to be a time to answer questions and address concerns.”
Myrick said the former mill was originally built in the 1880s to house an old textile plant. But, he said, the building has remained vacant for a long time.
“These sites are very common in this part of the country, because a lot of the work that was done and the contamination that was done was prior to any environmental laws ...,” he said. “This is pretty common. There weren’t any environmental laws during a good portion of this facility’s life, so these are things we have to deal with today.”
Darlington Mayor Tony Watkins, said he is looking forward to hearing what the people closest to the mill have to say about its demolition.
“I think the people who did work at the mill are going to ask the hard questions, like how did we get to this point and why,” he said.
Watkins said he thinks a number of people will want to know if there is any other way to get rid of the contamination without losing a valuable piece of Darlington history.
“We’ve worked with a developer in the past who told us that the mill could be converted to housing,” he said. “Having met with the folks from Environmental Solutions and DHEC, I’ve already heard the reasoning behind it. I think now it is up to the people who have not heard about the contamination from DHEC to make their decision.”
Watkins said his main goal for Thursday’s meeting is to see that certain segments of the population get their questions answered.
“Our interest is to make sure that the folks who have the greatest interest in the mill are satisfied. and that they get a full and coherent meeting,” he said. “Those people whose heritage is the mill are the ones who need their questions answered and their heritage preserved.”
If You’re Going
What: S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control public interest meeting on the former site of the old Darlington cotton mill
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: St. John’s Elementary School Auditorium, 140 Park St., Darlington
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