A Fort Mill area citizens group has asked a York County judge to bar Silfab Solar from running any chemical manufacturing process at its plant on Logistics Lane and to order York County to enforce the zoning ruling a circuit judge upheld last month.
Citizens Alliance for Government Integrity, the nonprofit behind the Move Silfab campaign, filed a motion for injunctive relief on Aug. 14 and a supporting memorandum with four exhibits on Aug. 17 in the Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 2024CP4603532. Attorney J. Cameron Halford of Barnwell signed the filing. The named defendants are Silfab Solar Inc., property owner Exeter 7149 Logistics L.P., and York County through its Planning and Development Services department and zoning administrator.
The group asked that the matter be heard Aug. 26, the same day Silfab’s motion asking Judge William A. McKinnon to reconsider his July 21 order is on the calendar. That order affirmed the York County Board of Zoning Appeals decision of May 9, 2024, in which the board voted 5 to 0 that solar panel manufacturing is not a permitted use in the Light Industrial district where the plant sits.
What the filing asks for
The motion does not ask the court to close the plant, revoke the certificate of occupancy or force the company to move. It asks the judge to restrict the site to the uses that existed before the 2024 board decision, which the filing identifies as office, warehousing and distribution, and to stop what it calls a heavy industrial and chemical manufacturing operation the group says is being carried on under the label of assembly.
The filing argues Silfab has not sought a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals or a rezoning from York County Council, and that those administrative remedies remain open. It asks for a temporary restraining order lasting 10 days so the county can review the operation, with the group reserving the right to seek permanent relief later.
As to York County, the group asked the court either to restrain the county from treating the Feb. 13, 2026, certificate of occupancy as a final determination of a vested property right, or to issue a writ of mandamus compelling County Council to use its police powers to revoke permits issued after the 2024 board ruling. The filing cites the state zoning enforcement statute, under which it argues each day the disputed use continues is a separate misdemeanor.
The group also asked the judge to lift stays entered earlier in the case by Judge Martha M. Rivers, which paused the citizens suit while the zoning appeal moved forward.
The chemical incidents in the record
Two of the exhibits are state and federal records from March. A compliance agreement signed March 16 by the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services and Silfab President and Chief Executive Officer Paolo Maccario describes scrubber water containing diluted potassium hydroxide discharging into a stormwater collection structure on March 3 after a manually controlled valve was left open and solution leaked through a cracked drainpipe. Two days later the department learned of a hydrofluoric acid drip at a connection to a storage tank. The agreement records the acid as stored at 49 percent concentration, below the threshold that would make it a regulated substance under state and federal chemical accident rules, and says staff estimated the drip at no more than once an hour and saw it being contained and neutralized.
The department issued a directive on March 5 ordering operations to stop pending a review of the plant’s risk management program. Silfab canceled shifts and agreed to the terms. State and federal inspectors visited on March 9. Fort Mill School District closed Flint Hill Elementary School for two days during that week.
The fourth exhibit is the Environmental Protection Agency inspection report from the March 9 visit, which lists the plant at roughly 800 full time employees and records no reportable emergency releases under federal community right to know rules at that point.
The filing also says public records show 20 emergency medical calls to the plant so far in 2026, the most recent on Aug. 13, the day County Council members toured the facility.
Silfab’s position
Silfab has said the zoning case does not reach its current work. In a July 29 letter to County Council included as an exhibit, Maccario wrote that the court order involved a zoning interpretation and “did not address the safety, quality or regulatory compliance of our existing operations.” The letter says the company supports more than 1,200 jobs across its operations, including more than 700 in Fort Mill, and that it has never been cited by federal workplace safety regulators for violations stemming from workplace injuries.
The filing takes aim at one line in that letter, which said the company holds ISO 9001:2025 quality management certification. No such standard exists, and a later version of the letter changed the reference to ISO 9001:2015. The group argues the Fort Mill plant carries no such certification at all and asks the court to require Silfab to produce its current certification for the county.
What happens next
Also included as exhibits are a July 24 letter from Fort Mill School District Board Chairwoman Kristy Spears and Superintendent Grey Young asking state and county officials to limit the site to assembly work, and letters from Sen. Michael Johnson of Senate District 16 and Rep. David Martin of House District 26 urging the county to revoke permits.
County Council held a special meeting July 30, most of it in executive session. Chairwoman Christi Cox said afterward that the council would take no action pending the court’s review of the reconsideration motion.
The Aug. 26 hearing before McKinnon is set to take up Silfab’s motion to reconsider. Filings in the case are available through the York County Clerk of Court.
We have reached out to Silfab for comment.
Sources: Plaintiff CAGI memorandum in support of injunctive relief and petition for writ of mandamus and Exhibits 1 through 4, York County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 2024CP4603532, filed Aug. 14 and Aug. 17, 2026; South Carolina Department of Environmental Services compliance agreement, Permit No. CP 50000090 v1.0, executed March 16, 2026; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPCRA inspection report, March 9, 2026.
SILFAB Letter to County Council
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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.
