Environmental study finds soil contamination at Milliken's 'Big Mill'site

Soil contaminants could derail the county's plan to purchase Millliken's "Big Mill" site.

Cherokee Council agreed Wednesday to spend more money to complete an environmental study of the Milliken property it hopes will become the site of its new administration building.

The county paid more than $2,500 for Phase I of an environmental study that revealed storage tanks of crude oil, two electrical substations and building material submerged in a retention pond on Milliken's "Big Mill" property.

Cherokee County Assistant Administrator Holland Belue told council members that another $7,550 is needed to conduct more soil samplings on the property in Phase II of the environmental study.

Belue said contamination on the site could cause the county to rethink its plans.

"If (the study) show contaminants on the site, the county can either explore the cost of remediation or the county could back off," Belue told council members.

But Belue added the contamination is consistent with operations of a textile plant.

The county plans to spend $435,000 to purchase the 17.4-acre site and recoup up to $100,000 of that amount by selling a portion of the property to the city for use as a park.

The county has collected an estimated $3.5 million in tax revenue for the proposed administration building. These funds will pay for the environmental study and boundary survey that's part of the "due diligence" portion of the negotiations before the sale can be finalized. The surveys will be partially funded by the city.

Although Belue didn't mention the survey at Wednesday's meeting, he said the survey showed the property is about .5 acres less, or 16.88 acres, rather than 17.41 acres.

Belue said the difference is not enough to impact construction plans.