Updated: Chapin extends freeze on sewer taps, setting up development showdown
The mayor of Chapin says the town will keep a moratorium on issuing new sewer taps for large development, even as Lexington County moves forward with plans to develop a long-empty industrial park nearby.
Mayor Bill Mitchell said in a livestream on the town’s Facebook page Tuesday that the town would only selectively approve new sewer taps until improvements can be made to increase capacity at the town’s wastewater treatment plant, a process that could cost millions of dollars and last for six to 10 years, Mitchell said.
Mitchell announced a pause on sewer taps shortly after he took office in November. Chapin serves a wide area outside the town limits, and Mitchell framed the move as one of the few levers Chapin has to halt a rapid spurt of development in the area.
On Tuesday’s announcement, Mitchell said residents feared any more big developments near the town would increase traffic, hurt their quality of life and potentially impact their property values.
“It could disrupt the student/teacher ratio in schools,” Mitchell said in the livestream. “The thing that drew people to town will cause them to leave if schools are not good.”
The mayor said the current number of sewer taps the town has already approved could bring the town wastewater plant to 97% capacity.
“We have 3% breathing room, and we’re going to issue those on a case-by-case basis,” Mitchell said, focused on development that requests connections in the “single digits.”
In the meantime, the town will be working to expand its wastewater treatment plant. Mitchell said the town has an engineering firm that is looking at ways to double the town’s capacity from 2.4 million gallons per day to 4.8 million, a process the mayor said could cost Chapin $42 million and take up to a decade to complete.
“The quote does not include all of the potential upgrades that will have to be in place,” he said, and changes to the system will have to get the approval of the S.C. Department of Environmental Services.
Mitchell said he announced the move in response to Lexington County Council considering transferring property in the Brighton Business and Technology Park, a $16 million county park that has struggled to attract tenants since it opened almost a decade ago.
On Tuesday, county council gave initial approval to a measure to convey real estate in the park to Brighton Capital Partners LLC. Tuesday’s vote was by “title only” and didn’t provide details of what development will ultimately move into the park. Mitchell said in his video that the town has not received much information about the potential development either.
“I got nothing but a door closed in my face,” Mitchell said. “I consider it stiff-arming the town of Chapin and I do not appreciate it.”
County Council Chairman Darrell Hudson told The State that the planned development will be mixed-use, including commercial and residential components, and that the full details will be fleshed out before the development is finally approved.
Hudson said he hadn’t seen Mitchell’s video, but emphasized that the county has a previously signed contract with the town of Chapin that obligates the town to provide sewer service to the Brighton development.
“He says he has legally got an opinion that they don’t have to,” Hudson said. “By law, we have to put it out for sale and the highest bidder gets it. The highest bidder got it, and if he says he isn’t selling the taps, he has a contract that says he has to.”
Mitchell said in his video that the county had attempted to purchase the equivalent of 667 sewer taps for $4 million and he had turned them down. Hudson confirmed the attempted purchase to The State.
Council member Beth Carrigg said in a statement on Wednesday that the planned $20 million sale of a 200-acre site would be a net benefit to the county and the Chapin community.
“The proposal includes the potential for over 2,500 jobs; a site for a new library, an amphitheater, and a commercial, retail and food & beverage village,” Carrigg said. “Your County Council has worked diligently to ensure that the jobs created in the park will be in technology and that there will be no data centers nor heavy industry. This is a huge win for Chapin and Lexington County.”
The development will wait until after completion of the Columbia Avenue road expansion project in Chapin and will “will have very limited impact on local traffic,” she said.
Other members of Lexington County Council were also hesitant to move forward with the Brighton development. Council members Michael Bishop, Larry Brigham and Charli Wessinger — who represents the Chapin area — all voted against advancing the motion, while Glen Conwell abstained. Hudson, Beth Carrigg, Todd Cockrell, Todd Cullum and Clifford Fisher voted yes.
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 10:43 AM.
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