Legal battle continues over old Heritage U.S.A. tower in Fort Mill

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — York County leaders opened up Wednesday about the debate over a 21-story tower in Fort Mill.

MorningStar Church wants to turn the property into senior housing, but its plans have led to a near decade-long legal battle with York County.

In February, the church complained, saying the city agreed to drop litigation in 2020, but then sent a notice later saying it planned to reinstate the legal battle.

On Wednesday, the county sent a statement saying that lawsuit was never dropped.

“On August, 21, 2020, the parties submitted a joint stipulation to the Court under Rule40 of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, which removed the case from the active trial docket for one year to allow MorningStar additional time to submit a building permit application for completion of the Tower,” the statement said. “Between August 31, 2020, and August 30, 2021, Morningstar failed to submit a building permit application to the County for completion of the Tower and failed to provide any evidence that the Tower could be funded or completed.”

For this reason, “York County made a motion to have the case reinstated.”

In February, dozens of church members attended a York County council meeting, asking leaders to drop the litigation.

MorningStar issued a strongly-worded statement in response to York County, saying the county made several “false statements and accusations.” The church’s statement can be found in its entirety below:

“In response to the York County Press Release on March 16 about its ongoing dispute with MorningStar concerning our high-rise tower project, in which the county accused the church of publishing false information, we assert that we have not said anything in public or private in regard to this project, or our dispute with the county, that is not true.  In fact, the County’s press release contains numerous false statements and accusations, which appear to deliberately attack the integrity of our ministry. These include, but are not limited to, false statements about the status of previous past litigation in state and federal court, and the very serious false suggestion that we’ve done anything to endanger the public or our congregants.  We will backup that these are false statements with documentation and proof, all of which will be included in the additional litigation we will be filing against the county soon, which will then be public record. We will also make this all available on our ministry website at www.morningstarministries.org.

“For the ten years plus that the dispute between York County and MorningStar has been going on we have never been given an explanation for the County’s opposition to this project, why they want us to destroy church property estimated to be worth between $15-20 million dollars, or why they would put out such a Press Release that would open the County up to further and even more damaging and expensive litigation. None of this makes any sense to us, but it is now obvious it will have to be resolved in court.

“Because of the serious nature of the laws that we assert were broken by the County, as well as the violation of our basic Constitutional rights, and we are grieved by the County’s misrepresentations of our church and ministry, we are encouraged that they have chosen to make this a public case. We think the public deserves to know the facts of this case, and the actions of their county government that will be exposed by this case.

“MorningStar has thousands of local members, supporters and friends, and we regret very much how this might reflect on York County. However, the assault on our rights, our property, our reputation, and the discrimination we have faced, this must be answered. Because we have an open policy, we will be available for interviews, and do our best to address any questions from official media about this case.

“We also want to thank our fellow York County citizens who have expressed their support in matter that has continued for far too long. For those who are tired of seeing that tower as the eyesore that it now is, be sure that we are more tired of this than anyone, and would have turned into one of the most beautiful buildings in the area if it had not been for York County’s obstruction to this project. It is our resolve to not quit until that building is something the county is very proud of, and a great benefit to our community.

“MorningStar Fellowship Church and Ministries”

(WATCH BELOW: Discrimination lawsuit over old Heritage U.S.A. tower heads to federal court)

Discrimination lawsuit over old Heritage U.S.A. tower heads to federal court Discrimination lawsuit over old Heritage U.S.A. tower heads to federal court

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