Rock Hill's Planning Commission signed off on 161 new homes across three separate subdivisions during its September 1 meeting, clearing a major hurdle for developers even as at least one resident warns that a key eastside corridor already can't handle the traffic it has now. The largest of the three projects, a 100-unit subdivision from Empire Homes, still needs a completed traffic-impact study before it goes to Rock Hill City Council for final annexation approval later this month.
Empire Homes is seeking to annex 61.5 acres on the east side of Rock Hill along Sturgis Road, according to k104.7. Official filings for the case identify applicant Bobby MacNaughton acting on behalf of Empire Homes, requesting that four parcels at 2385, 2387, and 2393 Sturgis Road be converted from York County Rural Development zoning to Rock Hill Single Family Residential-4, according to City of Rock Hill planning records. Because the property currently sits in unincorporated York County, annexation is required before the site can receive city water and sewer service.
Concept plans for the subdivision show two internal street connections tying directly into the neighboring Waterford Commons development, plus a single ingress and egress point onto Sturgis Road itself, according to a post shared in the PRAR Local Government Watch Facebook group. Waterford Commons, being built by Eastwood Homes, is already under construction with 163 single-family lots priced between $460,000 and $630,000, per Homes.com listing data. Combined, the two projects would bring 263 new single-family homes to the Sturgis Road corridor.
A Resident's Warning on Sturgis Road
Not everyone is on board. Some residents oppose the Empire Homes project, and one of them, Pamela Wade, told the Post and Courier that Sturgis Road is already very congested at peak times and is a two-lane road that cannot handle the proposed number of houses. Her concerns echo a pattern along the corridor: back in 2022, Mattamy Homes proposed Bratton Pointe, a 193-lot mixed single-family and townhome community on 64 acres between Dave Lyle Boulevard and Sturgis Road, according to Lake Wylie Realty, showing this stretch of road has absorbed large-scale residential conversion before.
Because of its size, the Empire Homes proposal triggered a mandatory traffic-impact study before it can go before City Council, unlike the two smaller subdivisions approved at the same meeting. The Post and Courier reports that the roughly 30-home Ashbourne community, proposed north of Saluda Road near Mount Holly Road, and the roughly 30-home Fieldcrest Reserve subdivision, planned at the corner of Mount Gallant Road near Celanese Road, both fell below the city's threshold for requiring such a study. The traffic study for Empire Homes' site is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, and the September 28 City Council vote on the rezoning is contingent on that study wrapping up in time.
Road Money Already Earmarked for Two Smaller Projects
While Empire Homes waits on its study, the Ashbourne and Fieldcrest Reserve developments are already positioned to benefit from road work scheduled for 2027 under York County's Pennies for Progress program, the voter-approved sales tax that funds local road improvements. Mount Gallant Road improvements will serve the Fieldcrest Reserve area, with construction crews set to add lanes to roughly two miles of Mount Gallant Road between Celanese Road and Twin Lakes Road. Nearby, York County transportation plans call for widening about two miles of Saluda Road from Grier Street to East Rambo Road, work that will serve the Ashbourne area.
York County created South Carolina's first local capital project sales tax program back in 1997, and voters most recently reauthorized it in November 2024 as Pennies for Progress 5, a seven-year, $410.65 million initiative for transportation and road infrastructure, according to WRHI. Beyond the major widening projects on Mount Gallant and Saluda roads, the same program dedicated $80 million to resurfacing 76 miles of local roads, including Rock Hill corridors like Museum Road, Ebenezer Road, and John Ross Parkway, per the WRHI report.
Growth Pressure and What Happens Next
The tension over Sturgis Road traffic is unfolding against a backdrop of rapid regional growth. York County's population climbed to roughly 307,000 residents in 2025 and 2026, up from 282,090 at the 2020 Census, fueled largely by Charlotte metro spillover along Interstate 77, according to USAFacts. Rock Hill remains the county's largest city, with more than 75,000 residents of its own.
Before any of the three subdivisions can break ground, Rock Hill City Council must still hold two separate readings and cast affirmative votes on the annexation, since a Planning Commission recommendation only functions as an advisory step under city procedure. Council is slated to take up the Empire Homes rezoning at its September 28 meeting, assuming the traffic study is finished in time. South Carolina law also sets a high bar for residents who might want to challenge a planning decision afterward: under state code, circuit court judges must uphold a planning board's land-use decision as long as any evidence in the record supports it, leaving little room for a legal reversal even if opposition continues to grow along Sturgis Road.
