Laurens County Council approves several industrial and economic development projects, incentives
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Summary
Council approved multiple project ordinances and a resolution supporting Project Oracle, including third readings for Project Floyd (Ord. 994) and Project Diamond (Ord. 997), second readings for several industrial projects, and Resolution 2026-5 inducement agreement for Project Oracle.
Laurens County Council on Feb. 9 approved a slate of economic development measures, including project ordinances and an inducement resolution for a large automotive supplier.
Project Floyd (Ordinance 994) was approved on third and final reading. County staff described the project as Hydride Chemical’s $63,000,000 facility investment at Hunter Industrial Park that will expand an existing local operation and create roughly 13 new jobs on top of current employment. The ordinance passed by a unanimous voice/hand vote as recorded in the meeting.
Project Diamond (Ordinance 997) — Coastal Precast Systems — was presented by staff as a roughly $9,000,000 investment estimated to produce about 70 jobs manufacturing precast concrete products. The council opened and closed the public hearing with no in-person testimony and approved the ordinance on third reading.
Council approved second-reading actions for an updated Hunter Industrial Park memorandum of agreement (Ordinance 998) that will recreate the multi-county industrial park and set the distribution of net fee revenues historically split among the city, county, school district and economic development fund. Ordinance 1000 (Project Palmetto) was reported as a $20,200,000 headquarters relocation creating 57 new jobs and passed second reading. Ordinance 1002, an amendment to a FILO (fee-in-lieu) agreement adjusting special revenue credits for an existing company (Burnett) and noting the company has exceeded its commitments, also passed second reading.
In new-business actions, the council approved first reading of Ordinance 1003 to allow the public works director to petition the council for an administrative county-road closure when adjoining landowners consent, streamlining a process that otherwise requires a judicial petition under South Carolina Code §57-9-10. The council also approved Resolution 2026-5, an inducement agreement for Project Oracle. Staff described Project Oracle as a proposed tier-1 automotive supplier planning an estimated $120,800,000 investment and creation of roughly 277 jobs; council approved the inducement resolution and took first-reading actions related to the project (Ord. 1004 and Ord. 1005).
Most project measures recorded unanimous or near-unanimous support in voice/hand votes during the meeting. Council members said the projects represent investment and potential job growth for the county; staff noted the standard packet information and that final details are subject to the typical incentive and ordinance processes.
Next steps include administrative codification of the approved ordinances and routine execution of inducement and incentive agreements as required by county policy and the memoranda of agreement.