Putting American Workers First in South Carolina

America First means putting American workers, American families, American communities, and American national interests first.

Mark Lynch | July 28, 2026

For more than two years, residents of Fort Mill, South Carolina, have been fighting over a basic question: Can the kind of solar-panel manufacturing planned by Silfab Solar legally operate on property zoned for Light Industrial use?

That question is at the heart of a complicated dispute involving Silfab's manufacturing facility at 7149 Logistics Lane in York County.

County zoning officials initially determined that solar-panel manufacturing could be treated as a permitted form of manufacturing in the Light Industrial district. Residents challenged that interpretation, arguing that the proposed operation did not belong within that zoning classification.

On May 30, 2024, the York County Board of Zoning Appeals agreed with the challengers. In a unanimous 5–0 vote, the board reversed the county zoning administrator's interpretation and determined that the solar-panel manufacturing at issue was not a permitted use in the Light Industrial district.

Silfab and the property's owner, Exeter 7149 Logistics, appealed that decision.

Then, on July 21, 2026, Circuit Judge William A. McKinnon upheld the Board of Zoning Appeals. His order affirmed the board's decision that the manufacturing use at issue did not qualify as a permitted Light Industrial use under the provision on which the county zoning administrator had relied.

That distinction matters.

The judge did not simply order Silfab's Fort Mill facility closed. York County maintains that the zoning interpretation applies prospectively and does not invalidate development it says was previously approved, and additional litigation remains.

But the court........

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