GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – The Greenville Transit Authority responded to backlash over construction of its new Greenlink bus maintenance facility.
The site is near a historically Black neighborhood where residents claimed the land was promised for other uses.
Since the start, residents in the New Washington Heights neighborhood have been displeased with the construction of a new Greenlink maintenance facility.
On Thursday, the Greenville Transit Authority (GTA) said their work will continue backed by a recent court appearance.
Arcadia Drive is the center of the recent backlash. It’s a site the county hopes will expand Greenlink’s bus fleet and improve maintenance to meet a growing demand for service. However, representatives of a nearby neighborhood disagree.
“At any given time, at six o’clock in the morning, or any time soon after that we are awaken by our floors moving like a mini earthquake,” Angela Aiken of New Washington Heights Neighborhood Association, said in a previous interview.
Located near the New Washington Heights neighborhood, some residents expressed their concerns to 7NEWS this month with the construction and how the land is being used.
“Washington Heights is a historical monument that all of Greenville County should be proud to be a part of,” Aiken said before GTA’s latest response.
In a previous interview, the neighborhood association said the land was supposed to be used to build parks, trails, and affordable housing for the historically Black community.
They claimed it was in an agreement with the county and later pressed legal action.
Greenville Transit Authority declined to comment on pending litigation, until Thursday.
In a statement, they said a New Washington Heights neighborhood spokesperson asked a court to end construction of the new project near the neighborhood. The court denied the motion.
GTA also said an equity study completed by a third party found no disparate impacts from the facility’s construction.
The statement went on to say approval was granted for the facility by the county through a land donation, multiple votes, as well as a public hearing. The Federal Transit Administration also gave it the green light to continue the project.
GTA said the agreement the neighborhood association claimed to have made with Greenville County in 2013, part of the Community Plan, was never promised.
7NEWS reached out to the neighborhood group following GTA’s response. A spokesperson said they have no comment at this time.
Operations are scheduled to begin at the new bus facility in 2024.
To read Greenville Transit Authority’s full release, click here.