Right as this column’s due date hit for publication, we all learned of the passing of Fountain Inn’s former Recreation Director, PD Terry. PD was a pillar of the Fountain Inn community and beyond. With his leadership and spirit, PD helped build one of the finest recreation departments around and has left a legacy beyond measure.

PD’s impact will be felt forever in Fountain Inn. Whether it’s through his direct interaction with thousands of our Recreation program participants and their families, his work with all of our area schools (especially Hillcrest High School and Fountain Inn High School), his active Rotary engagements, and as an avid cheerleader for our community - PD’s mark is forever left on us in Fountain Inn and beyond.

PD has the ultimate home field advantage now, and we’re grateful for the time the Lord, and his family, let us have him in Fountain Inn.

A Look Back at 2025

Every year in January in this column I try to take an opportunity to look back at the previous year and reflect on everything that’s happened in Fountain Inn. Below are just some of the highlights:

Key Policy Changes to Help Manage Growth

In the summer of 2025 City Council unanimously adopted Impact Fees on new development. Technically consisting of three fees - Parks & Recreation, Fire, and Police and amounting to about $3,100 per new home - all three fees are in place starting January 1 this year. Only the Parks & Recreation fee was in place starting in July of 2025 and resulted in over $160,000 collected in its first few months.

Our zoning rewrite was recommended for approval by our Planning Commission unanimously at the end of 2025. City Council will begin consideration of the updated zoning laws for Fountain Inn at our January meeting. 

Infrastructure Investments Continue

Our $12 million sewer rehab project has been underway for a couple of years now, with great progress being made in repairing and/or relining every foot of public sewer in the city - work is set to complete in 2026. Alongside this, we have continued to make investments in our natural gas infrastructure, including improvements on our northern end to ensure stronger pressure. 

Our new signal at I-385 and Highway 418 (Exit 23 - Southbound) turned on in 2025 - one of the most requested traffic infrastructure improvements.

Our Main Street renovation project achieved substantial completion right before the end of 2025. There’s still some landscaping, electrical, and final paving to be done, but the number one recommendation from the public in our 2024 Comprehensive Plan is now nearly complete.

We saw the repaving of Fairview Street and much of Highway 418 by SC DOT in 2025, and Howard Drive was finally added to the state’s paving list last year as well (start date TBD).

Local Economy Grows

We continued to see growth in our historic downtown in 2025 with ribbon cuttings for businesses up and down Main Street and the surrounding area. Not to mention the growth outside of downtown - including some wonderful expansions of existing businesses!

For the first time ever, we saw over 1 million visitors to our downtown in a year - up about 7.5% from 2024 (+70,000 people). This includes over 85,000 visitors in December alone.

Projects Move Forward

Early in 2025 our Woodside Connector projects officially wrapped up - bringing safer pedestrian access from downtown to Emanuel Sullivan Sports Complex (ESSC) and a total reworking of a trail segment connecting the back of ESSC to Fairview Street Park.

The Swamp Rabbit Trail will soon connect Fountain Inn to Simpsonville with dirt moving in 2026. This long awaited connection saw some key final elements and permits fall into place in 2025 and will soon be a reality.

I hope everyone was able to spend time with their family and friends this holiday season and I look forward to 2026 in Fountain Inn!●