BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. — Blythewood residents had the opportunity to meet Scout executives and ask questions about the development of their new facility on Sunday.
General curiosity is what brought Blythewood resident John Brewton and his wife to the Doko Manor to listen to a presentation given by Scout Motors.
The company, set to build a massive car manufacturing plant over the next four years, took another step in the planning and processing stage. Throughout Saturday, Scout executives hosted public comment sessions to connect with residents and share ideas about the plant.
Brewton came to find out what the plant would look like and how noise would be handled.
"A lot of the locals in the area I've talked to are concerned about noise," he said. "Things about what kind of noise is going to come here, that kind of thing. You've got train traffic."
"We don't know what we don't know at this point," Brewton added. "So, putting a plant sounds good, but what part of it do we not know about?"
On display was a large 3D model of the facility, complete with scale roads, train tracks, and homes.
The sessions lasted under an hour, with the first portion being made up of a presentation from three of the scout team members. Jan Spies will serve as the company's chief production officer as they begin building the plant.
Spies said the facility hopes to employ 4,000 workers, who would be spaced out between three different shifts. He said the factory should be producing 40 cars per hour once it's up and running. During the discussion, residents asked about a slew of conditions with the new plant, including sound, traffic, and the environment - all issues Spies said the company is working to minimize.
"We don't want to have any intersecting traffic flows because that is causing stops and starts, and we don't like it, and you don't like it," Spies said.
He said concerns with sound stemming from a train have also been taken into account.
"We tried to avoid any crossing of this. So, the first noise that you always hear is the honking of horns," he said. "That is something that we will not have here."
Brewton said he enjoyed the conversation and is watching with a close eye.
"Met some of the key people in there and, yes, we will definitely be talking with them," he said.
News19 did request comments and an interview during the event. Officials said those would be available on Monday during media presentations.
