Mobile Home Sales in Red Hill, SC

(Tribune News Service) — The company awarded a half-million-dollar, no-bid "public outreach" contract to solicit ideas from the community about possible alternative uses of the Navy's Red Hill facility once it's closed for fueling operations is being tight-lipped about how it plans to conduct community outreach.

The Navy announced Jan. 31 that it had awarded a contract to Nakupuna Cos. and that the company and its team of subconsultants would "solicit and consider all ideas received from the community with an emphasis on citizens of Oahu."

Since then Nakupuna has declined to name its subconsultants or the team members who will be working on public outreach. The company declined interview requests and wouldn't answer written questions about how it plans to gather the ideas, whether it will host community meetings and when it plans to submit its work to the Navy.

The company told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that if it has questions about the contract, it could submit a formal records request under the Freedom of Information Act.

"We do not plan to sit for any interviews regarding the project," said Andy Minor, a spokesperson for Nakupuna Cos., by email. "After coordinating with the Navy, we ask that any further details regarding the contract be requested using the FOIA process."

Minor referred additional questions to Navy Region Hawaii's public affairs office.

The Navy also declined to say who the subcontractors are and said that it is allowed to withhold this information based on a FOIA exemption that allows the government to withhold commercial information.

The Navy declined to answer specific questions about the contract terms, such as any deliverables, how the cost of the contract was determined to be $530,168.08 and whether there is a deadline for Nakupuna to complete its work.

The Navy said that after Nakupuna collects community ideas, the Navy will meet with the Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Health, the facility's regulators, to select the public's top five ideas. The Navy said those ideas will then be evaluated for feasibility, considering the environment, engineering, maintenance, safety, cost and benefits — work that the Navy says is not included in the Nakupuna contract.

The top five ideas are expected to be identified later this year, in accordance with a "draft schedule," said the Navy, which declined to provide a copy of that schedule, saying it's being revised.

The Navy said more information about when and how the community can provide feedback and input will be available in the coming weeks. Nakupuna Cos. provided a link to a website for people to sign up to be notified when the project is ready for their input.

The company, in a statement, said that it was "pleased to be playing a role in generating community-based discussions" and that it will act as "information facilitators."

"Our team's experience with community relations will ensure we reach a broad audience, and we look forward to working with our fellow citizens to ensure their ideas are heard," according to the statement.

The Star-Advertiser earlier this month submitted a FOIA request for a copy of the contract and any deliverables outlined by the Navy for fulfilling the terms of the contract. But the Department of Defense, which has a backlog of records requests, is notoriously slow in responding.

When the Navy announced in November that it would explore ways to repurpose the World War II era-facility once it finishes permanently defueling the tanks, it was quickly criticized by groups including the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and Hawaii Sierra Club. They've questioned whether the aging tanks and pipelines can realistically and safely be reused for another purpose, even filling them with an emergency supply of drinking water.

Hawaii Sierra Club Director Wayne Tanaka said the lack of transparency about the contract only fuels concerns.

"It just doesn't make sense to solicit ideas without knowing whether any use would be safe," he said. "The fact that they also haven't evaluated clearly what this should actually cost taxpayers by avoiding procurement and competitive bidding further emphasizes the nonsensicalness of this approach."

Tanaka said greater transparency about the contract could help assure the public that the results reflect a "good-faith survey of public sentiment."

Department of Defense contracts generally need to be awarded through a competitive bidding process, but there are exceptions. Nakupuna Cos. was able to obtain the sole-source contract because it's a so-called 8(a) firm. The Small Businesses Administration's 8(a) program was designed to encourage the government to award contracts to small, disadvantaged businesses, including those owned by Native Hawaiians.

Nakupuna's website says its "family of companies" specializes in management consulting, IT, facilities and infrastructure, logistics and environmental services. The company has offices in Honolulu and Washington, D.C., as well as Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Nakupuna's subsidiaries have received at least $8.84 million in military contracts since 2020, according to information from the Hawaii Defense Economy project.

A Navy spokesperson said Friday that the Navy uses the 8(a) program "for situations such as social economic goals and schedule timing."

Closure plans

The Pentagon announced in 2022 that it would permanently shut down Red Hill after a fuel leak from the facility in November 2021 contaminated its nearby Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam drinking water system and sickened military families. The Navy and its contractors are working on $75 million in repairs and upgrades to Red Hill's infrastructure just so they can safely drain the approximately 104 million gallons of fuel from the underground tanks that has now been sitting there for more than a year.

The Department of Defense has been working on closure plans, and it came as a surprise to many when top officials announced in November that they would try to find another use for Red Hill. Meredith Berger, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, told reporters that reuse "is an option we want to make sure we preserve."

DOH, at the time, said it was not clear whether Hawaii administrative rules allow for a reuse option when underground fuel tanks are permanently shut down.

"It is not something that has ever been proposed before, and it is really the Navy's burden to say what that beneficial reuse could and would be," a DOH spokesperson told the Star-Advertiser following the DOD's announcement. "And then we would have to reevaluate it from there."

But both the Navy and Nakupuna told the Star-Advertiser this month that the idea actually originated from DOH. Nakupuna said the DOH was requiring the Navy to explore potential alternative uses for Red Hill.

The Navy told the Star-Advertiser that the Nakupuna contract "is the direct result of a request made by DOH" during a July 14 closure plan meeting.

The Star-Advertiser reached out to DOH on Wednesday seeking comment and clarification. On Friday a spokesperson said DOH was still in the "process of gathering information" related to the query.

(c)2023 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

(Tribune News Service) — The Navy announced Tuesday that it has awarded a contract to Hawaii-based Nakupuna Cos. to develop a public outreach program to look for proposals on how to repurpose the underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility after the military removes the roughly 104 million gallons of fuel stored in the facility’s aging World War II-era tanks.

“Nakupuna and its team of sub-consultants will solicit and consider all ideas received from the community with an emphasis on citizens on Oahu,“ the Navy said in a Tuesday news release. “Based on this input, the Navy will meet with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) to select the top five ideas, from the public, with the most merit and benefit for further consideration. The top five ideas will be further evaluated on feasibility considering environmental, engineering, maintenance, safety, cost and benefit. The final analysis will be presented to the state, DOH and EPA for review and consideration.”

In its news release, the Navy called Nakupuna “a Native Hawaiian-owned and local small business.” Representatives of Nakupuna could not be reached for comment and did not respond to an email from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, but according to the company’s website it was “established to provide knowledge-based services to Department of Defense and government clients“ and maintains offices in Hono lulu and Washington, D.C., as well as in Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

According to data from the Hawaii Defense Economy project, Nakupuna’s subsidiaries have received at least $8, 842, 500 in military contracts since 2020.

The Red Hill tanks sit just 100 feet above a critical aquifer that most of Honolulu relies on for clean drinking water. In November 2021, fuel from the facility leaked into the Red Hill water well, contaminating the Navy’s Oahu water system, which serves 93,000 people — including both military families and civilians who live in former military housing areas. After initially resisting a state emergency order to defuel the tanks, the Pentagon in March announced it would defuel and permanently shut down the facility.

Military officials later surprised local officials and community members when they said they were already exploring ways to “re-purpose“ the facility after it’s defueled. Though military officials have touted the possibility of “beneficial reuse“ of the Red Hill facility, reception has been lukewarm at best from local agencies and community organizations. The Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the Hawaii chapter of the Sierra Club have both raised safety concerns, and state Department of Health officials have said it’s not clear Hawaii state law would permit reuse.

During a November news conference on Oahu, Meredith Berger, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, told reporters, “We will continue to make sure we are protective of the environment, of the people and of the community, and we are not — I want to make sure this is very clear — we are not going to pursue any beneficial reuse option that would contain potential contaminants, and none of the options that we have laid on the table would be a fuel reuse.”

But during a November meeting of the state’s Red Hill Fuel Tank Advisory Committee, BWS Manager and Chief Engineer Ernie Lau said, “If the tank liners are still there, the pipes that move fuel to and from Pearl Harbor, if everything is still there in place, we are only one degree of freedom from getting back to fuel storage over the aquifer.”

Defense officials have been hesitant to discuss specific reuses of the Red Hill facility but have floated the idea of using it as a hydroelectric plant to provide an alternative energy source, an idea that has been floated in the past. During a November news release marking the anniversary of the water crisis, Navy Region Hawaii Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett said “there’s a lot of good ideas and things that folks are recommending“ but did not offer specifics.

(c)2023 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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What if twice as many homes and apartments as are in Fort Mill today were squeezed in among what’s already built in York and Lancaster counties?

Now, think of those new homes and apartments as if they’re already on the way.

There’s no clear trend in the number of new homes and apartments approved in the region since the COVID-19 pandemic. But there is one consensus. A whole lot more homes and apartments are coming.

The Herald reached out to public officials in hotbed growth areas just south of the state line to see what’s coming. We combined that data with recent reports of projects now in the works.

Conclusion: Some areas are approving more new homes than ever. Some aren’t.

A picture emerges in York and Lancaster counties where decisions already made will further alter the local landscape. Even by a conservative estimate, those areas have well more than 20,000 homes, townhomes or apartments that are approved, but aren’t yet built.

Here’s a roundup of what we found:

Fort Mill residential growth has been among the highest in the region for more than a decade. The more than 24,000 residents in 2020 is well more than double the 2010 count, at fewer than 11,000 residents. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Fort Mill, as of mid-2021, had almost 28,000 residents.

Yet new home approvals aren’t coming as rapidly.

In 2020, Fort Mill Town Council didn’t approve any new residential developments. The same is true for last year, when council reviewed but denied an annexation request for 80 new homes.

The town did approve annexation, rezoning and a development agreement in 2021 for the Crossroads project. That proposal will add up to 460 age-restricted residences and new commercial development in the Fort Mill Parkway and Williams Road area. Close to half of those residences, at 220 units, are part of an independent or assisted living facility with memory care.

Council initially denied a plan for Crossroads before agreeing to modifications. Council denied two more residential plans in 2021 that could’ve added 318 homes.

Town leaders have spoken for some time about the pressure new homes put on area roads, schools and other public infrastructure. Mayor Guynn Savage told area elected and road officials last month she still recalls the message from her first meeting with the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study policy committee.

“I was told, Fort Mill’s got to stop growing,” Savage said. “You just have to stop permitting houses. Quit growing.”

Recently, Savage said, there’s been a shift.

“We’ve turned down quite a few,” Savage said. “It doesn’t make the paper, the ones we turn down. It certainly does the ones we accept. In the last two years, we’ve turned down more than we’ve accepted.”

Related to roads, Savage told the group, the hope is that fewer approved new homes will ease pressure points.

“We heard you,” Savage said, “and we understood that we were contributing to the problem that we all have.”

It may be a long while still before the recent shift away from new housing approvals becomes apparent. The town has about 7,000 new residences already entitled, or allowed for construction by past decisions or existing zoning. Town leaders say the final residence count could be significantly smaller due to land use or property constraints, like wetlands. Many of the entitled homes come from agreements set to span decades, so the impact won’t hit all at once.

The big driver in new homes is the Lennar project along Fort Mill Parkway, Elizabeth. Land formerly owned by U.S. Rep. John Spratt came up for development almost a decade ago. The initial request involved 3,400 residences. The town worked that number down to a 2016 approval for about 2,600 residences. The plan further evolved to fewer than 2,000 homes.

Unincorporated York County saw a peak for new home plans in 2020. There were nine projects with 895 lots whose plats came to the county planning commission. That lot count was almost four times what it was in 2019, at 239 lots.

There were more projects — 15 — in 2021 but there were about half as many lots requested. There were 449 residences approved in 2021, a number that dropped by almost half again last year to 241 residences.

County planners didn’t provide an exact number of how many approved homes can still be built in unincorporated parts of the county, but the figure is significant. Just among projects that came to the planning commission from 2019 to 2022, there were 1,824 lots approved. As of the new year, the county only listed one of those projects — a 50-lot subdivision — as under construction.

The past three years brought a steady increase for Rock Hill residences. There were 899 units approved in 2020. The amount increased to 1,270 units in 2021 and 1,627 units last year.

City planner Alex Boyce said the city doesn’t track the number of homes and apartments approved but not yet built. Sometimes projects are approved but never built. Some approvals expire in two years, leaving some units unbuilt. Then, there are projects approved many years back that still have work ongoing.

For units approved from 2020 to 2022, however, there were 375 units with certificates of occupancy as of year’s end. Which leaves 3,421 units approved in that span without one -- or yet to be fully built.

Lancaster County keeps tabs on its panhandle (the Indian Land area), its main residential growth area for more than a decade.

The county has a list of approved, active and recently completed subdivisions there. At year’s end, there were 17,759 homes and apartments on that list.

More than two-thirds of those residences, nearly 12,500 of them, are homes. About 5,200 are apartments.

Last year saw 411 new home approvals in the panhandle, less than half what the prior year brought. Apartment unit approvals dropped 38% in a year.

The past five years brought a shift in housing type. In 2018 and 2019, only a sliver of the more than 3,000 approved residences were apartments. From 2020 forward, there have been more apartment units than homes approved. Last year there were more than twice as many apartments as homes.

There’s likely plenty more of both to come.

Only 56% of homes and 48% of apartments on the approved list in the panhandle have been built. At year’s end there were 8,211 approved residences that hadn’t yet started construction. Of them, there are almost 5,500 homes and more than 2,700 apartments.

Tega Cay residential approvals bounced back in 2022.

“There were no new developments in 2020 and 2021,” said Susan Britt, city planning and development services director. “Permits issued in those years were for the continued development of existing subdivisions.”

The city approved 432 residences last year. There were 160 homes and 225 apartments at the former Game On site now informally known as the city “Main Street” project, and 138 homes at Windell Woods. Windell Woods should be complete by 2025, the former Game On site by 2027.

Like other area communities, recent approvals are just part of what comes next. As of the start of 2023, Tega Cay had 859 homes and apartments approved but not yet built. Apart from the former Game On site, all those homes and apartments come in projects slated for completion by 2025.

Expected new homes aren’t confined to the state line area.

As of October, the town of York had 14 active or recently approved projects under development. Another was pending. The western York County city had 2,412 homes and townhomes included.

Lancaster is another non-traditional hot spot for residential growth. The Roselyn development south of Andrew Jackson State Park on U.S. 521 was approved for more than 1,800 homes in 2019. Several others south of the panhandle followed.

Last fall, Lancaster County development services director Rox Burhans said the county has five years worth of residential growth approved but not yet built. There are more than 8,000 homes and townhomes that can be built without further approval. More projects have come in since.

In late January, Lancaster City Council moved forward with plans for almost 500 new residences. Combined with the Red Rose Village project from December, the city looks at more than 700 new residences in total.

BARNESVILLE – With six individual champions, Barnesville three-peated as Division III sectional wrestling champs Saturday inside ‘The Greenhouse.’

Winning titles for the Shamrocks were Johnathan Huntsman (106), Dakota King (132), Ayden King (138), Logan Tague (144), Reese Stephen (150) and Ayden King (157) as they piled up 254.5 points.

Four other Shamrocks punched their tickets to district action on Friday and Saturday at Harrison Central High School in Cadiz by finishing in the top four of their weight classes.

Martins Ferry finished second with 211 points and had four individual titlists in Dylan Ward (120), Johnny McFarland (165), George Hulsey (175) and Alex Finsley (190).

Five other Purple Riders are headed to the districts.

Bridgeport, River and Union Local all have two district qualifiers, while Shenandoah has four.

AT MAGNOLIA, Edison came away with the sectional title as the Wildcats put up 178 points, which was 4.5 better than Tuscarawas Valley.

Edison, however, only had one champion in Ethan Waggoner (165), but qualified nine total.

Harrison Central had a pair of champions in the Brothers Thomas – Lucas (215) and Landen (285) – but only one other Huskie moved on.

Bellaire will be sending three to the district and Shadyside one. Caldwell had six.

Division II

AT STEUBENVILLE – Steubenville finished third behind Carrollton (216) and West Holmes (202.5) with 183 points. Indian Creek was fourth with 160.

Big Red had just one individual champ in Brody Saccoccia (132), but nine others qualified for district action to be held inside the Crimson Center at Steubenville High School on Friday and Saturday.

The Redskins had four titlists in CJ Spencer (150), Dom Paterra (157), Ethan Llewellyn (165) and Elijah Llewellyn (215), but have two other qualifiers.

Buckeye Local qualified four and St. Clairsville two.

BOYS BASKETBALL

ROCK HILL, S.C – Linsly is returning to the Ohio Valley with its second championship of the season and its 20th win to equal a school record.

The Cadets put the finishing touches on an impressive campaign Sunday afternoon when they defeated Top Notch Prep, 76-62, in the championship of the Prep Nationals Diamond.

Senior guard Gavin Jackson (28) and Carter Anderson (17) led the way for the Cadets. Classmate Nathan Coleman added 10.

SATURDAY

Linsly 65, Inspire Academy 62

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Linsly moved to within a victory of capturing a championship at the Prep School Nationals by virtue of a 65-62 win over Inspire Academy (Canada) Saturday afternoon.

The Cadets were led by senior standout Carter Anderson, who poured in 25 points. Will Taylor added 12 and D’arrae Goodwin and Gavin Jackson went for eight and seven, respectively.

COLLEGE WRESTLING

TIFFIN – West Liberty amassed 137.5 points to win the NCAA Division II Super Regional Tournament at Tiffin University.

Only two Hilltoppers – Cole Laya (125) and Jacob Simpson (149) – were champions. However, six others qualified for the nationals.

Former Barnesville standout Brylan Clouse (197) placed second for Lake Erie College and also qualified for the nationals.

NEW YORK — Recent acquisitions will allow Hill’s Pet Nutrition to expand its capacity and deliver new innovation to its Prescription Diet portfolio, according to parent company Colgate-Palmolive’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings report.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition posted the highest year-over-year net sales growth for Colgate-Palmolive, compared to the company’s other segments, which are separated by geographic region: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa/Eurasia. The pet nutrition business made up 22.9% of Colgate-Palmolive’s total net sales in the fourth quarter and 20.7% of the company’s total net sales in 2022.

Net sales for Hill’s Pet Nutrition reached $1.06 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, up 19.8% year-over-year from $885 million. Full year net sales for Hill’s Pet Nutrition in 2022 topped $3.71 billion, up 12.1% from $3.31 billion in 2021.

Operating profit for the pet nutrition business was down 3.3%, from $241 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $233 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Full year operating profit for the segment fell 5.7%, from $901 million in 2021 to $850 million in 2022.

Pricing for Hill’s Pet Nutrition increased 13.5% over the fourth quarter, according to the company.

For the fourth quarter, Colgate-Palmolive clocked year-over-year organic sales growth for Hill’s Pet Nutrition at 14%, with organic volume up 0.5% year-over-year. For the full year, organic sales growth for the segment was reported at 13%, with organic volume up 1.5%. Foreign exchange rates negatively impacted the business by 3.5% in both the fourth quarter and full year.

According to the prepared management remarks published in tandem with Colgate-Palmolive’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report, volume added through Hill’s recent pet food acquisitions — including its purchase of three former Red Collar Pet Foods facilities in South Carolina, Oklahoma and Ohio — added 1.5% to net sales over the fourth quarter and 0.5% to net sales for the full year.

“Between the acquisition capital and capital expenditure, we are investing over $1.5 billion to fund capacity expansion to sustain the growth behind our Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Prescription Diet brands,” Colgate-Palmolive stated.

“More importantly, we were able to transition additional Hill’s volume to these plants, allowing us to meet greater customer and consumer demand while beginning to lower the capacity utilization at our existing plants,” the company stated. “We will continue to transition more Hill’s volume to these facilities in the next several quarters, which will lower both the topline and gross margin impact from the acquisitions, while helping to increase volume growth at Hill’s.”

Supply chain improvements are among the benefits reaped from Hill’s recent pet food facility acquisitions, which positively contributed 9.5% to the segment’s fourth quarter performance and Colgate-Palmolive’s overall volume performance over the fourth quarter, according to the company.

“Our combined financial resources provide us the flexibility to reinvest in our portfolio or pursue value-enhancing acquisitions like our pet food acquisitions, which enables us to drive faster growth,” said Noel Wallace, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Colgate-Palmolive, in the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call on Jan. 27.

However, the company expects exacerbated costs along its supply chain in 2023, particularly for raw materials and packaging materials. The company noted its gross margin performance in the fourth quarter was impacted by “higher manufacturing variances and start-up costs at Hill’s,” along with cost increases for agricultural inputs and raw materials, natural gas, and decreased net sales for its skin health business.

“We expect raw and packaging material costs to increase in 2023 by several hundred million dollars, predominantly in the first half of the year, driven by agriculture costs, which is far below the roughly $1.3 billion impact we saw in 2022,” the company stated.

The company noted plans to increase its advertising investment for Hill’s in 2023, and teased the opening of its new wet pet food facility in Tonganoxie, Kan., which was first announced in June 2021 and is expected to begin shipping product in the second half of 2023.

“Between the acquisition capital and capital expenditure, we are investing over $1.5 billion to fund capacity expansion to sustain the growth behind our Hill’s Science Diet and Hill’s Prescription Diet brands,” the company stated.

Colgate-Palmolive highlighted its Prescription Diet Derm Complete line, which it debuted in the third quarter of 2022, as a top performer in the fourth quarter. The company also shared plans to launch a new line under its Prescription Diet moniker. ONC Care will launch first in the United States market in March 2023, with a global rollout to follow.

“Prescription Diet Derm Complete continued to drive strong growth,” the company stated. “This breakthrough innovation is clinically shown to address both environmental and food sensitivities in dogs and is growing market share in the US veterinary clinic market. Hill’s also recently announced the launch of Prescription Diet ONC Care in the United States. This groundbreaking new formulation is designed to encourage eating and provide high-quality nutrition for cats and dogs with cancer.”

Colgate-Palmolive updated its full year 2023 guidance, in which it expects net sales growth between 2% and 5%, accounting for gains from pet food acquisitions and losses from foreign exchange. The company also expects to grow its gross profit margin year-over-year.

Read more about corporate strategy, financial performance, mergers and acquisitions on our Business page.

KEYWORDS cat food colgate-palmolive cost inflation dog food hill's pet nutrition new facility packaging materials prescription diets raw materials supply chain disruption veterinary nutrition