FORT MILL TOWNSHIP--The county's steering committee kept in close touch with the leaders of growing towns Fort Mill and Tega Cay as the group crafted the proposed comprehensive plan.

Representing Fort Mill on the committee were Mayor Charles Powers and Town Manager David Hudspeth. Tega Cay was represented by Jeff Updike, who also heads up the preservation group Nation Ford Land Trust. Other local residents included Fort Mill attorney and property owner Bayles Mack, and Don Killoren, chief executive officer of Clear Springs Development.

Their jobs were to look out for the interests of the growing communities as the steering committee hammered out the comprehensive plan.

Updike said he attended every meeting over the past two years, about 25 meetings total. Hudspeth and Powers together attended a handful, Hudspeth said. Killoren said he attended nearly three-fourths of the meetings. Mack couldn't be reached for comment by press time Tuesday.

Tega Cay and Fort Mill have also been working to bring their own comprehensive plans, mandated by state law, in line with the county's draft plan to avoid significant changes later.

Everything from zoning standards to population growth projections have to match, to avoid inconsistencies and confusion.

"It is important the plans are similar in character," said Paul Gettys, a senior planner with the Catawba Regional Council of Governments, and the man helping the Fort Mill Planning Commission draft its own plan.

Tega Cay's plan was finished last year, and Fort Mill's is about six months to a year away from being done. The Fort Mill Planning Commission is waiting to see what York County's plan looks like before it continues.

"I think there will be a lot more cooperation," said L.A. Graham, planning commission chairman. "It will make it a much smoother operation."