By admin 
An elderly couple says they have been “driven out” of the home where they have lived for over 40 years because of work done to clear a 1,600-acre industrial site for the Scout Motors electric vehicle manufacturing facility underway in Blythewood.
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William Shives, 92, and Barbara Shives, 84, filed a lawsuit in circuit court Aug. 7 against Scout Motors and Richland County, saying they have had to leave their longtime home after work on the adjacent Scout site damaged their septic system, washed out their driveway, and repeatedly tossed rubble onto their property — even hitting a guest in the eye on one occasion, according to the lawsuit.
“The last thing we ever expected was to be run out of town,” Bill Shives said in a statement shared with The State.
Residents nearby the future manufacturing facility have in the past raised fears over how the project could affect their properties. The Shives’ suit appears to be the first filed by a neighbor of the large industrial site over alleged impacts from work being done to prepare it for the automaker.
The lawsuit comes after state regulators previously found that sediment-filled stormwater had been allowed to run off the site and into the surrounding environment, resulting in a $1 million fine against Richland County.
The Shives attempted to resolve the problems at their property with Scout Motors and Richland County directly, but were unsuccessful, the lawsuit states.
“They hoped that the work next door would be carried out in a manner that would let them remain in the house they intended to live in for the rest of their lives,” the suit reads. “They bring this action because that did not happen.”
Among the claims against Scout and the county are trespassing and negligence. The Shives are also seeking damages from the county under an inverse-condemnation claim, saying the project amounted to a taking of their property without compensation.
The couple is being represented by local attorney Robert Goings.
Goings told The State that the Shives “are being uprooted from their property,” and are “reluctantly being forced to file this case because they are being given no other alternative.”
Longtime Blythewood couple sues
The Shives have lived in their Blythewood home for more than 40 years and are longtime community leaders. In 2024, Blythewood officials for their “selfless dedication, exemplary service, and unwavering commitment” to the local community.
William founded Shives Funeral Home in the 1960s, which has grown into a Columbia-area institution. The couple have remained active in the Blythewood community for decades.
“In 2024, Blythewood gave Bill and Barbara Shives the Keys to the City for decades of service to this community they’ve called home,” Goings told The State. “Now, on Barbara’s 84th birthday, she and her 92-year-old husband are being forced to abandon their home after nearly 40 years because an out-of-state car company and Richland County won’t make this right.”
He added, “The Shives are wonderful people [and] our community should not let them be taken advantage of.”
The Shives were in the process of leaving their longtime home Monday, Barbara’s 84th birthday.
The Shives’ roughly 24-acre property is located immediately next to the Scout site on Blythewood Road. Work to clear the site has included explosive blasting and excavating, leaving the Shives’ home next to “an industrial megasite,” the lawsuit states.
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The work changed the landscape and affected the Shives’ home in numerous ways, the lawsuit claims. Those include:
- Severe problems with their septic system and its drainage, causing the Shives to pay for the system to be pumped “as often as approximately once per week” at times in the last several years.
- Changes to the elevation and hydrology of the land, affecting the groundwater table and the septic drain field.
- Repeated explosive blasting on a “near-daily” basis, shaking their house and leaving debris on their property.
- Rubble from the blasting being propelled into their yard, on one occasion hitting a guest in their eye.
- Stormwater washing out their driveway.
The Shives want to “be made whole,” for “what has already been taken from them,” according to the lawsuit.
Scout Motors, in a statement shared by a spokesperson, told The State the company has “worked diligently to keep residents informed, answer questions, and address concerns throughout the development of the project.”
“From day one, Scout Motors has prioritized maintaining open lines of communication with the Shives family, neighboring property owners, and the broader community,” that statement read.
A spokesperson said they could not comment on the specific allegations in the Shives’ lawsuit because it is pending litigation.
“What we can say is that Scout Motors remains committed to open engagement with the community and to ensuring that our construction activities are carried out safely and in accordance with applicable requirements and permits,” the statement read, adding that the company is focused on “being a responsible neighbor.”
Goings, in response, said “Scout’s PR campaign rings hollow to the Shives.”
Ongoing Scout site work
The damage alleged in the Shives’ lawsuit came as contractors carried out a massive site clearing operation to prepare the Scout property for its manufacturing future. Scout Motors says when the facility is fully operational, it will produce 200,000 vehicles per year.
State regulators in 2025 fined Richland County for problems at the site, after sediment and stormwater were found to be running off the property and into the surrounding environment.
Richland County was made to pay a $1 million penalty for that issue. A county spokesperson previously told The State that county taxpayers would not be footing that bill because the state of South Carolina and “various third parties,” the county would not identify covered the penalty.
The state of South Carolina is also spending about $60 million on environmental mitigation to offset anticipated damage caused by the project, an investigation by The State newspaper found. The project is impacting 70 acres of wetlands, 38 acres of ponds and roughly seven miles of streams, including Columbia’s Beasley Creek.
Scout Motors and officials overseeing the economic development project have also faced questions over the rising costs tied to the work.
South Carolina lawmakers approved a $1.3 billion incentive package for Scout when the electric vehicle manufacturing plant was first announced in 2023. In January, the S.C. Department of Commerce announced the work would cost an additional $150 million because of overruns tied to site preparation costs the state agreed to cover as part of its agreement with Scout.
Money for the overruns won’t be approved until after the completion of a Legislative Audit Council review, under a spending plan deal approved by a six-member conference committee. That final spending plan is expected to be voted on by the General Assembly on Tuesday.
A representative for Richland County did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
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