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Webster to annex SCC-owned tract, N.C. 107 subdivision
By Rose Hooper
Responding in part to the college's president and in part to the town of Sylva's action, Webster town board passed a resolution to annex 10 acres owned by Southwestern Community College and 25.49 acres of the Rivercrest Subdivision.
The action came during a special meeting Monday (April 19.)
SCC President Cecil Groves told Webster board members April 15 that the college preferred to remain under one jurisdiction.
Following Webster's annexation in June 2002, portions of the campus were annexed, along with N.C. Department of Transportation headquarters, the U.S. Forest Service office, Jackson County School Bus Garage, Reedwood Apartments and property owned by Roy Edwards.
"Our institution is primed for long-term development," Groves told board members. "As part of that development, we would like to remain under the same government."
"We'd just have to adopt you because we sure couldn't regulate you," former board member and current annexation committee member Louise Bedford told Groves.
"We are up for adoption then," Groves said.
Webster subsequently "adopted" two parcels that SCC acquired in 2002, four acres of Bumgarner property and six acres of Stanford property.
The 10 acres, fronting N.C. 107 across the highway from the former Bryson Trucking Co. will allow SCC to construct a new entrance, Groves said.
Webster's annexation resolution also includes 25.49 acres of the adjoining Rivercrest Subdivision.
"We have to do this to protect our flanks," said board member Billie Jo Bryson.
Webster officials had previously planned to annex in the area along N.C. 116 instead, including a 39-acre tract owned by Jackson County.
Stunned by what they termed Sylva's "unneighborly action," Webster officials revamped their annexation plans to move in a different direction. (See related story page 1A.)
Annexation cannot become official until at least one year from the date of the resolution.
A public information meeting on the SCC and Rivercrest annexation is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18, with a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 28. Both meetings will be held at the building in front of Evelyn Baker's home on N.C. 116 near the Webster Post Office.
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