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County leaders agree to buy 2 acres adjacent to river park
By Lynn Hotaling
In a move that could help clear the way for a library to be constructed at Mark Watson Park, county leaders last week agreed to purchase slightly more than 2 acres adjacent to the East LaPorte river access park.
Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan announced May 11 that Jackson County would purchase Leo Webb’s riverfront tract that includes a former service station building.
While the primary goal of the land acquisition is to enhance recreation opportunites, the parcel could be used by county leaders as an exchange if they decide to construct a new county public library on a portion of Mark Watson Park in Sylva.
The county has agreed to pay $207,000 for the Webb tract but will not take title until officials learn whether they need to use it to “swap out” the site of the old Sylva High School and Jackson County Rescue Squad building, Buchanan said.
Because state recreation trust funds were used to develop Mark Watson for recreation, land in the park can’t be removed from recreational use unless officials replace it with additional land for recreation, Buchanan said.
“We can’t swap it if we already own it,” he said.
Buchanan last month proposed building a new county public library on the site of the former Sylva High School, which was consolidated with Webster to form Sylva-Webster (now Smoky Mountain) High School in 1960.
Home to Sylva Elementary School from 1960 until 1973, when that school was combined with Webster and Savannah to form Fairview Elementary, the old building was torn down in 1990.
Members of the Jackson County Rescue Squad have outgrown their building and are currently seeking a site for a new one, Buchanan said. Funds to purchase property and construct a new Rescue Squad building will be available through a capital projects fund set up to aid the county’s fire and rescue departments with facility needs, he said. Should the old school site be chosen as the location for a new library, construction could begin before the Rescue Squad relocates, Buchanan said.
The Webb property will be an asset to the river park whether it is needed as an exchange for a library site or not, Buchanan said.
Concessions – such as tube and fishing tackle rentals – could be operated from the existing building, and there is ample room between the building and the Tuckaseigee River to construct a second pavilion, he said.
Adding acreage at the park should give more groups an opportunity to enjoy it, Buchanan said.
“That park stays booked all the time,” Buchanan said. “And it gets a lot of individual users.”
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