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Sylva leaders consider effects of proposed development
By Carey King
Does Sylva want to be home to homes, or home to businesses?
When members of the Sylva board, land use/planning committee and zoning board met Sept. 20, Zoning Administrator Jim Aust put a map on the wall to illustrate the question.
Pinpoints marked business and government growth planned for the next five years inside town limits: A new Walgreens may be built on West Main Street, directly across the street from the Eckerds currently under construction. An Advance Auto Parts will go up on East Main Street where Golden China and the Varsity Motel used to sit. Jackson County plans to build a new library at Jackson Plaza Shopping Center, while Harris Regional Hospital will continue its expansions and possibly bring a new cancer center to the area. A Super Ingles may go in where the old A&P used to be.
Just outside Sylva’s boundaries, the map depicted growth of a different type: Four new medium- and high-density housing developments will soon go up within less than a mile from town, Aust said.
“It’s all residential, just a stone’s throw of city limits,” he said.
That growth pattern poses a problem for Sylva planners, as the town of 2,400 is increasingly becoming the commercial destination for the rest of the county’s 34,000 residents.
The four housing projects –a 300-apartment development at Dills Cove, a 40-unit housing complex near Nicol Arms Apartments off Savannah Drive, a 100-unit development between Wal-Mart and N.C. 116, and a 40-home subdivision near Cope Creek – could bring an estimated 1,200 people to the area, Aust said.
“You’re talking about half the population of Sylva,” said zoning board member Milt Wofford.
When those people come to work and shop in Sylva, they’ll increase traffic, put more demands on the town’s police and fire departments, plus up the demand on aging water and sewer systems, Aust said. In addition, the new paving and construction will create more impervious surfaces to deal with should floodwaters come again.
“(Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority) is receiving an impact from all this. The town of Sylva is receiving an impact from all this. Is the county receiving an impact from all this?” Aust asked.
The county will receive tax revenue from the residents of the new condos, apartments and homes, but lacks zoning standards for them, he said.
For Sylva leaders to ensure that the aesthetics of each area and the infrastructure linking the developments to town are up to par, Aust said, they have three options.
One would be to annex the developments; another, to create “areas of consideration” or an extra-territorial jurisdiction plan.
In either case, residents would have to abide by Sylva zoning ordinances. If the town chose to create an ETJ, however, its residents would not technically be part of town and would not be subject to town taxes.
The third idea would require intergovernmental cooperation, as Sylva would ask county leaders to develop land use standards.
“If we could get those types of controls out in the county, then we can eventually work our way out,” Aust said.
Town leaders were hesitant to endorse any of the three alternatives and instead plan to schedule a work session for further discussion. TWSA’s Hugh Montgomery was at the Monday meeting and said he’d like to continue involvement in the talks.
Sylva leaders would like county commissioners to participate as well, but say those leaders have been unresponsive to recent planning invitations and requests for assistance.
“They may look at it like the tail’s trying to wag the dog,” said town board member Maurice Moody.
Land use/planning committee chairman and town board member Eldridge Painter agreed.
“They don’t have to participate. They just have to listen to us,” he said.
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