|
County leaders deny request for noise ordinance change
By Derek Hodges
County officials voted Monday (Nov. 7) not to ask planning board members to review the noise ordinance, despite a Cashiers woman’s plea.
Marti Senterfit, who previously appeared before commissioners, asked county leaders to consider revisions to the ordinance. Specifically, Senterfit said she and her neighbors are concerned about rules governing construction noise.
“The only thing these people are asking about is construction noise. Right now the ordinance says they can work with their spotlights and machinery going from six in the morning until 11:30 at night,” Senterfit said.
“Is this a big problem in that area?” Commissioner Conrad Burrell asked. “I don’t know of any construction people down here that operate after 6 p.m.”
While she could cite no construction companies that are working until 11:30 at night, Senterfit said the main problem is the potential that they could. With construction in the Cashiers area increasing, the chance that contractors will begin working late also increases, Senterfit said.
“They’re not doing it now, but someone else could be out there at 10 o’clock or 11 at night. We need to be aware of what could happen,” Senterfit said.
Burrell said he was unconvinced, but was willing to help Senterfit and the more than 150 other Cashiers-area residents who had signed a petition requesting action on the ordinance.
“If we don’t have that problem going on now, my suggestion would be to hand this to the planning board,” Burrell said. “It’s kind of hard to tell a construction worker who’s trying to make a living that he has to cut off his work.”
Burrell made a motion that the planning board be directed to study the ordinance and the issue.
Senterfit said she agreed the planning board should consider the issue, but several commissioners echoed Burrell’s comments in their opposition to his motion.
“That (equipment used in construction) is very expensive. I think the workers in this county deserve a right to work,” Commissioner Roberta Crawford said.
“I am not in favor of asking the planning board to look at this. There are just some things we have to put up with and sometimes construction is one of those things,” Chairman Brian McMahan said. “I’m not in favor of restricting our contractors. I feel like we would be penalizing our contractors.”
Senterfit said she understood commissioners’ concerns but thought a compromise could be reached.
“This is about finding a balance,” she said.
Commissioner Eddie Madden, who represents the southern end of the county, including Cashiers, held his comments until the end of the discussion. That late entry into the debate was intentional, Madden said.
“I waited to speak last for a reason, and I think it’s because we have a tendency to place each other into categories based on our jobs,” said Madden, who is a Realtor in the Cashiers area. “This is one (issue) that I think I have to agree with Commissioner Crawford and Chairman McMahan on. We can’t stop development; we know it’s going to happen. We also know that the developers that are currently in place have their own time limits on construction. I don’t want to be part of anything that discourages the local working man from making a decent living.”
Despite Senterfit’s argument that construction workers on the projects probably aren’t all from Jackson County, Burrell’s motion failed. Burrell and Commissioner Joe Cowan voted for the motion, while Crawford, Madden and McMahan voted against it.
When questioned after the meeting, McMahan said he would not personally mind if construction were begun near his home that lasted into the night.
“No, I wouldn’t mind that because I would know that eventually they’ll finish their work,” McMahan said.
Crawford also said she would not be bothered by late night construction.
“I would in no way favor amending that noise ordinance,” she said.
In other business Nov. 7:
Grant applications
Commissioners discussed two upcoming grant application deadlines.
Municipal grant applications, an opportunity for municipalities to request money from county government, are due in December, McMahan said. Currently applications have been received from every town except Webster, though town officials still have about a month to turn in the information.
“I guess Webster didn’t need anything,” Cowan said.
Board members set a public hearing on the county’s Community Transportation Grant application at 5:45 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5. The application, which is submitted to state transportation officials, provides funding for the Jackson County Transit Authority.
Road abandonment
Officials scheduled a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, on abandoning a portion of Pilot Knob Road. While commissioners cannot approve the abandonment, they must vote to allow it before the N.C. Department of Transportation can consider it.
Several residents of the road requested that a short portion of the road near its terminus be abandoned.
Appointments
Commissioners reappointed Howard Allman to the Library Board and named Sandra Burbank to replace Michael Jorge who could no longer serve on that board.
|
