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Leaders poised to OK land-development plan
By Derek Hodges
Jackson County is one step away from having a land development plan on the books.
County, town, education and health care leaders have almost completed drafting the document. The last step is a vote on the issue, which will be held when town and county leaders meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, in Room 201 of the Justice Center.
Work on the plan began last summer. County commissioners voted in early June to draft the document they say will allow the N.C. Department of Transportation to plan road improvements in the county. DOT officials require countywide plans before they will move forward with any potential transportation projects, Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan said.
The document includes past and present demographic, geographic and economic information, and predictions for the future. Though it’s called a plan, it sets no guidelines or regulations on future development.
The overabundance of goals with a lack of planning to reach them made some question the plan’s purpose.
“What’s the point of this plan? I mean, we’re setting all these goals without saying how we’re going to get there,” Sylva Planning Director Jim Aust said.
County Planning Director Linda Cable defended the document, saying it was more about identifying where growth is occurring and will occur. That information will help DOT in determining transportation infrastructure needs, she said. In the future, the document may be expanded to include methods of accomplishing the goals it lays out, she said.
Several other officials expressed hope that work on the document will continue, and that local leaders’ collaboration will be ongoing.
“I think it’s wonderful that we’re all working together like this,” Dillsboro Mayor Jean Hartbarger said.
While the four municipalities and Cashiers were included in the plan, leaders from the Cherokee and Whittier areas were not part of the process. The omission was not intentional, but came about because no one from those areas was available to participate in the process, Cable said.
“That area plays an important role in the economy of Jackson County. We look forward to working with them in the future,” Cable said.
Also, while Southwestern Community College and Western Carolina University officials were part of the process, local public education leaders were not. They would also be welcome to join the conversation as the plan is expanded after its adoption, Cable said.
Cable said she is happy with the plan as it currently stands.
“I feel really proud of what we’ve got to present now,” she said.
During the Jan. 25 meeting, officials were told there would be no opportunity for public comment on the document. That surprised some of those present. The plan does not require a public hearing since it imposes no regulations, Cable said.
“We’re just compiling some information and moving forward,” Cable said.
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