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Realty or reality: Unbridled growth in Jackson County
To the Editor:
I’d like to respond to two letters in the Jan. 19 edition.
I am a new permanent resident to Jackson County, but I’ve been coming to this neck of the woods for more than 25 years. I love this part of America, and I’ve been to most of the states.
Like many of today’s G.I.s, when I first came back to the states years ago after a tour of duty in the military oversees during wartime, I just couldn’t adjust, so I packed my duffel bag and headed for south Florida.
I married, raised a family and retired as a marine rescue officer within a fire/rescue department.
I sold my house, took the money, and now here I am looking for a place to live out the rest of my life.
I agree with both letter writers – development is out of control.
But nobody will bulldoze the top or side of a mountain for me; it’s not necessary. There are enough established home sites for sale on the market already without scarring pristine mountains.
I see Buncombe County is addressing height (elevation) restrictions and limitations for developments.
Twenty-five years ago this area was different, much different. There’s land in them-there hills, and land is gold today. In the winter the mountains give up a lot of their secrets. With the trees absent their leaves, one can see clear through large wooded areas.
All these houses that are hidden in summer are now exposed, and driving around I am surprised to see just how close together they really are, even in what used to be considered “country.”
Could Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” book be coming true in the mountains?
The vistas, deep woods, mountain trails, creeks, trout streams, whitewater rivers and the overall beauty of this area that attracts and is recognized by both resident and visitor alike needs to be preserved.
The developers, brokers, and government all have a similar vested interest in maintaining that allure – that natural beauty that brings and keeps people here as visitors and residents.
To destroy or diminish the natural attraction to this area would in turn hurt the economic base that the developers themselves are depending on.
In a perfect world, the above sounds plausible and would stand on its own, but I am not Dorothy from Kansas.
The above would require some county zoning laws and strong code enforcement, perhaps with acreage density and elevation controls outside of municipalities. With regard to the “real world” factor, the developers and realtors that I am dealing with right now keep talking to me about the “quality” of life with any property/house I buy. Except for one real estate broker that I have dealt with, their primary interest has been to close the deal and move on to the next customer, because if they don’t some other broker will.
The profit motive will take precedent over quality of life, unless or until the citizens of Jackson County act on it.
Growth will happen, but unbridled growth needs to be reined in.
For every letter to the editor, write 10 to the elected officials. Get them to take some action. It’s their country too, and with the people behind them they can change things.
And don’t forget to vote.
James McCarthy
Dillsboro
Dirty water for more than 17 years
To the Editor:
As a citizen of Jackson County and the town of Sylva, I have had the dubious pleasure of intermittent dumping of dirty, gritty water into my home water lines for more than 17 years, first by the town of Sylva and then by the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority after its creation in 1992.
In these past years of being forced to use this filthy water in my small house built in 1986 on a small lot behind my family home, my expertise in dirty water has increased many fold in proportion to my years of experience.
The many years of being subjected to the forced use of dirty water has damaged me financially by thousands and thousands of dollars, has flooded and damaged my home so badly that I have structural, permanent damage and, as a spokesman at the Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta said, “the authority has no way of knowing what long-term damage this dirty water has caused to your health.”
I had read to him test results from water samples denoting turbid (clouded and muddy) culture on May 12, 2005, before my home water heater was destroyed June 19. The order of consent that TWSA is now under is mandatory to reduce turbidity where a stream has been polluted by leaking wastewater.
Through the years I struggled with the town of Sylva and Director (Jerry) King of TWSA, explaining the history of dirty water to no avail. Finally, former Director Hugh Montgomery, a man of the highest ethics and devoted to the concept that TWSA is obligated to produce clean, quality water for everyone that buys water from the authority, listened to me. He examined the bucket of dirty water (one of many taken to TWSA during a two-year period) and made a decision. A policy was instituted to close my line and flush their feeder line to my house more often. This policy failed, though it decreased the intermittent dumping of dirty water from the TWSA line into my PVC house lines.
Realizing “history repeats itself” and trying to save my home from another ruptured glass heater lining (number four), I asked to be placed on the March 15, 2005, TWSA board meeting agenda. Attending for the first time was new Director Joe Cline, along with board members Bobby Beck, Jim Cochran, Brian McMahan, Brad Moses, Sybil Reed, Randall Turpin and Lynda Sossamon, along with attorney Raymond Large and administrative assistant Glenna Buchanan. Montgomery was attending his last meeting.
To the board I presented the inevitable bucket of dirty, brownish water that had been dumped into my household lines. These people knew of the more than 17 years of dirty water and that TWSA had provided dirty water to me since its 1992 inception. I explained their policy was a failure and it was time to give me clean water. I also thanked Mr. Montgomery and the TWSA workforce for their efforts. Montgomery suggested more flushing or relocation of the tap line. Under the Freedom of Information Act, I requested a copy of the minutes of the meetings from March through August of 2005. Nothing in the minutes addressed my request for clean water and no more dirty water. Of course, no more dirty water would require a new tap on to a clean source, which was easy, since everyone around me had clean water. But money expenditures for my new line were not to be.
At my board appearance, I was encouraged, as members peered into the bucket of dirty, brownish water. I assumed visual evidence would impress upon them the danger to the health and well-being of an elderly woman or any human being they choose to deny clean water. The TWSA board, based on evidence and visual facts, had to know they were practicing discrimination and knowingly selling dirty water at the price of clean water, both illegal acts.
The filling up of my fourth water heater with filthy, brownish water forced Mr. Cline and the board to tap me on to clean water. No more dirty water. When I asked TWSA to at least compensate me the $1,000 deductible on my homeowner’s policy and the $547.20 for the new water heater, a flat refusal was given. The reason stated was I “have failed to provide sufficient evidence TWSA caused your problems.”
Rationalization does not fit the magnitude of TWSA’s guilt.
Marie Leatherwood
Sylva
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