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Resident shares concerns about county’s fast-paced development
By Lynn Hotaling
A Tuckasegee resident, apprehensive at the pace of growth throughout the county and especially in her community, shared her thoughts with Jackson County’s commissioners Monday (April 4).
Nola Brown, who said she is a lifelong resident of Tuckasegee and that her family has been in the area since the 1700s, addressed Jackson County commissioners during the informal comment period of their regularly-scheduled meeting.
“I love our mountains, but I am very concerned that all the development coming here is having a tremendous impact,” Brown said. “The people moving here don’t realize that they are contributing to the rapid destruction of the very thing they came here to enjoy – these beautiful mountains.”
Brown then voiced rumors that have been swirling around Tuckasegee in recent weeks that an asphalt plant, or perhaps a rock quarry, may be in store for the rural community that lies some six miles south of Cullowhee.
Such speculation centers around a 56-acre tract not far from the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C. 281 that changed hands in January. According to online records of the Jackson County Register of Deeds Office, the new owner, Jim Vander Woude of Franklin paid $450,000 for the acreage. Vander Woude said Tuesday that he has recently sold some landscape boulders from the property but has no other plans for the tract.
When specifically asked about an asphalt plant or rock quarry, Vander Woude stopped short of ruling those uses out, instead saying he has “no plans at this time for an asphalt plant or rock quarry.”
Either operation would require both county and N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resource permits, according to Jackson County planner Linda Cable and Patrick Ballard of NCDENR’s Division of Air Quality. Both said that as of Tuesday they had not received any requests for new quarries or asphalt plants. Such “heavy” industrial uses are regulated under Jackson County’s 2002 Industrial Development Ordinance, Cable said, and prevent any such industry from locating within a quarter-mile (1,320 feet) of a commercial lot or residential structure. The ordinance is geared toward controlling polluting industries, including asphalt plants and mining operations, which include quarries.
The only application for any similar industrial development in the Tuckasegee area is for a temporary concrete batch plant at Bear Lake Reserve, Cable said. That plant would be sited in two different spots on Bear Lake’s 2,200-plus acres but would be completely removed once construction is complete, she said. The application met all the guidelines of the county ordinance, since both sites are in the central portion of the Bear Lake property and is awaiting NCDENR permits, she said.
Ballard confirmed Tuesday that Air Quality had received the Bear Lake application.
Brown mentioned Bear Lake in her comments to commissioners, saying that “Bear Lake Reserve already has their own lumber company, and it stands to reason they would benefit from an asphalt plant, too.”
Brown was referring to the Witten Lumber Co., which is located on Shook Cove Road in the building constructed by Duke Power after Duke acquired Nantahala Power & Light Co. in the late 1980s. Witten’s sign reads “Witten Lumber Co. Bear Lake, and that’s the way the telephone is answered as well. When asked if Bear Lake Reserve owned the company, a receptionist said “no” but that all sales currently were to the development. Witten does not sell to the public at this time, she said, though such sales may begin in the coming months.
Brown told commissioners that it appears that county leaders go out of their way to help large developers by hiring more inspectors to move big projects along rather than working toward a homestead exemption to help longtime residents hold on to their property. She also proposed commissioners look into impact fees or additional taxes on second homes to shift some of the tax burden onto those who are driving up property values.
“Land that was once open to all is now gated and reserved for companies like Balsam Mountain Preserve and Bear Lake Reserve,” Brown said.
Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan works for the 4,000-plus acre Balsam Mountain Preserve that owns the former Champion Paper holdings on Sugarloaf and Doubletop.
Commissioners did not respond to Brown’s comments as is their custom with speakers who address them during the informal comment period that opens each meeting.
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