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Sylva receives $3.5 million for watershed development rights
By Stephanie Salmons
Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver announced at the Oct. 4 that the town has been paid by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund for the development rights of Pinnacle Park.
“This is exciting,” Oliver said. “We now have in our bank account a check for $3.58 million. That is big. This is something we have worked on for years.”
Town Manager Jay Denton said town leaders held a number of work sessions last spring to discuss possible uses for the money.
“The money is in the bank and will accumulate interest and (the town) will use the interest on projects,” he said.
This would leave the principal amount in the bank to continue gaining interest, Denton said.
“It could serve the town in perpetuity,” he said.
Also discussed during the meeting:
– The board unanimously approved a resolution of consideration which renewed the town’s Area of Consideration.
The AOC establishes an area around the town where leaders anticipate growth and reduces annexation time from one year to 40 days.
Initially, an AOC has to be in place for a year and must be renewed every two years.
– Town leaders discussed the possibility of increasing the room occupancy tax for hotels within the city limits.
“My concern would be how many rooms we have inside the city limits as opposed to just outside,” board member Maurice Moody said. “Even though we’re not looking at many dollars per room, would that give an unfair advantage to hotels outside of town that would not be paying the tax?”
Board member Stacy Knotts said town leaders would need a plan of what would be done with the potential revenue.
According to Oliver, the only stipulation is that the revenue cannot be spent on the construction of hotels or motels.
It was decided that Denton would research the issue and report information that would impact a decision to board members.
– Oliver said town ordinances have not been fully reviewed since about 2002. She suggested board members should begin to evaluate the ordinances.
According to Denton, there are 18 sections of ordinances that cover all aspects of Sylva.
“It’s all the ordinances that relate to the functioning of the town,” he said.
Reviewing the ordinances one section at a time would allow board members to become more familiar with town laws, he said.
“You know whether you can ride a skateboard on the sidewalk. You may want to permit that, you may not want to permit that, but these are all laws that basically you enact,” Denton said. “You can allow it or not allow it ... there are just a litany of things you can look at.”
Board members will review the section of ordinances concerning health and sanitation for their next meeting.
– Oliver expressed appreciation to all personnel who responded to the Wal-Mart explosion.
“I just want to thank everybody,” she said. “It gives us faith in our emergency personnel.”
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