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Smart Roads members share concerns with Dillsboro leaders
By Stephanie Salmons
Three members of the Smart Roads Coalition brought their concerns to Dillsboro officials during a work session prior to the town’s Jan. 7 board meeting.
The grassroots group opposes a planned Southern Loop bypass, which was initially mapped in 2003 to run from U.S. 23/441 south of Dillsboro, cross N.C. 107 near Locust Creek and intersect with U.S. 23/74 near Blanton Branch. N.C. Department of Transportation officials proposed the Southern Loop as a solution to traffic congestion on N.C. 107.
Smart Roads contends that such a bypass would be detrimental to both Dillsboro and Sylva.
“We want our community to understand there is more than one solution to traffic problems (and we) certainly have more than one solution to what we perceive is our biggest traffic concern, and that is along 107,” Smart Roads’ Susan Leveille said.
Another member, Harold Messer, said he calls the Loop “17.4 miles of the Jackson County Airport” because of the level of erosion damage the proposed road could cause. According to Messer, such a road would negatively impact business within the community in addition to causing environmental harm.
“We’re going to be surrounded by blacktop,” Messer said. “People are going to keep on going, they’re not going to turn off (the bypass) and come into town. We’re definitely going to lose commerce on this.”
Smart Roads members support a proposal developed by Sylva Planning Director Jim Aust that includes building a series of two-lane roads to connect existing roads.
“We are not making any one single proposal,” Leveille said. “We are suggesting there are lots of other possibilities, many of which could be implemented all together and (could) eliminate the loop.”
During Dillsboro’s regular meeting, board member Jim Cochran said that based on what was presented during the workshop, the board needs to be wary about what they endorse.
“I couldn’t help but think that after looking at the maps and seeing the enthusiasm that was being thrown around, we need to make sure that as a town board, whatever it is we endorse, we investigate all of the possibilities on both sides so that we don’t make a decision and have that come back and haunt us as a town years down the road,” Cochran said.
Also Jan. 7:
– Former town board member Emma Wertenberger told board members that she has noticed hydro-seeding trucks filling up from fire hydrants and asked if the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority monitors such uses.
Cochran, who is also a member of the TWSA board, said that they should not be using the hydrants without a meter and that he too has witnessed trucks filling up from a hydrant on North River Road.
Cochran suggested contacting the TWSA office if the practice is observed again.
– Cochran raised concerns about Mike Cooper’s property on Haywood Road past the Squire Watkins Inn, on which construction equipment is often parked.
“I think the time has come that we get real serious and do whatever it takes from a legal perspective to end that being a parking lot for construction equipment, if it’s not permitted,” he said.
According to town clerk Herb Nolan, Cooper said he has not given permission for allowing the equipment to be parked there. However, Cooper is still responsible because he continually allows it to happen, Nolan said.
– A public hearing was held for the revised housing plan that’s part of the town’s Community Development Block Grant.
CDBG funds are distributed through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which awards grants to municipalities for community revitalization, housing and infrastructure.
The revised plan states the town will remove three trailers instead of the five that were originally proposed, said grant administrator and assistant town clerk Emily Elders. Proposed prices will stay the same because of inflation, she said.
Elders also said that new water lines that will be run as part of the project will impact only three households instead of seven as originally proposed.
Mayor Jean Hartbarger said Tuesday (Jan. 22) that Dillsboro’s plans had to be scaled back because the town did not receive all the funds they originally requested.
No one spoke during the hearing to comment on the revisions.
The revised housing plan was unanimously approved during the regular meeting that followed. The vote was 4-0 because board member Bud Smith was absent.
Elders also said that an environmental review required for the CDBG funds to be released is now on display at town hall and will be available for view indefinitely.
– Hartbarger announced that Carrie Blaskowski of the Jackson County Green Energy Park has been named to the county’s Greenway Commission.
– Nolan recommended having Jerry Cooper remove an uninhabited trailer from town-owned property on Hemlock Street.
Once the site is cleared, the town can begin to clean up the property, do some landscaping and possibly put a picnic table there, Nolan said.
“I think we need to get on that from a liability standpoint,” he said. According to Nolan, even with “no trespassing” signs, the town could still be held responsible for accidents.
Hartbarger said Tuesday that the trailer has already been removed.
– Board members voted unanimously to move forward with establishing an extra-territorial jurisdiction for the Savannah Drive/Yellowbird Branch area. The board previously approved the ETJ before learning that the county’s steep-slope and subdivision ordinances are considered zoning and therefore prohibit the ETJ from proceeding because ETJ cannot be extended into areas that are already zoned.
However, county commissioners recently approved an inter-local agreement that would allow Dillsboro’s planned ETJ to move forward.
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