Dillsboro officials to request $250,000 from Duke Power if dam is removed

By Rose Hooper

The consensus agreement Duke is requesting Dillsboro sign says further environmental and engineering assessments are needed to make that determination. "We are partnering with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the N.C. Department of Water Resources to complete those studies," said Duke District Manager Fred Alexander.

"Their studies should tell us if the Dillsboro Dam can be removed in a safe, environmentally- beneficial and cost-effective manner," he said.

If it is recommended the dam be removed, the town of Dillsboro would like to be compensated. Board members are asking Duke to contribute $250,000 to a community enhancement fund.

The consensus agreement, prepared by the Tuckasegee Cooperative Stakeholder Team, will be presented at 9 a.m. today (Thursday) at Southwestern Community College.

Duke would like Dillsboro to sign the consensus agreement which will lead to a signed settlement agreement to be submitted as part of Duke's hydroelectric relicensing application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

If the state and federal study results propose a "safe, environmentally- beneficial and cost-effective" dam removal, Duke will file an application with FERC, possibly by June 1, 2004, to surrender the Dillsboro project license. The surrender would include the decommission of the Dillsboro Powerhouse.

If the dam is removed, Duke proposes to construct a boating take-out area, develop a fishing/walking trail, gravel parking area and contribute up to $25,000 toward development of a picnic shelter.

According to the draft consensus presented to Dillsboro, three years past all legal challenges Duke will donate the Dillsboro project property to either the town or the county "for public recreation." If the property is not used for public recreation, ownership will revert to the power company, Duke's Jason Walls told the board at their Friday (May 9) meeting.

"Dillsboro can use the land donation as a matching resource to apply for grants," Walls said.

In addition to the land, Duke will donate 200 manpower hours of economic development services to the town. Those services can also be used as in-kind matching when applying for grants, Walls said.

In reviewing the draft, Mayor Jean Hartbarger said she felt like the town of Dillsboro "is being shortchanged."

"They (Duke) are taking our cultural ­ and economic ­ resource (the dam)," Hartbarger said at Friday's meeting.

The town went on record in January opposing the dam removal. However, realizing that the dam may be removed anyway, town board members developed a list of what they would like to see happen if the dam were removed.

On the list is the request that Duke continue ownership and liability of the dam site, powerhouse and surrounding property "until and for a reasonable time after the dam is removed." The town further requested that property be given to the town with clear title and no restrictions and that an endowment fund be established for the restoration of the plant building as a museum.

"I don't see those requests in this consensus agreement," said board member Jim Cochran.

"Boaters are the ones who come out on top in this," said Cochran, who noted the proposed number of boat ramps and boat launches. "The boaters are getting things in this consensus agreement while we are being asked to give things up."

Monday night, May 12, when the board reconvened Friday's recessed meeting, board members endorsed Cochran's request that Duke contribute $250,000 to the town if the dam is removed. The funds would be used for community enhancement, including greenways and a cultural center.

In addition to the Dillsboro project property, board members will ask Duke to deed its four acres on the south side (Mockingbird Lane) of the river to the town.

"That would help the town control both sides of the river," said board member Emma Wertenberger. "We could control the stream bank restoration and we could control development. It would also give us control over what the entrance into Dillsboro looks like."

Duke's relicensing process was also discussed last Tuesday (May 6) at a joint meeting of county commissioners and town boards from Dillsboro, Webster, Sylva and Forest Hills.

Greenways coordinator David Bates requested that the various boards approve an intergovernmental resolution supporting Duke Power's establishment of a resource enhancement and protection fund as part of the stakeholder consensus agreement; however, the assembled boards declined to act on the resolution.

Bates asked that the five boards act on the matter May 6 because May 9 was the deadline for submitting information to the stakeholders' team.

The proposed resolution stated that Dillsboro would be "adversely affected by removal of the Dillsboro Dam" and that the proposed stakeholder consensus agreement proposes "insufficient resources and funding have been proposed for public recreation and access for the general public of Jackson County."

Alexander told the assembled boards that the proposed resolution was not in keeping with the stakeholder process, which is designed to have the group work together toward consensus, and seemed to reflect a lack of awareness of the stakeholders' process. Stakeholders agreed not to speak publicly or lobby other groups, he said.

Jackson County Commissioner Joe Cowan said he didn't have enough information to make a decision on the resolution.

"Unless someone with knowledge comes forth and provides some information, I cannot support this resolution," he said. "If they agreed they won't discuss it, how are we supposed to get information?"

Associate Editor Lynn Hotaling contributed to this report.

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