Village approves 'ridgetop-to-ridgetop' ETJ

By Rose Hooper

In a unanimous vote on an issuing that has been lingering since June, the village council voted to enact a "ridgetop-to-ridgetop" extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Leading the round of applause were residents John Adams, who said, "It's something we had to do," and Dick Iobst, saying "Justice has been done."

Developers James Epley of Charlotte and Jim Dukes of Sylva, who had asked that their property be excluded from the ETJ, said they will continue "moving on" with their "already-in-the-works" projects.

Along with James Hooper, Dukes is planning a 13-acre development called Cox Center at the intersection of N.C. 107 and North Country Club Road. Proposed is a hotel and conference center, a pavilion with retail, commercial and office space, a 60-unit apartment/condominium complex and a restaurant.

Epley is planning a 144-unit apartment complex called Catamount Hollow to be built on 20 acres between North and South Country Club drives.

"I think we got a dirty deal here tonight, " said Albert Wilson, representing those who live off Lyle Wilson Road and had also asked to be excluded.

"Some folks in Bo Cove didn't want in the ETJ, so the council excluded Bo Cove. Some in Oak Forest didn't want in, so they excluded them, too. They even excluded Bruce Wike's trailer park, for goodness sakes," Wilson said.

"We had 100 percent representation asking them not to include us, and they went ahead and put us in anyway. That's just not fair," said Mary Wilson, backed up by her sister Florence Stutsman. At the Oct. 1 meeting Larry Koldenbrander made a motion to exclude Lyle Wilson Road from the ETJ; however, that motion died Monday night for lack of a second.

The main reason council members did not exclude Lyle Wilson Road was concern over potential development on 3 1/2 acres currently owned by heirs of Roy Adams. Council members said that according to their ETJ map, the undeveloped property lies in zone 1 with Lyle Wilson Road.

However, Lyle Wilson Road residents like Albert Wilson maintain that acreage is not in the Lyle Wilson development, but adjoins South Forest Hills instead.

In 1934, Lyle Wilson sold the 3 1/2 acres to Dewey Wilson with no road right of way. The property was subsequently sold to Roy Adams in 1953, still with no road right of way.

"That property has no access on Lyle Wilson Road and is not any part of us," Mary Wilson told the council.

Lyle Wilson resident Michael Germano told the council, "I know you are within the law in exercising ETJ; I'm just not sure exercising your will over the people in the village is a wise move. I believe in representative government, and you are not representing us. It is an intrusion for you take jurisdiction of our property."

Germano did add, "But if you provide us with water, sewer services, roads and a library, then I'll be the first in line to sign up for ETJ."

Epley told the council he felt they were biting off more than they could chew with the ETJ. "How can you handle the responsibility of being in charge of all this property? You don't even have a five- or 10-year plan in place," he said.

But resident Jim Wallace said he could tell Epley about plans.

"When Forest Hills incorporated, we did so to protect our peace," he said. "We used to be able to sleep with the windows open. We never planned on all the noise, the parties and the traffic."

Gene Tweedy said, "I'm here to support ETJ because we bought our nice, quiet, mountain home for retirement. We never planned on students having parties almost every night in the field below our house. Now we can't sleep."

Iobst agreed with the noise problem and pointed out the dust problem, especially with regard to Epley's proposed 144-apartment complex.

"I have bronchitis and now I will have to breathe your dust," Iobst told Epley. "Sir, you have, in effect, ruined my dream home."

Development is inevitable, Adams said toward the end of the meeting.

"It's going to happen and it's going to happen here, but only with ETJ will we have a say about how it happens," he said.

Back to Archive: 10/25/01.