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By Lisa Majors-Duff
After receiving some 200 requests for septic tank permits in one
week, Jackson County commissioners Tuesday took steps to hire
an additional sanitarian for the health department.
According to county Manager Ken Westmoreland, about 150 septic
permit requests came from Centex Corp., a Texas development group
with plans to build some 650 homes near Bear Lake. The remaining
requests came from Trillium, a Glenville-area resort and country
club.
Commissioners devoted a significant amount of time during their
Tuesday (Aug. 12) meeting to discussing how they plan to react
to requests of this sort. Prior to the 200 requests, county inspectors
from both the health and building departments required an average
of three weeks to approve a variety of construction permits, Westmoreland
said.
With Centex's additional request that permits be approved by November,
the question commissioners grappled with is who takes priority
- the developer who will eventually hire hundreds of building
professionals and pay huge amount in property taxes or the family
waiting for approved permits to build a single home?
While many suggestions were batted around during the extended
discussion - including a sliding-scale fee schedule as a means
of tapping into additional revenue from those who can most afford
it, a weekly limit on requests from large developers and allowing
developers to perform most of their own engineering assessments
- commissioners agreed county residents already in line for permits
should not be held up by the new requests.
"The single homeowner should get done first," Commissioner
Brian McMahan said. "Centex should wait."
"How did this sneak up on us so fast?" Commissioner
Roberta Crawford asked.
"Centex knows we are working on a subdivision ordinance,"
Commissioner Eddie Madden said. "We'll soon get a flood of
these-type requests."
Since Centex has already paid $27,000 for its 150 permits, requiring
the organization to comply with a not-yet-written subdivision
ordinance would be impossible, said county attorney Paul Holt.
If an ordinance and a new fee schedule were adopted today, future
permit requests would fall under the guidelines, he said.
After giving him permission to hire an additional sanitarian,
board members requested Westmoreland put together a list of options
for how to address requests from large developers in the future.
Their discussion is slated to continue next week (Tuesday, Aug.
19).
Also up for discussion and possible action next week:
- With the Cashiers incorporation question answered (see Page
1A), board members will continue their debate on county-controlled,
community-based zoning in the town. An ordinance has been proposed
that would set limits on development in the commercial district.
- Also in Cashiers, commissioners are expected to give the green
light to an expansion project at the Carlton Library. The expansion
is proposed to add 4,876 square feet to the facility.
- As recommended by WestCare CEO Mark Leonard and county health
department Director Randall Turpin, board members will consider
asking the state Rural Health Office to conduct a study of ways
the health systems could work together more in the future.
- Board members will also consider a request from Sylva Rotary
member Jay Coward for $15,000 to match funds raised by the organization
for landscaping at Smoky Mountain High.
- Westmoreland next week will likely recommend an individual or
firm to write a recreation master plan. Interviews for the job
were slated for today (Thursday).
- Work to replace the roof at the old courthouse annex building
is expected to be given to Brickey Co. of Candler, which offer
a low bid of $13,902 for the project.
Also Tuesday, commissioners learned that property tax bills are
expected to be in the mail by Aug. 15.
In addition, they learned that the recreation department has been
awarded a $181,000 grant for development of a park at the old
Canada School. The funds must be matched.
Work is proceeding on two cell tower applications, Westmoreland
said. The co-location request will require less work than the
new tower request by Verizon for the Balsam area, he said. A public
hearing and a balloon test will both be held at the Hebron Lane
site, he said.
The board's next scheduled meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19,
at the Justice Center.
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