Post office at Jackson Plaza looks 'very favorable,' Mayor Oliver says

By Lynn Hotaling

Speaking after a Jan. 4 meeting of Sylva's town board, Mayor Brenda Oliver said it appears a deal for a post office at the shopping center will be inked within a month.

Such an agreement appeared imminent last spring, but negotiations between Grindstaff Trust, the property owner, and the owners/operators of Jackson Plaza were not finalized.

The proposed post office site is a wooded area on the Roses end of the shopping center, Mayor Oliver said last spring.

At the request of Bob Hill of the U.S. Postal Service and Don Martel of Jackson Plaza, Sylva board members voted last week to accept the access road to Jackson Plaza as a town street, provided it is upgraded to town standards and a post office is actually built there.

Making the entrance a town-maintained street would ensure adequate access to the post office for town residents in the event of bad weather, Oliver said. It would also lengthen the town's road system, which would increase the funding Sylva receives through the Powell Bill, she said.

Also Thursday:

- Sylva Fire Chief Mike Beck reported that calls increased significantly during 2000. The Sylva Fire Department had 408 calls, which was a substantial increase over 1999's 340. Many were related to wood heat, Beck said.

Chief Beck suggested to town board members that it would be appropriate to review the fire protection contracts the town has with Dillsboro and Webster. Currently Sylva charges the two municipalities $3,000 each per year for fire protection within their city limits.

- Sylva Police Chief Jeff Jamison reported a very quiet New Year's Eve. His department responded to 23 accidents in December and performed 133 business checks. Sylva Police made four driving while intoxicated arrests and issued 19 citations, of which nine were for speeding. The patrol division made 18 arrests last month that resulted in 24 charges, and the detective division opened 16 cases and closed two.

- Richard McHargue, executive director of SPIR, reported that the downtown revitalization group's next major project will be Phase II of the Streetscape, which will be improvements on Mill Street. SPIR's design committee is ready to begin planning for the project.

- Town administrator Tommy Thompson reported that some six street lights would be required to continue lighting along the Asheville Highway to the new location of Southwestern Seamless Guttering. Southwestern owner Mona Hooper requested lighting last month.

It will not be possible to add only the one light she requested, Thompson said, because the town has to meet Department of Transportation specifications, since that is a state road.

"We're committed to lighting on main corridors, and that's a main corridor," board member Maurice Moody said. Mayor Oliver asked the street committee to research the matter and make a recommendation.

- Board members agreed to hold a work session on town ordinances Monday, Jan. 22, at 6 p.m. The Sylva board's next regular meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m.

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