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By Lynn Hotaling
County commissioners will consider a request to allow an elder
housing complex to be built on county-owned property near Webster
during a special meeting Monday, Jan. 5, at 6 p.m.
During a Dec. 9 meeting of the Jackson County Commissioners, Patsy
Dowling, director of the non-profit Mountain Projects, requested
county leaders allow the agency to construct an elderly multifamily
community on a portion of the tract that will house the Department
of Social Services Building.
Consensus among commissioners seemed to be to assist Mountain
Projects, but they stopped short of any decision in the absence
of their attorney, setting the special meeting instead. Mountain
Projects needs a commitment from the county by Jan. 9 in order
to meet application deadlines for tax credit funding to construct
the proposed complex.
Mountain Projects applied for and received tax credit funding
for a similar complex planned for land the agency purchased on
Walter Ashe Road, Dowling said. Borings revealed the presence
of rock, and the project had to be abandoned for that site. Money
allocated to fund the elder housing units reverted to the state,
Dowling said.
The county's plans to construct DSS offices and relocate Jackson
Transit and the Golden Age Center to the 40- acre site is another
reason Mountain Projects would like to locate elder housing there,
Dowling said.
Those judging applications are likely to look favorably on the
plan due to Jackson County's need for such housing, Dowling said.
"Jackson County ranks near the top in need. The county has
more than 7,000 elderly individuals, with some 1,500 who are low
income," she said.
If the project moved forward, 2 acres of the county's property
would be transferred into a limited partnership that would hold
title to the complex, said Mel Milton, owner of Gem Management
of Charlotte, who accompanied Dowling to the commissioners' meeting.
Dowling and Milton asked the commissioners to consider allowing
the project to be constructed off Nanny Lane, which joins single-family
residential housing.
"We felt like an elderly, multifamily community would be
an ideal transition between single family and county institutional,"
Milton said.
County Manager Ken Westmoreland indicated that the site might
fall within the town of Webster's extra-territorial jurisdiction.
Commissioners asked him to check with Webster officials before
the Jan. 5 meeting.
Webster Mayor Steve Gray confirmed that about half of the county's
40 acres falls within Webster's ETJ but said he wasn't sure if
the site proposed for the elder housing complex does.
The portion of the property that lies within the ETJ is zoned
for single-family housing only. The complex proposed by Mountain
Projects would require a variance if it falls within the ETJ,
Gray said.
Buildings owned by Jackson County would be allowed in the ETJ
through a special use permit, Gray said.
Funding would come to Mountain Projects through the N.C. Housing
Finance Agency. Large corporations purchase tax credits through
the agency to use toward the development of low-income, affordable
housing.
Tax credits are made available to individual states by the federal
government through a formula that is based on the state's population.
In other business Dec. 9:
- Joe Ferrara of Mountain Area Support Services asked commissioners
to consider donating Infinity House to the Smoky Mountain Center
Foundation. The facility for troubled youth was constructed with
state funds, he said, but SMC (then Smoky Mountain Mental Health)
was not permitted to hold title to real property.
Ferrara indicated that deeding the facility to SMC would reduce
the county's liability.
Commissioners' Chairman Stacy Buchanan said he'd like to be sure
such action would fall within state guidelines.
Commissioners will consider Ferrara's request during their Jan.
5 special meeting.
- Commissioners elected Bob Ginn chairman and Mike Moore vice
chairman of the county planning board.
The vote in favor of Ginn over Brandon Stephens was unanimous;
the vote in favor of Moore was 3-2, with Commissioners Joe Cowan
and Eddie Madden voting for Sue Bumgarner.
In other planning board action, commissioners voted to amend the
ordinance that created the planning board to provide for a seven-member
board. Each commissioner would appoint a member from his district
with the chairman appointing an at-large member. Two more at-large
members would be selected by the
commissioners, and the commissioners would select a chairman and
vice chairman from among those seven.
Members will serve two-year terms and will only be allowed to
serve two consecutive terms.
Initially, four members will be appointed to two-year terms and
three will receive one-year terms to provide staggered terms.
- Commissioners unanimously approved a request from Peggy Hurt
of the Sylva Garden Club that will allow the club to raise money
to improve Bicentennial Park.
Plans call for the addition of benches and a gazebo to make the
park more of a destination and a place where programs could be
held, Hurt said.
She asked commissioners to approve the plan so the group could
seek grant funding to complete the project.
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