Editorials - 05/17/01

Moratorium useless unless it leads to county land use plan

As proof of the veracity of these statements, we offer the moratorium county commissioners unanimously passed last week. While we favor the moratorium in order to give everyone time to study questions surrounding a proposed asphalt plant in Qualla, the fact remains that it represents yet another knee-jerk response to a group of outraged citizens.

Just like the billboard moratorium enacted in 1999, this one is aimed at only one industry. The result of that moratorium was a billboard ordinance; the end product of this one could very well be a local law to regulate the location and operation of asphalt plants.

Right here is where our commissioners need to look at the past and learn from it. Until the moratorium, there was nothing to stop an asphalt plant from locating in any unincorporated area of Jackson County. And if the only result is an ordinance addressing asphalt plants, what will save Qualla (or any other community) from being the site of a noisy chip mill or smelly hog farm?

If the commissioners truly want to act to protect our county from undesirable growth (not that an asphalt plant is necessarily undesirable - the jury's still out on that question), they should do so with comprehensive land use planning rather than through case-specific moratoriums. If protecting the quality of life enjoyed by Jackson County's citizens is really a priority with this board, then they need to get on with it.

Zoning in any form has historically been regarded with suspicion in the mountains, although it has been mentioned frequently at Smart Growth meetings as something our county needs. If our commissioners really believe the county needs a plan to control the speed and scope of development, then they need to make this issue a priority and get it done.

Our county doesn't need a referendum on the matter. If our elected leaders want a straw poll, they can ask the people they see at Wal-Mart or at the Fourth of July celebration downtown. The people of Jackson County put the commissioners in office to make tough decisions, and that's what we expect them to do. These five were elected because of their vision and ideas, and it's time for them to quit worrying about getting re-elected and start acting on those ideas. The commissioners brave enough to support land use planning may very well lose the next election. But then again, maybe they won't.

One thing's for sure - they'll succeed in leaving a legacy their grandchildren can point to with pride.

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