Letters to the editor: 05/30/02

Forest Hills needs land-use planning

To the Editor:

Common sense tells us we never had the right to create or to allow a public nuisance or a dangerous situation to harm our neighbors. Perhaps the anti-land-use planning crowd would prefer to live in the unlimited freedom of a state of nature where life is truly "nasty, poor, brutish and short."

Anyone who cares to investigate may easily see the failures of communities around the country when minimal land-use planning is not developed through strong leadership and a commitment to action and civic duty by the citizens. Doing nothing allows greed and avarice to rule and a few non-citizens to profit while our children and grandchildren pay for our lack of commitment, sacrifice and civic duty today.

Therefore, I call upon the Forest Hills Village Council, unlike previous administrations, to show a commitment to courage and to do what is right. Enact minimal land-use planning and defeat those who would destroy our community.

Thank you,

Carl E.H. Lobst

Forest Hills

Petition available on front porch

To the Editor:

The current zoning map calls for the area to be designed C-1 Commercial, which would create too much density and traffic. It would lower our standard of living even further than it has been lowered by allowing some multi-family apartments at Valhalla, on the edge of the former golf course, and at the Summit Apartments. Unfortunately, we must live with these.

We can influence the village council to vote to change the designation from C-1 to R-1 in this area. The council plans to vote on the matter at its regular meeting Monday, June 3, at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at the University Inn.

Remember, this decision will involve all of us. More traffic will slow everyone down and most probably affect the value of your home if you ever want to sell or have to sell. As citizens we have a right to make our voices heard on this crucial issue!

Mary Iobst

Forest Hills

Next step will be a surprise

To the Editor:

Most counties around I have talked to said they would be willing to help. Henderson, Macon and Cherokee county officials made the right decision to help their citizens. Instead of trying to stop us, Jackson County officials could have been trying to locate a site they would approve.

To my knowledge, not one county commissioner ever visited the site we chose in Qualla. The EDC visited the site and studied it for eight months and then presented a logical ordinance. The commissioners don't know any more about asphalt plants than the state, which looks after and monitors more than 150 plants across North Carolina.

With the county's new ordinance I will have to move my plant from a commercial site on a four-lane highway into a neighborhood with a two-lane, narrow road. Maybe I should have started in the back of a neighborhood so the commissioners could have moved me to a commercial site. Does that make sense?

My plan was to produce 10 jobs immediately and as many as 50 jobs by the year 2007. I am in the working part of the world and jobs and growth mean my family will eat and live.

This new ordinance says to me that Jackson County leaders want to retire because it destroys any kind of industrial growth. The ordinance was meant not to restrict us but to stop us. County leaders must be blind not to see the benefits of an asphalt plant to Jackson County and all of Western North Carolina.

I am just trying to make a living just like everyone else. When asked what my next step will be, my response is "I guess it will have to be a surprise; being honest and up front with everyone has not worked."

Mark Fortner

Bryson City

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