Macon County will send a letter to Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Bill Ross asking for a moratorium on point-source discharges into the Little Tennessee River between Lake Emory and Fontana Lake.

The 4-1 vote on the letter came at the Jan. 7 meeting. Commissioner Ricky Bryson opposed the letter.

The letter states, in part: “... this stretch of the Little Tennessee River is the most biologically complete stretch of river in North Carolina and deserves special consideration. The Macon County Board of Commission-ers is currently in the process of developing a land use plan for the County. DENR is in the process of developing a basin wide management plan for the Little Tennessee basin but will not be able to address specific management plans for this stretch of the river until the next five-year cycle.

“Any issuance of point source discharge permits prior to completion of these two plans precludes the possibility of excluding point source discharge as a part of these plans.”

The Division of Water Quality is considering an application from Randy Russotti to permit a discharge of up to 26,760 gallons of treated sewage a day into the river to accommodate 175 RV sites and 24 two-bedroom cottages. It would be the first such permit to be issued below Lake Emory Dam.

Commissioners also unanimously supported a resolution in support of Swain County’s official request for immediate commencement of construction of the North Shore Road. Swain County commissioners passed a resolution Dec. 10 calling for North Carolina and the U.S. Department of Interior to fulfill a 1943 contractual agreement to construct a park road along the north shore of Fontana Lake through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Bryson City to Deals Gap.

Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) appropriated $16 million in 2000 earmarked for construction of and improvement to the North Shore Road.