A joint meeting and discussion about Duke Power’s relicensing applications will be held with the WNC Alliance, Jackson County, Macon County and Town of Franklin officials, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 13 at the Macon County Courthouse.

The meeting, which will focus on Duke’s hydroelectric projects on the Little Tennessee and Tuckasegee rivers, will feature presentations from Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland and Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District representative Tom Massie. The purpose of the meeting is for Jackson County entities who don’t agree with Duke’s mitigation package to search for common ground with Macon County and the Town of Franklin, which last month also formally went on record as opposing Duke’s proposal.

“Because Macon County and the Town of Franklin were not participants in the Tuckasegee Stakeholders Settlement Agreement, we feel it’s appropriate for other intervening parties to help define some of the environmental and mitigation issues that we share with Macon County, the Town of Franklin, and Macon citizens,” said Roger Turner, the relicensing coordinator for the Western North Carolina Alliance. “These (issues) include sedimentation and water quality, shoreline management including lakeshore and riverbank restoration, recreational uses, greenways, dam removal, and flooding concerns.”

The public is welcome to attend the meeting.