<< Back 5/8/02 Jackson ordinance may not stop asphalt plant By Don Hendershot Although Jackson County commissioners are poised to adopt an Industrial Development Ordinance, it appears the county’s asphalt woes are far from over. Commissioners passed the first reading of the ordinance 4-0 (commissioner Conrad Burrell was absent) and scheduled a special session May 9 for the second reading. Commissioners also passed a 30-day extension to the one-year moratorium on construction of asphalt plants, set to expire May 11, in case more time was needed to fine tune the ordinance. But Mark Fortner, the man who announced plans last year to build an asphalt plant near Qualla, said he is moving forward with his plans. “We’re gonna put an asphalt plant up. We have to in order for us to survive,” said Fortner, owner of HMC. While the ordinance, drafted by the Jackson County Economic Development Commission — with the aid of planning consultant Dale Holland — is designed to address asphalt industries, junk yards, heavy industry and mining industries, the impetus behind its creation was Fortner’s proposed asphalt plant on the old Worley Farm in Qualla community. Fortner applied for building permits a year ago and was open about his intentions. The proposal galvanized Qualla residents who showed up en masse to protest its construction. In response, commissioners enacted a one-year moratorium on new asphalt plants and charged the EDC with studying the issue and bringing a recommendation to the board. The Industrial Development Ordinance is that recommendation. At an April 18 work session and regular meeting commissioners discussed the ordinance with members of the EDC. Qualla residents present at that meeting questioned the ordinance’s setbacks, which required distances of one-half mile from the property line of junkyards and heavy industries to the exterior wall of any residence and setbacks of a quarter-mile for mining — but only 500 feet for asphalt plants. At that meeting, commissioners accepted the 500-foot asphalt setback by a 3-2 vote. However, at the May 2 hearing Chairman Jay Denton said commissioners would review the setbacks in an effort to create uniformity in the ordinance. Fortner told commissioners that increasing the setbacks for his plant would create more problems. “If we get bumped out of this site because of distances, we will have to move back into the wilderness and that will create traffic problems on Shoal Creek and Camp Creek roads,” he said. Fortner said the present site is a commercial site and better suited for the plant because of easy access from U.S. 74. “We don’t want to run dump trucks on country roads,” he said. “I’m not against an ordinance. You can set times [of operation] and require buffers and landscaping. But I don’t understand pushing us out of a commercial site. It’s not going to drive us out.” Most who spoke at the hearing thanked commissioners for developing the ordinance, but many asked for a longer extension on the asphalt moratorium in order to create a better, more encompassing ordinance. “The main issue is not one asphalt plant but land-use planning,” David Wheeler president of the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River said. Others suggested there was no place in WNC for another asphalt plant. “Western North Carolina is in the midst of an air quality crisis,” said Avram Friedman, executive director of the Canary Coalition. “We should be encouraging non-polluting industries.” At the regular meeting, commissioners asked planning consultant Holland to rewrite the ordinance to require a half-mile setback from the property line of any industry included in the ordinance. The special meeting for the second reading of the Industrial Development Ordinance will be May 9 at 5 p.m. in Boardroom 203 of the Jackson County Justice and Administration Building.