<< Back 7/31/02 After two years of work, Jackson passes land-use plan By Don Hendershot Jackson County commissioners formally endorsed long-range, comprehensive, countywide land-use planning at their July 25 work session. After much discussion and a few changes, commissioners unanimously passed the Jackson County Development Plan Task Force recommendations. The recommendations are the result of nearly two years of public Smart Growth meetings and “Plan Task Force” committee meetings. “This is as good a preliminary plan as we could come up with,” said Jack Debnam, chairman of the county’s planning board and a member of the Plan Task Force. The recommendations list four broad goals with strategies and timelines for implementation. Goal number one calls for “Proactive Long-Range Planning.” It states that the commissioners, “will develop a comprehensive land-use plan that is continually updated.” The strategy calls for the county to hire a professional planner and staff. The timeline is to begin staffing as soon as possible and complete a draft plan within two years. County manager, Ken Westmoreland said funds for a planner were in the current budget and that ads for the position would be placed in local and statewide publications beginning Aug. 5. The board hopes to have a planner in place by Oct. 1. The second goal is to “Manage and Control Residential and Commercial Growth.” This goal calls for commissioners to “enact ordinances to ensure that residential and commercial growth is managed in order to preserve and maintain the beauty of the mountains, community aesthetics, and the overall rural nature of the county, and to protect the health and safety of all residents.” The strategy calls for a subdivision ordinance and a polluting industries ordinance or other ordinance that protects against polluting industries and activities that generate excessive noise or traffic. The timeline calls for these strategies to be implemented, “as soon as possible.” The county passed a polluting industries ordinance earlier this spring. The third goal received the most discussion during the work session. All commissioners supported the goal: “Provide for Adequate Emergency Services.” The goal calls for increased funding to the current system of volunteer firefighters and rescue personnel throughout the county. The original strategy in this section called for a fire tax as the means of increasing funding. Commissioners Stacy Buchanan and Roberta Crawford objected to the fire tax. “I told the folks in Cashiers, when I ran, that I was not for a fire tax and I’m still not,” Crawford said. She and Buchanan both said they felt the present board was doing a good job of responding to the needs of the volunteer fire departments in the county. Buchanan who sits on the fire committee said he came away from that body’s last meeting “not wanting to support a fire tax.” Buchanan said he would support a referendum, by fire district, on the issue. Commissioners decided to delete the “fire tax” language from the strategy for goal number three and replace it with, “explore alternative methods of funding.” The timeline was, again, as soon as possible. Goal number four is “Preserve the Small Town/Rural Nature of the County by Creating a Walkable Community.” This goal calls for the preservation of green space and for the continued support of local municipalities in the development of an interconnected greenway. The strategy is to “obtain easements and assist in developing an operations and maintenance plan.” The timeline is “as planning and financing permit.” During its regular meeting, the board asked the planning committee to revisit the county’s noise ordinance and make recommendations for updating it. Chairman Jay Denton said the current ordinance was too vague, but backed away from rescinding the ordinance until the county had a suitable replacement. The board also listened to suggestions from Caney Fork residents for locating a Cullowhee Fire Department substation in their community. The board passed a motion directing emergency services coordinator Mike Ensley to create a committee to review the Caney Fork request.