One of the top issues in the Highlands election might be irrelevant by the time voters go to the polls.

The Highlands town board is slated to decide in late October whether to create a planning ring one-mile beyond the town limits in all directions. Known as an extra-territorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, it will give the town zoning authority outside the town limits. Most towns in the region have an ETJ.

The town board will hold a public hearing on the ETJ on Oct. 12. They will likely vote on it at their Oct. 19 meeting. The majority of the current town board supports the plan.

Town Commissioner Amy Patterson said she thinks Highlands residents support the ETJ.

“I think they understand that this is a complete community and what happens outside town impacts what happens inside town,” Patterson said.

Patterson said it is just a matter of time until Macon County adopts a countywide land-use plan, which would apply to any area not under the planning jurisdiction of a town. Patterson said residents living just outside the Highlands town limits would be better off under a land-use plan developed by local leaders than they would under a county land-use plan that might be less compatible with Highlands.

But Candidate Eric Pierson said it is unfair to make people follow a town’s land-use planning ordinances when they aren’t residents of the town and can’t vote. Pierson said some regulations would be OK, like the town’s soil and erosion ordinance or subdivision regulations.

“But if they are getting into what could be built here or what couldn’t be built there, I wouldn’t agree with it because they are controlling property and people’s rights with no representation,” Pierson said.

Patterson said she disagrees with the nomenclature used by those advocating “property rights.” Patterson said people also have a right to live in peace and not have their property values ruined by something a neighbor does.

“If my right conflicts with your right, they can’t both be rights. It really should be called property interests,” Patterson said. “It is much easier to balance interests than it is rights.”

Town Commissioner Hank Ross said sediment from development outside the town limits is getting into the town’s water supply and the town needs to be able to regulate that.

Candidate Popcorn Manley has mixed feelings about the ETJ.

“I don’t like to be told what to do with my land, but I can understand wanting to be in control of what you can build on the edge of town,” said Manley.