Macon County’s Vision 2025 Committee unanimously approved its 72-page draft land-use plan last Tuesday, the first of its kind in Western North Carolina.

“It’s a very, very moderate plan with few restrictions,” explains County Planner Joe Stark. The proposal does not try to inhibit development, Stark maintains, but instead encourages smart growth.

Tentacles of sprawl have been spreading into Western North Carolina, especially along Macon County’s U.S. 441 corridor connecting Atlanta to the mountains. Since 1990, Macon County’s population has increased 27 percent, and the county’s 4-lane U.S. 441 is bringing more development to the area each year.

In response, commissioners in Macon County – which is generally grouped with Henderson as one of the two-fastest growing counties in WNC — decided to draft its first-ever land-use plan.

Preparations for the plan began three years ago with the creation of Vision 2025, a citizen committee responsible for surveying the needs of Macon County. After meeting with residents across the county, Vision 2025 placed land-use planning at the top of its list of recommendations to county commissioners. In March, commissioners empowered Vision 2025 to develop a land-use plan for Macon County.

The draft plan, titled “Macon County Zoning Ordinance,” is now available for public viewing at the Macon County Courthhouse Annex, although the county zoning map will not be completed until the end of the month. Once the draft plan is finalized by the county commissioners in December, public hearings will be scheduled to solicit input.

Many mountain folks flinch when they hear words like “land use” and “zoning” thrown around, say some Vision 2025 officials. But Roberta Swank, co-chair of the committee, insists that the draft plan is not a heavy-handed zoning scheme.

“The draft plan offers a basic set of rules to live by, with very few limitations,” says Swank. “It tries to reflect the diverse needs and land uses of Macon County’s citizens.”

In the draft plan, the land where 95 percent of Macon County residents live is designated as open-use, which means there are no restrictions on land use. The only exceptions are high-impact uses like chip mills, incinerators, trailer parks and vehicle graveyards. All of these may be allowed but only with a special permit from the county.

The plan attempts to cluster development near Franklin in order to deter sprawl, and most of the plan’s zoning targets major thoroughfares like U.S. 441 and N.C. 28.

Four layers of zoning radiate concentrically from Franklin: C-1 and C-2, the central corridor districts; a buffer zone called the corridor protection district (C-3); and the neighborhood service district.

The most restrictive layer – the neighborhood service district — protects limited public utilities from overuse. According to county planners, most development follows public water and sewer lines. If unchecked, development could overdraw water resources and ultimately restrict Macon County’s growth.

“Without proper planning, resources could limit growth more than any land-use plan,” Stark claims.

Stark expects major commercial corridors to be most affected by the plan. The plan offers general recommendations for these areas – like limiting curb cuts along U.S. 441 to ease congestion. It also restricts adult entertainment stores to the C-1 and C-2 corridors and requires a conditional-use permit for their operation. They are not permitted within 2,500 feet of schools or residential areas.

Initially, the draft plan mandated that all high-impact land uses comply with zoning statutes in 7 years. However, a state consultant found potential legal obstacles to the mandate, and some citizens expressed concerns about a rigid timetable. So Vision 2025 committee members revised the 7-year compliance rule. Instead of complete compliance, the watered-down rule now asks high-impact uses to meet only basic landscaping and hours of operation requirements within the seven-year window.

“It’s one example of the plan’s sensitivity and responsiveness to the interests of the community,” Stark says.

Vision 2025’s Swank believes Macon County citizens will support the draft plan, since their suggestions and input have guided the entire planning process. She also believes that the diversity of backgrounds represented by Vision 2025 committee has helped the plan. The 15 citizen members of Vision 2025 committee — which includes farmers and realtors, lawyers and homemakers, natives and outsiders — have worked side-by-side for three years to hammer out a plan that Swank says is fair and forward-looking.

However, some Macon County residents are concerned that the plan will restrict private property rights. To ensure that the plan does not infringe upon free enterprise or citizens’ personal liberties on their land, they have organized into a group called Concerned Citizens of Macon County. The group has attended every one of Vision 2025’s meetings and remains actively involved in the planning process.

Swank understands the “don’t-tell-me-what-to-do-with-my-land” mentality and says that the plan concentrates mostly on high-impact land uses. But as Macon County’s population swells and residents live closer together, people will need to be more conscious of their neighbors, she asserts. Swank believes the plan provides a blueprint for protecting 99 percent of the community from the impacts of 1 percent.

“There’s a lot of fear and misinformation about land-use planning,” adds Stark. “But once people read our plan and realize how modest it is, I think it will receive widespread community support. It’s a middle of the road plan that everyone can live with. Most people will not even know [the plan] is there.”

Stark also hopes Macon County’s plan can serve as a model for other Western North Carolina counties faced with rapid growth.

The public can purchase copies of the draft plan for $5.76 or view it for free Monday through Friday at the Macon County Courthouse Annex.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News