The Eastern Band of Cherokee has joined neighboring Jackson and Swain counties in passing a soil erosion and sedimentation ordinance.

The plan was amended during February’s Tribal Council session to change the trigger for the issuance of a sedimentation control plan from one-half acre to one acre. That change occurred despite an assessment from Danny Childers that half-acre lots could cause sedimentation problems. Childers works for the Tribe’s environmental planning office.

“No person shall initiate any land-disturbing activity uncovering one acre or more without having an erosion and sedimentation control plan approved by the tribe,” the Tribe’s erosion control ordinance states. Some council members thought the one-half acre plan would cause hardship for small property owners.

When asked about penalties, Childers said the reason for the ordinance was to keep sentiment out of creeks.

“It’s not our goal to be the gestapo. We don’t go around looking for violations,” he said. Childers said that for small non-commercial parcels less than five acres, there was no fee for filing an erosion control plan. For commercial sites there is a $50 per acre fee, and an application for a permit to disturb more than five acres will require the posting of a security bond.

While there are fines and enforcement directives in place, Childers said that the first action the planning board would take if someone was found out of compliance would be to revisit and revise the plan. Anyone found in non-compliance would be issued a notice of violation and given a specific date by which to comply, according to the language of the ordinance.

The ordinance will go into effect June 1. Council Chairman Dan McCoy said the ordinance was necessary to give the environmental planning office the authority needed to protect the waterways of the Qualla Boundary.

Two of the reasons for establishing the document, as listed in the ordinance are:
• “... a clean environment is essential to the well-being of the Cherokee people and the economy of the Eastern Band of Cherokee.”
• “... erosion control is one of the key elements of healthy soils, streams and rivers.”

In a related environmental effort, the Tribal Council also passed a three-month moratorium on development along the U.S. 19 corridor between the junction of 441 business and Old Mission Road.

“The Highway 19 corridor between Jct. 441 Business and Granny’s Kitchen, and also located between Soco Creek and 1,000 feet south of Highway 19, does not have a drainage system to adequately serve new development without impacting adjacent landowners,” the resolution said. “Recent and upcoming commercial activities on the Highway 19 corridor are creating drainage problems for adjacent landowners.”

The moratorium will allow time for an engineering study to be done to design recommendations for filling, drainage and uniform compliance with the Tribal Flood Prevention Ordinance within the corridor. Childers said that problems within the corridor were acute and needed to be addressed.

The resolution mandated that the Tribe would contribute a maximum of $15,000 towards the study. Tribal financial officer Michell Hicks said the money would come from money set aside in the budget for consulting fees.

The resolution states that any commercial activities already approved in writing by the Tribal Business Committee will be exempt from the moratorium.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News