Residents of the Qualla community upset about plans for an asphalt plant have organized a community meeting for April 30 at 8 p.m. at the Qualla Community Center.

“Everyone I’ve talked to is pretty fired up about this,” said Harmer Weichel, a Qualla resident who is helping organize opponents. “I think the meeting will be packed.”

HMC Paving of Swain County has announced plans to construct an asphalt plant on 12 acres of land near the U.S. 441 exit off U.S. 74. The plant would be located on a tract of land known as the old Worley Farm. Mark Fortner, who owns HMC Con-struction, appeared at the April 5 county board meeting to make his plans public. He has also invited the press to tour the proposed site with an “environmentalist.”

“We are trying to keep this open,” Fortner said.

Fortner said the area is isolated and should not bother neighbors.

State officials say they have heard of plans for the plant but that no permit applications have been filed.
Debbie Worley, who has a 3-year-old child and lives less than a mile from where the proposed plant would be located, said community opposition to the plant is overwhelming.

“The turnout you saw at the commissioners meeting was just a drop in the bucket,” Worley said. “That was planned at the last minute and a lot of people were not aware of it.”

Both Weichel and and Worley said the rural nature of the proposed site, its proximity to Smoky Mountain Elementary School and the new Cherokee Recreation Park, and its importance as a tourist gateway to Cherokee make the site unsuitable for an asphalt plant. They and others are also worried about property values.

Fortner has been invited to the May 1 meeting in Qualla, and even opponents of the plant say he has been receptive to inquiries. He told county commissioners April 5, however, that he would proceed with the plant regardless of how elected officials felt about the issue.

County board chairman Jay Denton said he has asked county attorney Raymond Large to determine what options the county has in the matter. Since Jackson County has no zoning, however, it may be powerless to stop the proposed plant.

“At this time we just want to know what our legal options are,” Denton said.

Weichel said Fortner’s open attitude was appreciated, but he did not know whether the feelings of the community would affect the decision about whether to construct the plant.

“I have no idea if it will, but we’re hoping he changes his mind when he sees the amount of opposition,” Weichel said.

About 50 people opposed to the proposed asphalt plant went before Jackson County commissioners last week to plead their case.

“You lose your property rights when someone like this opens next door,” said Weichel, who also spoke about the high rate of respiratory ailments in Western North Carolina.

William Shelton, a farmer who lives near the proposed plant, said perhaps the commissioners could pass a specific ordinance regarding asphalt plants within the time frame that Fortner would be applying for permits.

Weichel said the racetrack, a tourist helicopter business and a gas storage facility in the vicinity all point to the problems that can occur in counties without any zoning or land-use planning.

“We are defenseless in this matter without zoning. Everyone in Jackson County is defenseless,” he said.
Two members of the Cherokee Tribal Council spoke at the Jackson County Board meeting in opposition to the plant. The tribe has yet to take an official position on it.

 

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