The leaders of a Macon County property rights group say zoning is OK, but they don't think streambank buffers are reasonable.

Ralph and Sandra Hann are the leaders of the local chapter of the Property Rights Alliance Of N.C. (PRANC), which will hold a meeting July 27 at 7 p.m. in courtroom B of the Macon County Courthouse in Franklin. Sandra Hann said the meeting would be educational to inform concerned citizens about property rights issues, with emphasis on riparian buffer rules.

On July 2, Ms. Hann addressed the Macon County Board of Commissioners urging them to support McDowell County commissioners in their opposition to a portion of the Clean Water Act of 1999 that authorizes temporary rules “to protect the Cape Fear, Catawba and Tar-Pamlico river basins.”

These temporary rules call for a 50-foot buffers along the main stem of the Catawba River below lake James and along the main stem lakes from Lake James to the North Carolina portion of Lake Wylie. The Upper Catawba River Landowners Alliance (UCRLA) organized a rally in front of the McDowell County Courthouse in Marion on March 11 and sponsored a Property Rights Summit on Thursday, July 12, in opposition to the buffer rules.

McDowell County Commissioner Butch Hogan, who attended both events, said the board supports UCRLA’s position and opposes Part VII of the Clean Water Act.

The McDowell board has sent a resolution to the General Assembly in opposition to the Catawba buffer rules.

“We don’t have a water-quality problem,” Hogan said.

Hann and other opponents of the temporary buffer rules note they are merely precursors to more stringent and encompassing permanent rules. The Environmental Manage-ment Commission (EMC) is presently considering permanent rules for the Catawba basin which would include restrictions on tributaries and perennial and intermittent streams, she said.

Hann and her husband, Ralph, have been in Macon County for 10 years. They were involved a few years ago in a successful effort to block the inclusion of the French Broad River as part of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative.

Hann said she organized PRANC and became involved in the buffers issue after being contacted by Marge Welch. Welch is executive director of Property Rights Congress of America, a national organization with over 60 member-groups.

Hann said she and her husband have always been conservationists. She said PRANC encourages good stewardship. “We’re basically about education. We want to educate ourselves and others about what’s going on,” Hann said.

Although Hann laments that “the media has been one-sided,” giving more coverage to environmentalists, she also admits that many with opposing views “are not radical environmentalists — they are genuinely concerned.”

On the same day the Hanns presented their plea to Macon County commissioners, the board voted unanimously to pass a moratorium on high-impact industries while the Vision 2025 group drafts a comprehensive land-use plan for the county.

The Hanns support this moratorium, and they support zoning for residential, industrial and agricultural uses. They also expressed concern over “Mayberry,” a proposed 88-acre, 1950s-themed shopping complex proposed for the banks of the Little Tennessee River in Macon County. The developer says he wanted to evoke the feeling of hometown America.

Ms. Hann said: “We have one, it’s called main street, downtown.”

Essentially, the couple supports less government, Ms. Hann said.

“The farther government gets away from the people, the less people have a voice.”

Hann believes “Owning property is so important to freedom; American people don’t want to lose that freedom.”

To find out more about PRANC and/or the July 27 meeting, call 828.524.0088.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News