George Sweet of the Macon County Watershed Council (MCWC) presented Macon County commissioners with a draft Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Ordinance at their Aug. 6 regular meeting. In December 2000, commissioners requested that MCWC develop a local ordinance.

Sweet told commissioners the ordinance was modeled after the state ordinance. He said the draft was a collaborative effort created with the input of 35 citizens from different parts of the community.

Bob Wright, director of the Upper Cullasaja Watershed Association who assisted in developing the ordinance, said building contractors, landscapers, planning board members, septic system company employees, the Sedimentation Control Commissioner, private citizens and agencies such as the Rural Development Commission all had a part in crafting the ordinance.

“We’re very pleased with the support of the community, including contractors,” Wright said. According to Sweet, state law requires any local ordinance be at least as stringent as the state ordinance. He said the draft ordinance met or exceeded that mandate.

Sweet said there were three major differences between the state and county ordinances: the county ordinance would apply to half acre rather than one-acre projects; it would require anyone getting a building permit to also obtain a permit to conduct land-disturbing activities; and it provide incentives for contractors.

Any person who completes at least six hours of approved training in erosion control will be designated an “approved operator.” Approved operators will be allowed to work on up to one acre without a permit.

Considerations in Developing an Effective Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance, a document prepared by assistant county planner Byron McClure, shows there is a great need for more erosion control enforcement than the N.C. Division of Land Quality can provide. The document states that the DLQ’s erosion control usually takes place in the office, reviewing plans, and that only major projects or problems are regularly inspected.

According to a study by the North Carolina Sediment Control Commission, projects in Macon County rarely meet North Carolina Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) specifications. The document states that a properly installed project has not yet been observed and there appears to be no state action requiring reinstallation when sedimentation controls, such as silt fences, were put in incorrectly.

“State law is one size fits all. It will improve flexibility to be able to look at things in terms of local law,” Wright said.

There will be no taxpayer costs related to the new program. Fees will cover the expenses. Also, through planning department work on the ordinance, plan approval time will be improved and all permits will available in one office rather than requiring trips to multiple agencies as the state plan requires.

The program will be “less fragmented,” Wright said.

Sweet asked the board’s permission to initiate open meetings with various stakeholder groups before presenting the ordinance for the board's approval in October. Chairman Harold Corbin told Sweet MCWC already had that authorization.

The ordinance will be officially submitted in October for a first reading. Next will be a public hearing and then a second reading and vote. If the ordinance is passed, Wright hopes to see it enacted by January 2002, after allowing time to give workshops to help people understand the ordinance and receive training to follow it.

“People say erosion is a god made process," Wright said. "It is. But when it is accelerated by man’s land-disturbing activities, it becomes a major water quality problem.”

At the same meeting, commissioners voted 4-1 to kill a Well Construction and Abandonment Control Ordinance on its first reading. The ordinance, which had unanimously passed the Macon County Board of Health, was presented by Terry Dalton.

Dalton said the ordinance was needed to help locate and record wells to ensure all state and local setbacks and regulations were followed. Wright said the Upper Cullasaja Watershed Association paid for a study to research state well records in the Highlands area. The study checked the records on 3,000 wells; only 80 accounts contained enough information to actually locate the wells.

Fred Crane of Crane Brothers Drilling said the ordinance was unnecessary and that drilling companies kept accurate records of well sites that could be easily accessed.

Janet Greene was the only commissioner who supported the ordinance.

On another water quality issue, the board passed a resolution requesting “the Department of Natural Resources and North Carolina Environmental Management commission not begin the rule making process within the Little Tennessee River Basin and furthermore, the Macon County Board of Commissioners favors Little Tennessee River basin quality protection measures that are formulated in cooperation between Macon County, affected local governments and the citizens of this jurisdiction ...”

The resolution also supported the Oct. 11, 1999, resolution by the McDowell County commissioners concerning water quality measures in the Upper Catawba River Basin. Corbin said he had received several letters from other county chairs opposing any state implemented buffer rules.

At the request of County Manager Sam Greenwood, commissioners also discussed the House Local Option Sales Tax Proposal. This plan would allow counties to impose a half-cent sales tax and use that revenue in place of state reimbursements. Local governments would be guaranteed 105 percent of what they are currently receiving in reimbursements.

A bulletin supporting the proposal, distributed by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners reads, in part: “Enactment of the proposal would accomplish two long-standing Association goals. It would provide the local option sales sought for several years and would eliminate reimbursements that have been 'frozen' in favor of a growing revenue source. Counties and cities where sales tax revenues exceed 105 percent of current reimbursements will retain all sales tax revenues; but the inclusion of the guaranteed 105 percent reimbursements ... means that no city or county can lose under the proposal.”

Greenwood disagreed. He argued that the proposal would, “open the flood gates” for state mandates which would require local funding.

Corbin said he was “not in the least interested in raising taxes in Macon County to bail the state out.”
The board voted to draft a letter to the General assembly representatives, the governor and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, opposing the House Local Option Sales Tax Proposal.

 

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