A group of citizens in Cashiers is exploring ways to gain more autonomy, and everything from incorporation to creating a sanitary district have been discussed.

A public meeting was held Tuesday, Aug. 21, at the Cashiers Community Building to discuss options. The small unincorporated resort town in southern Jackson County is experiencing growing pains from increased tourism, second-home and residential construction and commercial development. A 13-member board is discussing the needs of the community and the various options for addressing those needs. Local real estate broker and Jackson County Democratic Party Chairman Eddie Madden chairs the new (yet to be named) board.

“We do not make decisions for the community,” Madden said.

The purpose of the board is to help the community decide “How we get from here to the future and have a wonderful town to live in.”

The board is actually an outgrowth of Jackson County’s Smart Growth meetings, Madden said.

According to Madden, an interim board composed primarily of Cashiers Community Council members met weekly for 11 weeks to try and formalize the issues and options facing the community. This group, in turn, “handed off” the project to the newly created board which retains three interim board members.
The board circulated a hand-out that identified primary goals and options and noted which options they felt would address which issues.

The nine options studied were: status quo; county service district; sanitary district; fire protection district; water/sewer district; quasi-government; restrictive covenants; community based zoning and incorporation.

The five main goals were: maintain small town character; preserve natural beauty; protect water; increase county funding and civic entity for Cashiers. Some of the other goals included police protection, zoning, sewage and solid waste.

Incorporation was the only option the board felt would normally address almost every issue raised. But some at the meeting were decidedly against incorporation.

Cashiers resident Jean Thompson said, in a WLOS-TV interview after the meeting, that she opposed incorporation because she felt it would just bring more growth and congestion to the town.

“I have no idea which solution is best. Some suggest incorporation is the only way — I don’t know,” Madden said.

“It is the intent of this board to be an advocate for this community. We’re not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes,” he said.

The board has invited Jeff Willett of the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Community Assistance to speak to the group at its Sept. 25 meeting.

Willett, who has assisted other communities across the state, said he would speak about the advantages and disadvantages of the different options Cashiers could pursue.

“This will be all in the terms of options. It’s important for the community to come together to determine what is best for it,” Willett said.

Vanna Montgomery of the Cashiers Community Water Council (CCWC) said anything the community could do to establish some type of self determination would be beneficial.

“We don’t have a voice,” she said.

The CCWC was formed last November by citizens concerned with the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority’s (TWASA) plan to expand Cashier’s sewage treatment plant.

Montgomery said that because Cashiers was unincorporated, it had no representation on the TWASA board.

Many at the meeting felt Cashier’s 1,300 year-round residents have been neglected by Jackson County government.

“We’re not like Qualla community or Little Canada, we have issues that are specific to the Cashiers area. It’s time for Cashiers to take care of itself,” Madden said.

If incorporation were the option chosen, “it would require a lot of time and a lot of legwork,” Willett said.

He said state mandated procedures called for a petition verified by the county board of elections, a map delineating geographic boundaries, and some type of charter along with other stipulations.

According to Madden, all of this would have to be done and submitted to the General Assembly 90 days before the 2003 Legislature convened, or put on hold until 2004.

Willett said he would encourage the board and Citizens of Cashiers to do a lot of research and listen to communities who have gone through similar dilemmas.

The new board’s meetings are open to the public and the board encourages members of all civic organizations to attend. The next meeting will be Sept. 11. The board hopes to adopt a mission statement and a name at its next meeting. Willett will appear before the board on Sept. 25. All meetings are at 7 p.m. at the Cashiers Community Building.

 

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