Workshop touts low-impact, conservation development

fr greengrowthThe rolling hills of the Cullowhee River Club unfold beneath a heaven of blue sky as the Tuckasegee River rifles by. The property long belonged to the Battle family, it was known as the Battle farm.

That’s before Ken Newell stumbled into God’s backyard.

Plans in the works for Jackson homeless shelter

For the past four years, Jackson County Neighbors in Need has been footing the bill to put people lacking winter shelter up in motel rooms for the night, but the group is on the lookout for the perfect facility to serve as a central shelter before the winter gets much deeper. 

“We haven’t been able to get into a shelter facility of our own which we are very much hoping to do because it’s very expensive to lodge people in a motel,” said Veronica Nicholas, co-chair of the Neighbors in Need shelter committee. 

Proposed Cullowhee development standards get revised

Following a pair of community input sessions in October, proposed planning regulations for the Cullowhee area have been tweaked a bit. 

“Relatively minor revisions to text and to maps,” explained Jackson County Planning Director Gerald Green. 

Maternity care landscape evolves: Additional OB practices increases choices, competition

fr womenscareA shake-up in the medical world of maternity care and childbirth means more choices for pregnant women in Jackson, Swain and Macon counties, but also heightened competition for the profitable labor and delivery line.

Two new obstetrics practices were launched within weeks of each other this fall, both catering to women in Jackson, Macon, Swain and beyond. The number of existing practices in the region doubled nearly overnight. 

Ridgetop revisions in play for Jackson tower ordinance

Cell phone towers in Jackson County cannot currently be built on ridgetops. That looks likely to change as revisions to the county’s ordinance governing cell towers progress. 

Thus far in the revision process, the Jackson County Planning Board has dug into issues such as allowable height and style of construction.

Jackson TDA laying groundwork for hiring director

The Jackson County Tourism Development Authority is pursuing a leader, someone to act as the organization’s executive director. The workload is becoming more than volunteer board members can handle.

“Some of us feel, and I feel, it’s going to be a full-time job,” Robert Jumper, head of Jackson’s TDA, said earlier this month.

Forest Hills hosts workshop, explores planning issues

fr foresthillsThe Village of Forest Hills is about to go on a vision quest. The quest begins Nov. 3 with a community workshop. 

The village will be the latest community to ponder a vision, a long-range view. It follows in the footsteps of nearby Jackson County neighbors, most notably Cullowhee.

Steep slope ordinance rewrite timeline: The inopportune arrival of a slow but steady train

When Jackson County commissioners halted the controversial rewrite of the steep slope development rules earlier this year, critics were both pleased and skeptical.

Pleased that a rollback of the county’s steep slope rules wouldn’t be pushed to the finish line before November’s election, but skeptical that the sitting commissioners would really stop work on the rollback. Instead, many thought the incumbents were trying to save their own re-election chances and would pick up where they left off after November.

Seven years war for the mountainsides rages on in Jackson

Controlling mountainside development is a universal issue grappled with across Western North Carolina.

But Jackson County’s residents have wrestled more passionately, more vocally, more extensively and more heatedly over mountainside development than almost any other county in the region.

A voter’s guide to the 2014 WNC election

Stories from the 2014 midterm election:

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