REGULAR BOARD MEETING of May 2, 2007, with Mayor Don Mullen and
Commissioners Alan Marsh, Amy Patterson, Hank Ross, H. N. James, and
Dennis DeWolf present.
Also present were Richard Betz, Lamar Nix, Bill Harrell, Josh Ward,
Sonjia Stewart, Selwyn Chalker, Kim Lewicki, Jim Lewicki, Linsey
Wisdom, Billy Clarke, Henry Lyngos, Lee Hodges, Harold Neely, Larry
Rogers, and others.
A. PUBLIC HEARING - Setback variance and road grade
variance, Riverwalk Subdivision.
The Mayor called the public hearing to order at 7:00 p.m. Billy
Clarke and Henry Lyngos were both sworn by the Mayor, and Mr. Clarke
presented conceptual plans showing the proposed setback variance; the
application had been distributed with the agenda. He said that
the setback would involve one house along Cullasaja Drive, which
according to the new proposed plan would be setback only 50 feet from
Cullasaja Drive rather than the required 100-foot setback for clustered
homes. He said that the purpose was to preserve 17 large trees,
and he felt this proposed a reasonable use of the property and
preserved a substantial property right; conditions were peculiar to the
parcel and it would not be detrimental to public health, safety, or
welfare or injurious to other properties, but in fact would be an
improvement due to the improved visual barrier. The Planning
Board had reviewed the application in December and recommended no
action be taken until the $400,000 in civil penalties had been paid,
which Mr. clarke felt was not an appropriate condition. Comm.
Patterson asked how many trees would have been removed with the first
plan, and pointed out that trees had also been removed to build the
roads in the subdivison; Mr. Clarke said that the second plan disturbed
less land.
There were no comments from the public.
Mr. Clarke then presented a plan showing the proposed road grade
variance, which involved a 300-foot section of Hawks Ledge Road that
would have a grade of 16.9% rather than the 14% required by the Town;
the road served five houses and would be paved. Town Engineer
Lamar Nix reminded the Board that the State requirement was 18%; he
also said he had driven the road earlier in the day and thought it
would not present a problem. Mr. Clarke also reported that the
final soil erosion plan had been submitted to Josh Ward for approval
and that a re-design of the large concrete structure in the western
drainage channel would be complete in a few days, which would place the
subdivision into compliance with the soil erosion ordinance; paving,
which was scheduled for mid-May, would greatly improve soil erosion
control. It was reported that this variance had not been reviewed
by the Planning Board at its April 23 meeting due to an administrative
error in leaving it off the agenda, however, and Mr. Clarke asked that
the Board consider giving some sort of green light so they could
proceed with the paving, since the Planning Board would not meet until
May 21.
There were no comments from the public, and the Mayor closed the
hearings.
B. REGULAR BOARD MEETING.
I. Call to Order.
The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:20. p.m.
II. Approval of Agenda.
Copies of the agenda had been distributed by mail. The Clerk
requested a closed session to review applications for employment, and
also reported that an item under New Business would be deferred to the
next meeting.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. MARSH, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS AMENDED.
III. Approval of Minutes.
Copies of the minutes of the April 18 Regular Board Meeting had been
distributed by mail. Comm. Patterson noted an error, which the
Clerk said would be corrected.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. DEWOLF, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED.
IV. Public Comment Period.
The Mayor stated that this was the public comment period required by
law.
Lee Hodges was present and thanked Comms. Patterson and Ross for the
ETJ Liaison Committee meetings they had organized the previous
year. She said she felt that the decision of the Planning Board
the previous week not to extend zoning into Horse Cove and Clear Creek
was a good one.
V. Reports.
1. The Mayor reported that Reuben Moore, NCDOT
Division Operations Engineer, had indicated that funds were available
for a bicycle path along NC-106; the DOT would be pursuing that before
the paving scheduled for this year. He also reported that Town
officials and employees had been invited by Highlands Country Club to
lunch on May 21. He also read a proclamation for National Child
Care Provider Appreciation Day on May 11, 2007.
MOVED BY COMM. MARSH, SECONDED BY COMM. PATTERSON, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE PROCLAMATION.
2. Comm. Marsh reported that the Public Works
Committee had met with Ted McGavran on May 1 to discuss the report he
had submitted at the previous meeting; he had suggested that his
references be checked. Comm. James said that the Committee was
only interested in the first two parts of the proposal, an inventory of
poles and a negotiating of contracts with Verizon and Northland.
Comm. Ross said he had met with Town officials and understood that the
Town had already gathered the lion's share of information and seemed to
be willing to go forward with the inventory; he thought it would be
better to have the Town proceed with its inventory, and perhaps
consider McGavran only for the contract negotiation. Comm. James
said his concern was that the Town no longer pay 100% of the cost of
pole replacements; the cost should be split evenly between the Town,
Verizon, and Northland.
MOVED BY COMM. JAMES TO TAKE THIS MATTER UNDER ADVISEMENT WHILE
REFERENCES ARE CHECKED. Comm. DeWolf asked if the Town could keep
up with the estimated cost of the labor of doing the inventory itself,
and Mr. Nix said this could be done.
Comm. Ross reported that the Christmas Decorations Committee had
suggested putting up some of the old decorations in conjunction with
the new ones; it was agreed that this would be done in November.
Comm. Ross also announced that the Pine Street Park Committee would be
holding public meetings on May 7 and June 7 to receive input on the
park; all were invited to attend.
Comm. DeWolf reported that work on both the Community Building and the
Civic Center was nearing completion.
3. Each Board member had received a copy of the Town
Engineer/ Public Service Administrator's report for the month; Lamar
Nix was present to review the report.
4. Each Board member had received a copy of the
Police Chief's report for the month; Bill Harrell was present to review
the report.
5. Each Board member had received a copy of the
Recreation Director's written report for the month; Selwyn Chalker was
present, and reported in some detail on extensive damage that had
recently occurred to the swimming pool. He said that the
fiber-tech liner had peeled off, pulling off some of the marcite as
well, and thus the pool could not be used this summer unless
repaired. He had received a preliminary cost estimate of $47,000
from Sun Stuff of Asheville to remove the rest of the marcite, clean,
and re-surface the pool; work could begin on May 21 and be completed in
time to open the pool this summer. The Treasurer reported that
the $100,000 in investment in the Recreation Department was available
for capital expenses like this.
MOVED BY COMM. DEWOLF, SECONDED BY COMM. PATTERSON, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE REPAIR.
6. Each Board member had received a copy of the
Interim Zoning Administrator's written report for the month,
accompanied by minutes of the Planning Board minutes of April 23.
It was reported that the Planning Board, as mentioned earlier in the
meeting, had voted 5-2 not to extend zoning into Horse Cove and Clear
Creek.
7. Each Board member had received a copy of the
Treasurer's Report for the month.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. MARSH, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO ACCEPT THE TREASURER'S REPORT.
VI. Old Business.
1. The Board again considered proposed amendments of
the Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance to clarify clustering. Comm.
Patterson asked about the proposed wording in Section 409.3(A)(3),
naming the goals of clustering, "to preserve trees." After some
discussion it was agreed that the phrase should be changed to "to
preserve natural vegetation and ecosystems." She also asked about
the definition of "common open space" in the same paragraph and the
words, "the space between buildings of a cluster in a conservation
subdivision or planned unit development." After some discussion,
it was agreed that the phrase should be changed to "the space between
buildings." The Town Administrator agreed to forward these
changes to the Town Attorney for review.
VII. New Business.
1. The Board considered the two variances for
Riverwalk, subject of a public hearing preceding the meeting.
Comm. Patterson did not think the applicant should be delayed on the
Road Grade Variance simply because it had been omitted from the
Planning Board agenda; Comm. Ross agreed, and said he felt it was
important to proceed with the paving as soon as possible. Billy
Clarke recommended that the Board approve the variance subject to
Planning Board review.
MOVED BY COMM. JAMES, SECONDED BY COMM. ROSS, AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
TO APPROVE THE ROAD GRADE VARIANCE SUBJECT TO PLANNING BOARD REVIEW.
Comm. Patterson felt that the setback variance was a different matter;
variances should be tough to get, and she was not sure that there was
evidence that not granting this variance would deprive the applicant of
the reasonable use of property, nor that a substantial property right
was not being preserved.
MOVED BY COMM. JAMES, SECONDED BY COMM. MARSH, AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
TO DENY THE SETBACK VARIANCE.
2. Two bids had been received on paving and were
publicly opened by the Mayor:
Rhodes Brothers Paving Inc.
$62,974.80
Harrison Construction Division of APAC
40,675.74
It was noted at the meeting that there appeared to be a computational
error in the APAC bid, which would make the bid $81,351.18.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. MARSH, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO ACCEPT THE LOW BID SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE TOWN ENGINEER.
3. The Rural Center has requested that the Town adopt
a proposed resolution of support for the Clean Water Act of 2007;
copies had been distributed at the previous meeting.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. JAMES, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO ADOPT THE RESOLUTION.
4. Each Board member had received a nomination form,
copy of appointment policy, list of members whose terms were due to
expire, report on terms served, and list of citizens who had expressed
an interest in serving on various Boards and Committees of the Town;
the Town Administration asked that the nominations be returned to him
for tabulation before the May 16 meeting. He also reported that
Linda Clark (in-Town resident), Thomas Craig (ETJ resident), and
Hillrie Quin (outside Town and ETJ) had all asked that their names be
added to the list of those wishing to serve on the Planning Board.
5. MOVED BY COMM. DEWOLF, SECONDED BY COMM. MARSH,
AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED TO GO INTO CLOSED SESSION PURSUANT TO G. S.
§143-318.11(A)(6) TO CONSIDER AN APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT.
All present left the room except the Town Administrator.
The Board considered an application for employment.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. ROSS, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO GO INTO OPEN SESSION.
VIII. MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED TO ADJOURN.
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting
was declared by the Mayor to be adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
________________________________
Richard Betz, Town Clerk