The Avery County Commissioners held a joint meeting with the Avery County Planning Board on Monday, September 11, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. in the offices of the Avery County Board of Commissioners, Administrative Complex, Newland, NC.

Members Present: Kenny Poteat, Chairman; Phyllis Forbes; Joe Strickland and Bill Beuttell
Members Absent: Susan Pittman
Avery County Planning Board Members: Mike Lacey, Chair; Joe B. Perry, Rachel Deal, James Pitts, Jack Wiseman, Larry Smith and Cheryl Buchanan

Both Boards were called to order at 5:30 p.m.
Chairman Poteat offered prayer.

Overview of Developing a Strategic Land Use Plan
Joe Strickland commended Tommy Burleson on the report he has prepared for the Boards. Joe suggested that once the presentation has been made that the Board consider adopting the recommendations made at the back of this report, which are a kind of road map as to where we are going from this point on. In addition, there are 5 or 6 ordinances that need to be considered that are in conjunction with this presentation, one being the Land Use Ordinance. There is also an Animal Control Ordinance, a Sign Ordinance and any ordinances that affect trailer parks. Joe said he would like to discuss who the major stakeholder is with each of these ordinances, then ask the Chair to have this Board prioritize these ordinances so we can give the Manager some sense of guidance as to which ones need to be adopted first. A Junk Car Ordinance is already on the drawing board and the Manager is developing a Rabies Control Ordinance which has control elements in the event of an epidemic being declared by the Health Department. In regard to a trailer ordinance, Joe asked that both boards give consideration to trailer areas contiguous to highways, either Federal or State dedicated, whether they are seen or not necessarily adversely affected. If this meets with the Chairman’s approval, we can move on expeditiously because some of us have time constraints tonight, Joe said.
Chairman Poteat stated that in regard to prioritizing these ordinances that it would help the Planning Board if we tell them how we feel about each ordinance and prioritize it.

The Chairman then turned the meeting over to Tommy Burleson, head of the Inspections Department.
Tommy advised that a lot of the things Joe Strickland brought up are things that he already has in a file with him tonight, such as the Junk Car and Animal Control Ordinances.
Tommy then provided a brief overview of the Economic Objectives of Avery County per the written report. Tommy added that some of the information in this report needs to be updated, such as some of the maps, etc. He said that the brainstorming session listed on the agenda is for the purpose of letting his department know what direction the Commissioners want the County to go in. We will develop the plan, get it back to you and then see what you want, Tommy said.

Discussion on a Slope Ordinance. Tommy advised that we already have something in place which allows us to have slopes engineered and to utilize bench slopes, etc. Tommy added that instead of the County having to put together a big Land Use Plan, that we have done it piecemeal. This is nothing more than a recipe. Sedimentation and soil erosion are mandated laws, and drinking water is a mandated law. By doing our own ordinance, you are taking on the responsibility of enforcing these laws, which is a good thing, Tommy said.

Lengthy discussion was held regarding a table in the report regarding Water Distribution and Wastewater Systems. Tommy said that treatment of wastewater is one controlling factor of your development. We need to protect our water resources. Chairman Poteat asked about the statistics listed under the Water Distribution & Waste Water System for Sugar Mountain in this report. Tommy advised that the figures in this table need to be updated and that he will get that information for him. As an example of wastewater treatment, Tommy said that in a city that treats 100,000 gallons per day and also uses 100,000 gallons per day, that would be what he would consider a perfect system. We need to find out how much these towns are extracting and how much they are treating, Tommy said. The DEHNR wants no more than 20% effluent rate. They want no more than 100,000 gallons per day of treated water in a wastewater system. Our strategy will be to address this concern in our ordinance, Tommy said. Robert Wiseman commented that it appears that the wastewater issue is not as big as the issue of potable water in Sugar Mountain.

Tommy advised that Avery has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the State, and our economy is as good as anywhere in the State.

Brief discussion on the need to bring the road in Banner Elk up higher on the priority list due to the traffic problems created by the new Lowe’s Hardware Store, plus consideration for the new elementary school planned for the future on this same section of highway.

Land Use Issues, Goals, Objectives & Recommendations
The Board of Commissioners gave consideration to this proposed statement of Goals, Objectives & Recommendations for the County.
Motion by Joe Strickland that the Board of Commissioners adopt as its guidelines the Land Use Issues, Goals & Objectives and Recommendations in this report as a roadmap for the County Manager to use in future development of any and all ordinances, any and all activities, as it gives him the opportunity to pull in the tourism committee, etc. in order to meet the adopted objectives. Motion seconded by Bill Beuttell.
Joe Strickland said that if we adopt this, then we make a commitment, which is the most important thing. The Manager then has a clear set of guidelines as each of these ordinances passes through the process for adoption, and it gives the Manager the opportunity to involve those committees that need to be involved in order to achieve these goals. Chairman Poteat advised that we will soon have two new Commissioners on board and that we can also share this information with them.
Robert Wiseman stated that, as a matter of protocol, since this document is two years old, there may be some issues stated in this document that are no longer applicable, such as the Tourism Development Committee, which is non-existent now.
Motion was amended by Joe Strickland to include any appropriate revisions to bring this document up to date. Amended Motion seconded by Bill Beuttell.
Joe Strickland commented that we are going to adopt this because it is coming to us from the Planning Board and Tommy has indicated that the Planning Board has already adopted it.
Vote: Motion unanimously approved with 4 members in attendance.

Tommy Burleson advised that since we don’t have industry here in Avery County that we have had to develop what we have, which is horticulture, tourism, second home builders, developments and golf courses. Today, we have one of the best economies in the state. Hopefully we can maintain that economy, Tommy said. Bill Beuttell said we have been forced to do whatever we had to in order to get by, and I think we have done a pretty good job of it.

Tommy Burleson said that he feels we need to work with the incorporated municipalities. As an example, we need to make Smokey Straight into a Commercial Corridor as they receive water/sewer in that area of town. The Town of Newland is going to extend water/sewer all the way out to Smokey Straight due to the Wilderness Trail Development. We have 8 different cities/towns and we can have 8 different urban corridors. They can add to their ETJ’s and infrastructure. Newland’s infrastructure will be going all the way out to Mtn. Glen Golf Course. The new Wilderness Trail project will allow for density levels on that hill of condominiums; and as of July 7, they have to allow for green space, such as the golf course.

Joe Strickland commented that he felt that all of these objectives that Tommy has mentioned here tonight should be made a part of the recommendation that the Planning Board would make on the Land Use Ordinance. Tommy agreed, saying he is now looking for input. Joe said he thinks Tommy made an excellent suggestion in that he is not going to try to reinvent the wheel, simply customize the work that has already been done. However, he is not suggesting that they be used in total. Mike Lacey cautioned that Burke County has completely stopped all new building. Joe added that it is incumbent upon the Planning Board to take these documents and give them consideration as you develop your own ordinance for these objectives that you have defined.

Bill Beuttell discussed future water needs for Avery County. He said we had a dry spell about 4 or 5 years ago which was pretty critical. We talked about two or three options; one was to buy a parcel of land and dam it up for water/recreation/fishing, or to take a series of intakes along the main road corridors of Avery County. I think that before you do anything for the future, you have to provide water needs, Bill said. That will take the stress off the existing loads. Our existing aquifer has dropped around 20 inches. In order to protect the existing aquifers the only way to do it is to take the stress off of sucking it out of the ground. The existing surface waters in the county are adequate to provide water for us now and many generations to come, if we use it wisely. Bill said you could triangulate commercial/residential growth along those main road thoroughfares and corridors as Tommy mentioned. Tommy said that the intakes would have to be at the lower or southern end of the county. Bill said that no growth can move forward without water to supply it. Joe Strickland suggested a section in the Plan be devoted to what Bill has just defined.

Tommy Burleson advised the Board that there would be no land use restrictions by just adopting the Plan. You would have to come back and adopt ordinances, and we already have most of our ordinances already in place. Joe Strickland said we can deal with these ordinances individually or we can prioritize them. If we deal with them individually, we can assign them to the appropriate people. There are 5 ordinances mentioned in this report that Tommy has provided us tonight. The Land Use Ordinance comes in more than one part and will come to us over a period of time through the Planning Board. The Junk Car Ordinance is already in place and would just need to be resurrected, just a question of when. If we do an Animal Control Ordinance, the Manager needs more time to finish what he already has in motion. The Sign Ordinance would have to go to the Planning Board because we don’t have anything in the works on that yet. An Ordinance on trailers/trailer parks has already been written by the Planning Board. It is a question of when the Board wants to deal with it, because each of these will require a public hearings and public comments, Joe said. We also need to consider a cell tower ordinance. Discussion on this issue. Tommy Burleson said he recommended that the Planning Board leave this one alone until we have enough cell coverage in the county. We have enforced the law that they have to co-locate. Instead of allowing 3 or 4 towers on one mountain, we require that they sign a contract that says they will co-locate at least 2 or 3 other servers. We have about 6 servers on the high-rise right now. The ordinance wouldn’t be hard to do because we have basically already taken care of it through these contracts, Tommy said.

Discussion on Landscaping amendments. Tommy Burleson said this came up in a meeting where we were going to require landscaping from a developer, but there were no written standards. Joe Strickland felt we should include this on our list of ordinances that we need to deal with.

Special Use Permits were also discussed. Tommy Burleson said you would need this if you were going to put a new wastewater treatment plant or drinking water intake within the county. These are special use conditions which really need to be controlled. This way, the County can control the number of NCPDS that are in the county, number of water intakes in the county, etc.

Joe Strickland suggested going through the general discussion as to who has what role with each of these ordinances, and then instruct whoever has the responsibility to develop it and come back to the Board. Chairman Poteat said he feels it is important for the Planning Board to hear this because they sometimes get frustrated when we talk about these issues but never take any action on them. I agree that we do as Joe has suggested.

The list of ordinances to be worked on is as follows:
Land Use Plan – Planning Board to work on this ordinance.
Junk Cars – County Manager
Animal Control – County Manager
Sign Ordinance – Planning Board
Trailer Parks/Trailers – Planning Board
Cell Towers – Planning Board
Landscape – Planning Board
Special Use Permits – Planning Board

Mike Lacey left the meeting at 6:30 p.m. due to a prior commitment. Joe Perry assumed the Chair for the Planning Board.

Joe Strickland recommended that the Board allow the Manager some discretion as to when the two ordinances he is working on are presented to the Commissioners, based upon when he finishes what he has in motion. The Board agreed.

Lengthy discussion held on need for Landscaping Amendments.

The Board then prioritized each of these proposed ordinances in regard to the order in which they need to be dealt with, as follows:
#1 Land Use Plan Ordinance
#2A – Landscaping Amendments
#2B – Special Use Conditional Permits
#3 – Cell Towers
#4 – Sign Ordinance
#5 – Trailers/Trailer Parks
(The Manager will work on the Junk Car and Animal Control Ordinances).

Lengthy discussion was held on landscaping regulations which Jack Wiseman had originally recommended in conjunction with a new development scheduled on Hwy. 221 at Linville Falls.
Everyone agreed that we need quality control in our developments, and that this is another way of having that control. Jack Wiseman suggested that it would not hurt for us to find out why Burke County has slowed down on development in their county as Mike Lacey commented on earlier. They must have a good reason for it, Jack said.

Tommy Burleson asked if any of the Commissioners or Planning Board members had any goals or objectives that they feel need to be looked at or any issues they want to put on the table at this time.
Jack Wiseman thanked the Commissioners for taking the time to hear them tonight. I think we have come a long way. I feel that we need at least 30 days to review a project prior to having to approve or disapprove of it. Engineers come into our meetings and expect us to approve projects that we have never seen before, and we need more time to study the project, take a professional person with us to review the project and give us a recommendation. We can then bring these recommendations for the Planning Board to review, and they can either accept any/all or none of what he recommends, Jack said.
Jack said that the Tucker Hollow Development has come up and it is very steep land. Mr. Johnson lives down below where the development will be located and there is no telling what impact that project will have on the people below it. This property is straight down, and they are proposing 60 houses on 58 acres. It is hard to look at a piece of paper and visualize what that mountain will look like. The houses would have to be on top of each other, and we don’t want that, Jack said, but they qualified. Tommy Burleson advised that they will have to abide by the Slope Ordinance on any grading at all; any cut and fill or slope. Tommy said that we have one of the best Slope Ordinances in Western North Carolina right now.

Cheryl Buchanan said she is working for a township that is busting at the seams right now; hindsight is 20/20 and you can’t do this fast enough. If you do, you’ll be glad you did because you can’t go back and fix it after the fact; you’ve got to do it now and do it fast. Joe Strickland agreed, stating that if you plan now, you avoid the consequences in the future. If we do some planning now to try to cover as many of these issues as we can, then we avoid a knee-jerk reaction in the future, Joe said. We won’t be able to cover it all, other issues will still come up, but when they do, these documents should be fluid enough that we can make an easy revision to them.

Joe Strickland said we have two new board members coming on board, and I think they will support the commitment being made here tonight without reservations.

Rachel Deal commented that she agrees with her board; we try hard to look at the plans and it is now ¾ acre. We have had something to come to us because it was brought to Inspections early and was not surveyed quickly enough, so we had to grandfather it in. All of the people look at the plats, what size the lots are and whether the fire lanes are proper, etc. and sometimes we speak up and it doesn’t always go over too well. We have your interest at heart. I will stick behind Robert on whatever he decides on Animal Control because I believe that is one of the things that needs to be looked at, especially rabies, Rachel said. Tommy Burleson commented that the General Statutes are in the back of this report, and if the County follows that, that’s all they need to do because it contains all the necessary procedures.

James Pitts thanked the Board for their time. We wondered where we stood on a lot of this hard work and now I think we can go forward, Pitts said. I recommend that Robert do something about the Junk Car Ordinance pretty quickly. The reason is that you can go up about any road in Avery County and there are junked cars sitting in driveways. We have a lot of people coming into the county for the “Choose and Cut”, and the real estate people have a lot of people coming into the county as well. I think we should try to beautify the county, and this is one way of doing it, Pitts said, along with the landscaping.

Larry Smith felt we also need to address the Junk Car Ordinance. The Landscaping Ordinance and the Animal Control Ordinance should be addressed as quickly as possible, too. There are 3 wild dogs around Newland that have nearly bitten some people, Larry said. I called the Newland Police Dept. who said all they can do is call the Humane Society and we don’t know if they will come or not. We need a solution to this problem, because I sure don’t want to shoot somebody’s dog and then get into trouble for doing it. On the other hand, if these 3 dogs bite somebody and they have rabies, who is held responsible? What can we do, Smith said?
Kenny Poteat said we are keenly aware of this problem. Once they are told to call the Humane Society, then the Humane Society calls one of the Commissioners, so we get lots of calls.

Joe Perry thanked the Commissioners for agreeing with the Planning Board on the number one priority of the Land Use Plan Ordinance. It is important and we will work on these ordinances as quickly as possible. I would also like to thank the Commissioners for all of their support. I think we have a good board, all the members are active and I think they are doing a good job, Perry said.

Robert Wiseman had two issues that he wanted everyone to be aware of. The first is a concern and the second is a statement of fact. Robert said he felt that in the past, with no disrespect to anyone except maybe myself, I think there has been some wasted effort. When I say that, I am referring to the fact that the Board of Commissioners, maybe not this board as much as former boards, with the best of intentions, would request an ordinance on a certain subject, such as for animal control. Then, when it comes to the Planning Board, they spend their time putting it together but there have been no instructions or direction other than that we need an animal control ordinance. They spend their time and come up with a control ordinance that is not acceptable to the people of Avery County, as has been evidenced in the past. Cows can’t moo; dogs can’t bark or run, etc. That kind of thing won’t work in Avery County. I appreciate the effort that went into that, but the point I am trying to make is that there was a tremendous uproar from the hunters, dog owners and rural citizens of Avery County because it was not acceptable. It got out and loose before the Board of Commissioners even had a chance to consider it. There needs to be, in whatever issue we are dealing with, some machinery in place that will insure that both boards are on the same wave length and pulling in tandem before everything goes haywire, Robert said. That is something that no matter what our priorities are, we need to have in place so that it can be discussed and cooler heads prevail before it gets down to the approve/disapprove stage. We need to discuss this and get a Committee together to work on this to make sure we are headed in the right direction before it becomes a time bomb that neither board is fully in favor of, Robert said.

The second issue is that any 3 of the people around this table can come up with a pretty good ordinance on just about anything we have discussed. You only address 30 or 40 percent of the issues on the table. The construction of the ordinance and putting it on paper and adopting it is fine, that’s not the problem. But, who is going to go out to someone’s house that has a junked car sitting 30 ft. off the road and tell them that they have to do something with that car or we’re going to law them? My point is that the issues mainly discussed tonight are issues that are futuristic such as landscaping, etc. You can stop them before they happen, but these other issues that concern people’s animals or old cars, these things are in existence and you are not going to be as successful in dealing with these things as you are with stopping things that are happening. A junkyard is a different situation; there are state regulations which are not enforced because they don’t have the money, Robert said. However, when you start going on people’s property you are suddenly into a personal property right and you better have your act together. This kind of thing won’t happen overnight, but hopefully it will be gone eventually. It will take a decade to clear up what we already have beside the roads, Robert said. Jack Wiseman said you don’t go in this county and demand anything. You find out what their plans are and try to work something out with them.

Robert said we had a very successful campaign years ago and we tried to make it positive whereby there was a positive reinforcement. If we did something like that again, we would want to wait until after the first frost and before things turn green in the spring. In that campaign we had advertisements, public notice and clip-out forms in the county newspapers. We do a lot of the same thing now. If someone wants a junked car removed, they fill out a form saying they want to release it, then we will pick up the car as time allows. We did it one time whereby we advertised in the paper that we would come and get the car and it wouldn’t cost the owner anything. We could take that one step further and give the person relinquishing the vehicle a percentage of its salvage value so there is something in it for them. This won’t solve the problem, but it would greatly decrease the number of junked vehicles sitting in the ditches. Taking a hard stand on this would be the last resort I think. We need to try to take a positive approach first, Robert said.

Phyllis Forbes thanked the Planning Board for all their hard work. They are not paid but they take a lot of grief sometimes. I know they get frustrated when they work diligently on something and bring it to a Board of Commissioners, this Board or any other Board, and they say it is not what they wanted. Hopefully with better communication and Tommy and Robert striving for all of us to be on the same page, we will be on the same page. Thank you for all your time, effort and hard work. I would also like to thank Tommy and his staff for all their hard work, because they do a good job.

Joe Strickland agreed with Robert on the junked car issue. According to the ordinance, it was more or less a volunteer program, Joe said. But, sooner or later, a volunteer program won’t work. You will need something established so that if the issue warrants it and the situation reaches a certain threshold that you have a means to deal with it. In the ordinance proposed by the Planning Board, the property owner was protected every step of the way, and the individual would only be imposed upon if the Health Department had deemed it a health hazard. Otherwise, the County couldn’t touch it. I think if we are saying that we just need a volunteer program, then I don’t agree with that and I won’t support it, Joe said. But if we are saying we need a Junked Car Ordinance that you have proposed that gives the Manager the legal latitude to deal with these unique situations that pop up, then I would support that.

Bill Beuttell said he had no problems with what has been discussed tonight. As in the past, any ordinance we adopt, I want it to be as user-friendly as possible, because as I have seen in the past, the more Government gets involved in your life, the more your life deteriorates. As with the meeting we had about the Animal Control Ordinance, I said then that I appreciate the quality of life that Avery County affords me and the rural lifestyle I have. I have a farm that a group of developers wants to buy, but it is just not for sale, because I want to keep it in Christmas trees and farmland and I want to keep it like it is for me and for my children. I want us to be aware that the less we can put government in a position of dictating your life to you, the better our lives will be. I also realize that we have to have certain guidelines to live by.

Kenny Poteat commented that he feels this Planning Board is one of the most important components in this county. In my 12 year tenure, it is more important than some Commissioners I have worked with. You are very important; you do a great deal for this county, and you are very valuable to all of us, Kenny said. We deeply appreciate what you are doing.

Mike Lacey came back into the meeting.

Tommy Burleson thanked his staff, Allison and Garry for being here tonight. I appreciate them.
Garry has two new subdivisions that the Planning Board is going to be reviewing.

Mike Lacey commented that he doesn’t want us to do what Burke County has done. We have ceased listing property in Burke County. They won’t let you divide any property that does not join a state maintained road, Lacey said. They don’t want any more growth, period. They have completely stopped.

Adjourn
Motion by Joe Strickland to adjourn this meeting at 7:12 p.m. Motion seconded by Phyllis Forbes and unanimously approved.

________________________________
Kenny Poteat, Chairman
Avery County Board of Commissioners

ATTEST: _____________________________
Nancy H. Cook, Clerk to the Board