Macon County crowd gets to jump-start Mountain Landscapes project

Macon County residents were the first to be heard on a regional pilot project addressing land-use planning last week. Organizers of the Mountain Landscape Initiative launched a series of eight regional community forums April 3 at the Community Facilities Building in Franklin.

The forums, which take place throughout April in the seven westernmost North Carolina counties and the Qualla Boundary, are designed to help explain the scope of the project, get public feedback and share people's visions for the mountain region.

Press photo/Linda Mathias. Participants in last Thursday's community forum discuss their concerns about land use.

Comments from the forums will set the agenda for the MLI's weeklong public workshop in May called a charrette.

About 25 people participated in the forum's drop-in portion, held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., where attendees could ask questions of project organizers, watch the MLI documentary "Seeking Balance in the Mountains," and learn more background on the project from maps and displays.

During the evening session, 48 people including project organizers gathered to view the documentary, which featured interviews from a diverse range of perspectives (developers, farmers, real estate agents, public officials, environmentalists, property rights advocates, etc.) across Region A on growth issues.

Attendees were then split into discussion groups and encouraged to provide feedback on their visions for healthy growth.

The most prevalent and widely discussed issue among the groups concerned water quality and protection for water quality and waterways, according to MLI project outreach team research members Gabe Cumming and Carla Norwood, who developed the documentary.

Other prominent concerns included farmland protection and local markets for agriculture, revitalizing downtown, clustering or conservation development that protects open space and devising tax strategies for enabling the protection of open space.

Norwood said forum participants addressed a range of topics and were focused more on developing incentives than on regulations.

Since the MLI is a citizen-driven process, area residents collaborated with project organizers to help lead the evening forum meeting.

Planning board chairman Lewis Penland introduced the program and spoke from his perspective as a developer on why he thinks the MLI is important.

Commissioner Ronnie Beale addressed the crowd as well.

Macon County citizens also served as small group facilitators for the discussion portion, which Cumming said helped the process flow smoother.

People from affected industries, such as development and real estate attended and some even provided additional information. Realtor and planning board member Evelyn Owens shared real estate data and trends.

Cumming and Norwood also thanked Norma Ivey, community organizer with the Western North Carolina Alliance, for helping with meeting logistics.

"It really was a group effort," Cumming said.

He added that they felt good about the initial reaction from forum attendees. "It was an enthusiastic group," said Cumming. "There was a really positive tone to the whole meeting."

Forum attendees included Iva Ryan, wife of Sanctuary Village developer Tim Ryan. Iva, who attended the drop-in session, had this to say on the MLI documentary:

"Watching the documentary helped me understand the importance of preserving the ridgetops and the importance of finding that balance between allowing people to develop their land and build homes, but doing it in a way that those homes integrate into the landscape rather than becoming eyesores for neighbors."

Realtor Art Dewitt with Owl Knob Realty commented: "I am totally for individual property rights... As far as your toolbox concept, I like it because you can always reach in your toolbox and find a wrench for every nut in Macon County, or Jackson, or Haywood."

Beale explained the county commission's position on the MLI: "On behalf of the County Commission, let me tell you what my thinking was on why we supported this project... The reason we've got this Region A initiative is we're basically in the same place - you go from here to Graham County to Cherokee County... We thought for this region, if we could stick together more as a region on a lot of things, I think we could accomplish more..."

Cumming hopes the outreach forums will provide a snapshot of what people are discussing in the region, what issues they care about and what concerns they have.

If someone missed the Macon forum, but would like to learn more about the MLI project, Cumming emphasized this is not the only opportunity to participate in the process.

The forums continue throughout April. A forum was held in Haywood County April 8 and Swain County will host its forum on April 10 at the Southwestern Community College Campus, Almond School.

Besides the April forums, the public can also attend the May charrette workshop or submit comments at the project website www.mountainlandscapesnc.org.

Additionally, if a community group or civic organization is interested in screening the documentary, they can contact project organizers through the website and one of the MLI advisory members can arrange a time to show the DVD to them.

MLI is a partnership of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and the Southwestern Commission, the nonprofit Council of Governments organization serving the seven far westernmost counties.

It is a three-stage project including a six-month long outreach program in Region A, a charrette and a follow-up guidebook on best practices for planning and development in the mountain region.

The book, which will be available in summer 2008, will be geared towards landowners, builders and communities in Region A.

Forum feedback will help guide the charrette at Western Carolina University May 13-20 and the Tool Box publication and implementation phase after the charrette.

The Community Foundation aims to take information from the MLI process and apply it to all 18 western counties it serves to help them plan for growth.

For complete background information, detailed schedules of forum and charette dates and links to resources, visit www.mountainlandscapesnc.org.