The Macon County Board of Commissioners met Nov. 12 in regular public session. At the outset of the meeting, Chair Gary Shields announced that a Special Meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m., in the Commissioner’s Board Room for newly elected officials to take the oath of office and for the Board of Commissioners to choose a chair and vice-chairman. The annual presentation of employee service awards and reception will be held beforehand at 5 p.m.
In response to a profanity-laden outburst by a public attendee at the Oct. 8 meeting, Shields at the outset of the Nov. 12 meeting announced [to anyone in the public planning to address commissioners]: “You have five minutes in your public comment. If you act out of accordance with good manners and you’re directed to leave the meeting due to your verbiage or whatever may be inappropriate, or you willfully disrupt or disturb this meeting; or any person who fails to leave this meeting after being directed to do so by the chairman, shall be removed by the sheriff or the deputy and charged with a misdemeanor.”
Lake Emory Dam study requested
Commissioner Paul Higdon called upon the county to undertake a study on the feasibility of removing the privately held dam on Lake Emory. Commissioner John Shearl quickly weighed in support of this initiative, stating, “Task the planning board to determine what’s involved and what would be the benefits of removal of the dam, because in January we’re going to be dealing with this floodplain issue and I think the removal of that dam, if it’s possible and the pros outweigh the cons, then it would solve all of the floodplain and floodway [issues] on the Cullasaja River and Little Tennessee River.”
Higdon added, “If you’re going to look at a floodplain study or the Little Tennessee River, that’s what drains the whole county. Rather than doing piecemeal approaches to floodplain, etc., do a comprehensive study of the Little Tennessee River. It may not be feasible or even practical about removing the dam … but you never know until you throw that out there. Personally, as an environmentalist, I have degrees in environmental health sciences and biology. I think it would be a great boost to this area if we had a free-flowing stream through downtown. It’s going to take a broad study, not something to do in a six-month period. All shareholders should be involved.”
Shields promised it would be added to the agenda in January and public comment would be invited on adding this issue to the floodplain debate.
Housing study
Patrick Bowen, president of Bowen National Research, presented an overview of the Macon County Housing Study indicating that lack of affordable housing inhibits economic progress. Macon County is projected to experience an overall household growth rate of 3.2% with 548 new households to be added by 2028. The largest growth will be households with those aged 75 or older, but sizable growth is also expected by those aged 35 to 44 years.
More than 50% of renter households are expected to earn less than $40,000 annually. The county’s overall multifamily occupancy rate is 100%. Typically, healthy and well-balanced markets operate at occupancy rates of 94% to 96%. Wait lists indicated a high level of pent-up demand, illustrating a need for additional rental housing across the entire spectrum of affordability, not just those in the under $40,000 bracket.
At the time of the survey, only 179 available homes were for sale within Macon County. This equated to an availability/vacancy rate of 1.4%, well below the normal/healthy range of 2.0% to 3.0%.
“You want vacancies [at various price points and sizes] for a healthy market … as people go through life changes,” said Bowen.
Although not widespread, Bowen described some alarming information on housing conditions. Approximately 322 Macon County households live in substandard housing, of which 227 were in overcrowded housing units and another 95 units had incomplete plumbing or kitchens. Nearly 1,900 Macon County households live in severe cost-burdened housing, in which residents spent over 50% of their income towards rental or owner-occupied housing.
Bowen found that very few tourism-related occupations paid sufficient wages to enable workers to afford to rent or buy a home in Macon County. The lack of affordable and quality housing was placing financial challenges on the local tourism-based workforce and put employers at risk of higher employment turnover, while also creating challenges for employers to attract new workers.
Among a series of recommendations, Bowen suggested commissioners consider supporting housing policies such as expanding residential density to allow for more units, modifying unit size requirements, supporting or leveraging developer incentives, and waiving, deferring, or lowering government fees. He also suggested that due to the growing base of seniors, the development of senior-oriented housing be supported, with possible incentives to encourage developments like independent living.
Fontana Regional Library agreement passes
After two years of intense discussion, due primarily to controversies regarding books with sexually explicit content accessible to children, commissioners unanimously approved a new Fontana Regional Library (FRL) Agreement, which incorporates changes and revisions started by Macon County and then further revised by Jackson and Swain counties.
Commissioner Danny Antoine ushered through the final agreement, stating, “As liaison to the library at this time, I’d like to make a motion to the board to [accept] the Fontana Regional Library Agreement. Jackson County’s passed it. Swain County’s passed it. So, if there’s no discussion on it, I’d like to motion to pass it.”
With that, a swift vote of 5-0 was taken with no further comments.
To read the full agreement, visit the Fontana Regional Library site at www.fontanalib.org.