Based on recommendations from a consultant, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority voted to change the makeup of the 1 percent funding subcommittees in Maggie Valley and Waynesville.

When the Nudge City video gaming parlor popped up in an old auto dealer’s lot on Dellwood City Road earlier this year, it quickly caught Elizabeth Teague’s eye.

New standards and stricter definitions for manufactured homes in Waynesville could make it easier to develop manufactured home parks, under proposed changes that will soon go before the Waynesville Board of Aldermen.

For the second meeting in a row, consultants presented the Waynesville Board of Aldermen with some unpleasant realities about the town’s critical infrastructure.

An electric rate study Waynesville Mayor Gavin Brown called “sobering” was presented to the Waynesville Board of Aldermen Oct. 10 and shows shrewd fiscal management on behalf of the town, but an inevitable rate increase on the horizon.

Two short years ago, the backyard of Waynesville’s Grace Church in the Mountains was basically just grass, save for a single container bed at the top of the hill.

These days, the view is quite different. Six long container beds stretch out along the slope from the road to the church’s back door. A scaffolding that held a tent of beans during the warmer months stands to the side, and at the bottom of the hill is yet another group of raised beds, built high at the end of a flat walkway so that people with mobility issues can still access and enjoy them. There’s a toolshed, a gaggle of scarecrows and two in-ground beds dug directly into the land.

When Shining Rock Classical Academy opened in 2015, the public charter school was hailed as a victory for local proponents of school choice and promised to provide an academically rigorous, comprehensive college preparatory curriculum.

Inasmuch as any document can be truly hallowed on a local government level, that document is the comprehensive plan.

The story of every small business is different and unique, but some follow an economic development narrative being heard more and more in Western North Carolina — an entrepreneur with professional skills decided to open a business in Haywood County because they wanted to be here.

When you’ve done something for as long as Mitzi Cope has, you tend to learn a thing or two — not just about business, but about life.