TWSA to develop ideas to help displaced businesses

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TWSA to develop ideas to help displaced businesses

Speedy’s Pizza and the Valero Gas Station & Convenience Store are both on the N.C. Department of Transportation’s preliminary list of businesses that could be displaced. Holly Kays photo

With the N.C. 107 project continuing to move forward, the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority is beginning to talk about the part it could play in keeping affected businesses in Sylva.

TWSA’s policy committee initially discussed the topic during a Thursday, Oct. 18, meeting, agreeing that the authority should do something to make relocation cheaper for businesses but not on what exactly that something should be. TWSA’s water and sewer customers must pay an upfront fee called a system development fee before starting service, intended to offset the cost of future construction to replace the capacity that customer is now using.

The problem is that the allocation those fees cover is tied to the property location. So, if a business moves to a new building because it needs more space or a better location — or is required to leave due to a road project — it could find itself having to pay that fee all over again. In that case, relocating somewhere other than Sylva, where hookup fees are cheaper, could seem an attractive option.

The question before TWSA is whether the authority should consider waiving system development fees for businesses forced to relocate due to N.C. 107 construction, and whether those waivers should apply to renters along the 107 corridor as well as to property owners.

The town’s perspective

Two members of the Sylva town board, as well as the town’s manager and public works director, attended a Nov. 13 TWSA work session to urge the board to do everything in its power to help those businesses.

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“Help us do all we can to help and protect these business owners, whether they be property owners or renters,” said Mayor Lynda Sossamon. “Please don’t just think bottom line. Think about these people who are part of this community. They didn’t ask to be displaced. It doesn’t hurt to bend your rules for a legitimate reason.”

Helping the community navigate the N.C. 107 project, Sossamon added, is “the best reason I can think of.”

“I have concerns about properties and allocations being connected to the property and not to renters,” said Commissioner Mary Gelbaugh. “A lot of renters are going to be affected in the upcoming 107 process. I’m concerned about those renters. I’m concerned they’re going to leave the Town of Sylva limits and I think y’all can have an impact on that.”

Town Manager Paige Dowling told the TWSA board that 71 percent of the businesses in the affected district are owned by people who rent their building rather than own it, so TWSA’s ultimate decision about how to deal with renters will have a tremendous impact.

“It’s in the best interest of TWSA to help these businesses,” she said. “If TWSA doesn’t transfer the allocation to displaced businesses, it’s going to be devastating to them.”

However, she said, TWSA should avoid jumping the gun on creating a policy, saying that she fears that creating one now would “cause people to panic more than they are.”

A question of timing

“I’m not sure why some folks feel like we’re ready to jump into a policy,” said TWSA Executive Director Dan Harbaugh as the board began its discussion on possible N.C. 107 policies Nov. 15. “The recommendation from the (policy) committee is to take our time.”

The exact impacts of the project are still unknown, he said. The 25 percent plans show that TWSA connections to 148 properties could be affected, but that number is likely to increase because the current plans don’t show where underground improvements will be added. TWSA also needs to have a better understanding of how the N.C. Department of Transportation will compensate displaced businesses before committing to waive fees on its end.

“We need to recognize this is a large impact project from DOT, but we may be facing something similar in the future, so it needs to be set up to have the best impact for this project but also recognize we’re setting precedent for projects in the future,” he said.

“I think once we get the 65 percent numbers from the DOT plan, then we can begin to move forward more,” said TWSA Chair Tracy Rodes, who also serves as Webster’s mayor, referring to updated plans expected in March.

In her view, everything is too preliminary to start talking about specific policy options yet.

Board Member David Nestler, who sits on the Sylva town board, disagreed.

“I think we do need to approach this with some urgency because I think business owners and renters, they’re going to be trying to move before all this starts, and if we wait and keep waiting until we get the full picture of everything that’s happening, it’s going to be too late,” he said. “I think if we can develop a policy and be working on this policy while this new information comes in, I think it’s the smartest thing to do.”

Rodes, meanwhile, said she thinks TWSA has plenty of time to put a policy in place, as right-of-way acquisition isn’t expected to start until January 2020 and construction until December 2021. However, she said, a joint meeting of the governmental entities that will be affected by the project would be a good idea, ensuring everybody is on the same page about what’s happening and what sorts of policies and programs each entity could offer to make the project less painful for everybody.

Board Member Ron Mau, a county commissioner, said that in his view the next step is to find out exactly how DOT compensation works to ensure any fee waivers or other policies TWSA might want to consider don’t overlap with DOT offerings.

“I’m afraid if we jump up and write a policy, that would end up messing up what DOT offers people,” Rodes agreed.

Board Member Buddy Parton, a town of Dillsboro appointee, said that he’s all for helping out renters in some way but thinks the board should consider other policies than just a blanket fee waiver.

“We need to look at something other than just blanket coverage, we’re going to waive all fees,” he said.

The road ahead

That was the conversation in the work session, but the following week, Nov. 20, TWSA discussed the issue again during its regular meeting. When the policy committee met in October, its goal had been to bring the topic to the full board for some more specific direction on what a draft policy should include.

The board did not vote on the issue Nov. 20, but it did come to a consensus that the policy committee and TWSA staff should keep working on the issue. The board directed the policy committee to further discuss available options to help business owners — renters and property owners alike — who will be affected by the project.

Further, it asked TWSA staff to work with the DOT to better understand how the project will impact the corridor and what the DOT will do to compensate for those impacts. TWSA and the DOT will then coordinate on how to address impacts to TWSA assets. TWSA will also work with Jackson County and the town of Sylva to make sure that everybody is doing all they can to help displaced businesses.

The TWSA board will discuss the issue again once the next set of project plans is released — that’s expected to happen sometime in March — and TWSA and DOT staff have had more detailed conversations about how the project will move forward. The first of those conversations occurred on Tuesday, Nov. 27, in a meeting between Harbaugh and DOT Project Engineer Jonathan Woodard.

TWSA is scheduled to hold a combined business meeting and work session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, at TWSA headquarters on 1246 West Main Street in Sylva.

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