Whose future? Consultant report ignores Haywood’s working class
Jesse Fripp (right) and David Lilly of Shining Rock Ventures present the results of their “listening post” exercise to Haywood County commissioners on July 15. Haywood County photo
Consultants finally delivered to Haywood County commissioners a report on the results of a secretive, long-awaited “listening post exercise” meant to chart Haywood County’s economic development vision — revealing in the process that there was no input from average working-class residents, an omission that may prompt some to question the applicability of the report’s findings despite the project’s tagline of “stronger together.”
When first contacted about the project in May, CEO of lead consultant Shining Rock Ventures Jesse Fripp canceled a scheduled meeting with The Smoky Mountain News and subsequently refused to answer any questions about the exercise.
The exercise consisted of 39 interviews conducted by SRV — by invitation only — with people described as “leaders and stakeholders” in the community, including 22 in the public sector and 17 from the private sector.
“There was a real sense of people leaning into the future and being focused on finding a workable path,” Fripp told commissioners during a July 15 presentation. The names of those “leaders and stakeholders” were not part of it.
Public sector interviews were conducted with elected officials, nonprofit leaders and workforce/education experts along with environmental, law enforcement, planning and health care administrators.
Private sector interviews were conducted with people involved in the management of banking and finance, construction and engineering, hospitality, manufacturing, utilities and media outlets including The Smoky Mountain News.
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Fripp said the interviews took about an hour each and generated more than 400 pages of transcripts.
The original discussion of the project in February also mentioned a third group, “community/other.” However SRV’s July 15 report to commissioners didn’t.
SRV did participate in two “Issues and Eggs” feedback sessions, which are hosted at Lake Junaluska by the Haywood Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development, but no interviews or free and open meetings accessible to the general public were conducted as part of the exercise.
The report said interview participants expressed high levels of satisfaction with community engagement in specific successful projects as well as with local environmental conservation efforts and sustainability initiatives. Positive consensus was reached on the results of rural broadband expansion and the community’s collaboration during crises.
Tourism growth was also recognized as a strong economic driver for the region. Most of the “stakeholders” interviewed, however, likely directly benefit from tourism; however, any comments from workers in the hospitality and seasonal tourism industries who generally experience long hours, low wages and lack of benefits were not reported.
David Lilly, a Sylva-based growth and development advisor who also worked on the exercise, highlighted areas of concern from the report.
Public transportation is nearly nonexistent. Aging infrastructure impedes economic development potential, which is already stymied by a lack of developable land and the same real estate market pressures that make housing affordability a struggle for workers. Retirees are tipping the balance of local demographics and also having an impact on housing market dynamics.
Per Canopy MLS, the average sales price of a Haywood County home in May was more than $420,000.
“That creates some challenges with younger citizens looking for housing or looking for cost-effective living in the region,” Lilly said, echoing headlines from as long ago as 2017.
One noteworthy finding in the report is what Fripp described as a degree of enthusiasm around the possible introduction of countywide zoning — a hot-button topic for decades — as part of a master planning process that could better balance the needs of the county’s residents with the needs of the county’s so-called “leaders and stakeholders.”
“We talked a little bit about the zoning question — again, not a theme that there was a lot of enthusiasm around, probably no surprise — but an interesting openness to exploring how a master planning exercise could put a roadmap around a common vision towards how we would like to see the county move forward and protect and preserve its natural assets and community assets,” Fripp said.
According to a Feb. 19 presentation to commissioners about the exercise, a draft report and a final report was due in mid-April, and the final report was to be made available in early May.
A copy of the final results of the “listening post” exercise was not posted along with the meeting’s agenda on July 12, limiting the public’s ability to learn who was interviewed for the exercise and review specific findings before the July 15 meeting; however, the full presentation by Fripp and Lilly is available on the county’s YouTube channel.
Outgoing Community and Economic Development Director David Francis, who will soon transition into the role of executive director at the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce, said back in February that the plan was not intended as policy and emphasized that it was merely advisory in nature.
No taxpayer money was utilized to pay for the $56,000 study, which was funded by a $50,000 grant from the Dogwood Health Trust and $6,338 from the Chamber.
