To the Editor:

I am adamantly opposed to the rescinding or changing of the current steep slope and mountain-top ordinances in Jackson County. It is all is based on greed and amounts to the selling out of our county representatives to the real estate industry.

Most of the houses built at high elevations are second or third homes occupied only a few weeks out of the year. The 2007 ordinances were forward thinking and helped preserve our environment, rivers and water supply — the main reason we all live here!

I want to address the mountain-top comments made in the newspaper. The mere suggestion of having a house color control to allow mountain top construction is ludicrous. Why not paint trees on the sides of the houses and put fake treetops on the roof so you won’t see the big swath cut out of the ridgeline.

The bigger issue is the roads that it takes to get up to these houses for three weeks a year, roads that create more erosion than the actual building site, affecting waterways and our water supply.

Regarding density laws how about only allowing 20 to 30 real estate agents in the county? That’s one of the main problems.

I have lived here for 41 years. We have done a fair job of controlling growth, but you are trying to open things to massive growth. The tax revenue some envision from this growth won’t make up for having to add more services and the destruction of our lifestyle.  Please reconsider your actions and the forces that are behind them.

PS: All you need to do is take a look at Eagles Nest in Waynesville to see million-dollar houses that sit empty most of the year to see what a mess Haywood County allowed.

Randall Lanier

Jackson County