Sylva to create economic development board
Sylva Town Council will likely appoint the members of the economic development board. Hannah McLeod photo
The Town of Sylva is looking to create an economic development board made up of business owners outside the downtown area after Mayor Johnny Phillips presented the idea to Sylva commissioners earlier this month.
“I’d like to do this economic development board, people to make recommendations to the full board, from successful businesspeople here in town,” said Phillips when he presented the plan at the June 13 town board meeting.
Phillips envisions a five-member board made up of business owners that do not live in the Town of Sylva, who own a business in Sylva, but not within the Main Street corridor. Businesses in the Main Street portion of Sylva, Phillips pointed out, have representation with the town government through the Main Street Sylva Association.
“It gives business owners that do not live in the city limits a way to have a voice with our town in a way that isn’t just paying taxes,” said Phillips.
According to Phillips, all five members of the economic development board would be appointed by Sylva Town Council, and those board members would then elect their own chairman. Anyone who wished to be a part of the board would apply in a similar manner to other town boards.
Phillips also said that in order to avoid ever having a completely new board, two of the original appointments would be for a one-year term, and three would be for three-year terms. Board members would then be appointed on a staggered basis.
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The board, as currently envisioned, would only include and represent business outside of the downtown area.
“I didn’t even want to include Main Street in this, and I didn’t want to appoint anybody from Main Street because they have the Main Street [Sylva] Association,” said Phillips. “But the businesses off of Main Street don’t have any way to have any voice, and I also think some successful businesspeople sitting down in a room together might come up with some ideas that might be of great help to us.”
“Especially with the N.C. 107 project,” said Commissioner Blitz Estridge.
Phillips did say that even though the board would be made up of business owners who don’t live in Sylva, it would be restricted to local business owners that live in Jackson County.
“I think this would give a great opportunity to hear from business owners that have nothing, other than paying taxes,” said Commissioner Mark Jones. “It actually gives us a little more information. It’s kind of like the military or the police, the more boots you put on the ground, the better off you are. This could open up some fantastic ideas.”
Phillips sought consensus from the board at the June 13 meeting to allow staff to work on creating bylaws for the board that the Sylva town board can consider for approval at a future meeting.
“I generally like the idea. I’m just curious about the dynamic between Main Street businesses and non-Main Street businesses,” said Commissioner Brad Waldrop. “I bring that up because it seems like a little bit of duplicity there between the two organizations, because both are made to represent businesses more or less.”
In the fiscal year 2023-24 budget, Sylva commissioners approved a one-cent tax increase to pay for a full-time economic development director position. This transitioned the Main Street Sylva Association director from part-time to full-time, with expanded responsibilities, and was one of the board’s top budget priorities.
The Main Street Sylva Association has an Economic Vitality Committee to oversee economic development activities downtown. The job of the Economic Vitality Committee is to identify new market opportunities for the traditional commercial district, find new uses for historic commercial buildings and stimulate investment in property.
“Businesses downtown have the downtown association that they can all be members of,” said Phillips. “Those businesses off of Main Street don’t have that option.”
Town staff are still in the process of formulating bylaws for the proposed board, which will have to be considered and approved by Sylva commissioners at a future meeting.
“We’ve got a great number of successful business owners here that are really what make our town, that really have no say in anything but what date they mail a check to the town,” said Phillips. “I just think it’s a way to give those folks a voice, I think they’re all successful businesspeople, and I think they care as much about trying to help our town redevelop and get back to where we were before we had 42 buildings torn down. I think they can be a help to us.”
