Editor’s note

As Tony Dillard notes in this guest column, we’ve printed two other opinion pieces over the last two weeks by Waynesville aldermen Chuck Dickson and Jon Feichter regarding this annexation and the issue of whether these housing developments fit into the character of Waynesville. It’s unusual for The Smoky Mountain News to then give this much space to a third opinion piece, but given the importance of this issue — how will we grow — we decided to give Mr. Dillard the opportunity to voice his concerns. To note, Dillard is a private citizen in Waynesville.

— Scott McLeod, SMN Editor 

On April 14, the Waynesville Town Council voted 4-1 to annex the Queen’s Farm/Valleywood Farms Phase 2 property into the town limits. As part of the Town of Waynesville, an annexed property receives services, is subject to zoning and other town regulations and pays property taxes. 

I voted to annex Phase 2 of Valleywood Farms, and I want to tell you why. 

A stretch of land along Ratcliff Cove Road — quiet, rural, long-defined by fields, creek-bottoms and generational ties — became the focal point of a larger question April 14, as Waynesville Town Council took up an annexation request that would determine not just what gets built there, but how the town chooses to grow. 

Waynesville isn’t just another mountain town still recovering from Hurricane Helene — it’s Haywood County’s economic, cultural and governmental hub. Nearly everything that happens in the largest municipality in the state’s western seven counties has ripple effects beyond its borders, from disaster recovery and infrastructure planning to affordable housing and fiscal stability.  

The Waynesville Town Council will remove two members from the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment after an investigation by The Smoky Mountain News last month revealed they’d each been appointed to a fourth term in violation of the town’s own term limits policy.

Two members of Waynesville’s Zoning Board of Adjustment were improperly appointed by Town Council in violation of the town’s own term limits policy, a Smoky Mountain News investigation has found. 

To the Editor:

On May 22, the House of Representatives voted to pass a budget bill (The One Big Beautiful Bill) that drastically cuts America’s clean energy tax credits. Make no mistake: these cuts will hurt North Carolina and the Town of Waynesville if they become law.

More than six months after Hurricane Helene dealt millions in damage to government infrastructure across the region, the Town of Waynesville reopened a newly repaired bridge — despite the complete absence of FEMA funding.

Two members of Waynesville’s Town Council, Chuck Dickson and Jon Feichter, have come forward with a bold proposal that could save the town thousands of dollars over decades if they can find a way to pay for it. 

Today in the North Carolina General Assembly, Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless filed a bill that would strip the county of its ability to levy room occupancy taxes.