Downtown Waynesville entertainment venture wins state grant

A downtown Waynesville project that would put a live entertainment venue, a microbrewery and a pizza restaurant together in the old Strand Theater on Main Street has been awarded a $300,000 grant. Gov. Beverly Perdue will visit Waynesville this Friday (May 28) to see the project firsthand and to talk with other Main Street businesses.

Waynesville businessman Richard Miller owns The Strand, and he credited Downtown Waynesville Association Executive Director Buffy Messer with encouraging him to apply for the grant.

“I give her all the credit for bringing this to our attention,” said Miller.

Miller will partner with other entities to pull off the project, including Headwaters Brewing Co., which is owned by Kevin and Melanie Sandefur. Headwaters Brewing Co. was just last week named the winner of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Start-up Competition, which comes with an $8,000 award.

Miller said the grant will be awarded to the Town of Waynesville, which is then obligated to give it to the developer who restores the building where the new businesses will be located. The money can’t be used for furnishings or business equipment, he said, only for permanent building upgrades.

In a best-case scenario, Miller said the project would be open for business by summer 2011.

The partners in The Strand project include the town, the Downtown Waynesville Association, The Strand Dynasty LLC, Headwaters Brewing Company, Delano’s Pizza Company and the Haywood County Arts Council.

In addition to Waynesville, seven additional communities will receive a total of $1.95 million through the state’s Main Street Solutions Fund. The grants are earmarked to “assist planning agencies and small businesses with efforts to revitalize downtowns by creating jobs, funding infrastructure improvements, rehabilitating buildings and finding other growth opportunities.”

“We know that some of the most creative and innovative economic development work is being done through small businesses and other economic partners in our downtown areas,” said Gov. Perdue. “Main streets can be at the heart of North Carolina’s economic recovery with the right support and investment. For every $1 invested by the state, an additional $4.72 will be invested by the local community."

Plans in hand, but money isn’t for Haywood park

$6,342,044.

That’s approximately how much money needs to be raised before Haywood County residents can expect to see a recreation park built in Jonathan Creek.

With the recession retaining its stranglehold on the nation, county commissioners aren’t contributing a single cent to the park in this year’s proposed budget.

The project, as many already know, is years away from becoming a reality, even though the park’s design is nearly finalized.

Having a design in hand undoubtedly gives the county a leg up in securing state recreation grants, which mostly fund projects that are already underway.

But there’s one other source that could be of assistance to the many softball and baseball players itching to play at the park’s proposed four new fields.

The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority — which collects lodging tax and helps promote tourism in the county — already contributed $10,000 of the $15,000 that went into the Jonathan Creek Park design process.

Sports tournaments are known to bring out-of-town visitors not only out to the fields during the day, but also to hotels and motels after the game is through.

“Whenever you have kids in any type of competition, you have parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters,” said Marion Hamel, TDA’s vice-chair for the Town of Maggie Valley. “I think it would just be a boon to the whole area.”

More “heads in beds” means more money for the TDA, which in turn leads to a higher advertising budget to then bring even more tourists to town. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle that gets a boost from new facilities that draw tourists.

The idea is not new. TDAs or similar associations across the Southeast have utilized their funds to do more than just place ads in newspapers and magazines. On the east coast, they’ve funded boat docks. In Greensboro, they helped the International Civil Rights Center & Museum come to fruition.

The Buncombe County TDA has gone so far as to devote one percent of its lodging tax solely to brick and mortar projects that generate additional room nights.

Its beneficiaries throughout the years are many, including the Bob Moog Museum, concert venue The Orange Peel, Pack Square Park, the Buncombe County Civil War Trails, and the Bonsai Garden at the North Carolina Arboretum, to name a few.

Small in the game

For now, Haywood’s TDA is unsure that it’ll play a major role in funding the Jonathan Creek park.

“The problem is we’re going through the budget process right now, and it’s looking very, very, very slim,” Hamel said. “I would be very hesitant to say yes. If we had the funds, yes, I would support that.”

Alice Aumen, who serves as chair of the TDA, said the organization has already made unprecedented cuts due to the triple whammy of the recession, the rockslide that shut down Interstate 40 for six months and 2009’s rainy summer.

The agency’s year to date revenue is down by 8 percent, and the TDA held a special meeting last week to determine how to possibly fulfill the budget they’ve passed for this year with such a shortfall.

Members voted to close doors at the Balsam visitor center three days a week and the Canton Visitor Center altogether until the end of June, when the new 2010-2011 fiscal year begins.

“It’s never happened before,” Aumen said. “We certainly hope it doesn’t happen again.”

Aumen would not comment on whether the TDA would fund construction on the Jonathan Creek Park, adding though that there had been no discussion yet on the subject.

According to Aumen, that decision would depend on how members see TDA’s role in the community.

“Some people perceive that TDA is really a promotional agency, as opposed to getting into product development,” said Aumen.

Ken Stahl, chair of the TDA’s finance committee, said the agency must above all determine how to maximize the impact of each tourism dollar it receives.

The TDA decided to help jumpstart the Jonathan Creek Park project with funding because of its potential to bring overnight visitors to the area for years to come, Stahl said.

“Maybe it was important for us to contribute to the front-end of this thing,” Stahl said. “Our thoughts were to help this project along, thinking it would help in the long run.”

Though the Haywood TDA has widened its scope, it hasn’t totally lost focus on its core principles of marketing and promoting the area.

Other than the sports complex in Jonathan Creek, the only other capital project the TDA has contributed to is the Maggie Valley’s festival grounds, which received $115,000 for lighting and other electrical needs.

According to the American Planning Association, however, sports tournaments generally create a greater economic impact for local communities than special events and festivals. Most non-major festivals overwhelmingly attract locals rather than faraway visitors.

Steve Fritts, vice president of Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon — the design firm leading the project at Jonathan Creek — is currently working on a project in Indiana, where the convention and visitors bureau is funding 100 percent of an $18 million sports complex.

Chattanooga, Tenn., spent $10 million on a new eight-field softball complex that’s estimated to bring an economic impact of $25.9 million between 2008 and 2013, according to Fritts. From 1992 to 2006, the city documented more than $50 million in economic impact from softball tournaments alone, Fritts said.

Meanwhile, Rock Hill, S.C., reports that holding about 35 sports tournaments each year adds $5 million of direct economic impact to its room tax each year. That tax money had paid most of the bills on a new soccer field and tennis center in town.

Though the impacts can be enormous in certain cases, Haywood County still faces a crunch in figuring out how to fund its own $6.3 million sports complex. The answer can’t fully lie with the TDA.

“There is obviously a limit to how much we can do that we can do,” Stahl said. “This is really a county project. They’re the ones that bought the property, and they’re the ones that are going to develop it.”

Haywood’s TDA typically has a total budget of $1 million, while similar organizations in Asheville and Cherokee can spend $1.5 million or more out of their multimillion dollar budget each year.

“We’re small in the game of TDAs,” Stahl said.

Haywood Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick said that with the county’s own tight budget, the recreation department will have to start applying for state grants, hoping for the best.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re not in a financial position to move forward with the construction,” said Kirkpatrick.

On the bright side, having a design in place will still move Haywood up on the queue for receiving state funding.

“Without a site master plan, you can’t get anywhere,” said Claire Carleton, recreation director for the county. “This is the most important initial step.”

The park’s many offerings

After receiving ample input from vocal citizens, the Haywood County Recreation Board has selected a master site plan for the Jonathan Creek sports complex.

The park will include a 225-foot baseball field, a 200-foot baseball field, and two 300-foot softball/baseball fields that would accommodate men’s softball tournaments, as well as a two-story scorer’s tower with concessions and restrooms.

The plan also calls for an Astroturf multipurpose field, a small soccer field, tennis courts, playground, horseshoe pits, picnic sites, batting cage, a handicapped fishing pier, and a walking trail alongside the creek.

The plan awaits final approval by the Haywood County commissioners.

Grant propels Waynesville skate park, but the price tag is still daunting

Ten-year-old Waynesville resident Zeb Powell has exclusive, 24-7 access to a skate park in town — it’s in his driveway.

Powell got hold of a half-pipe, rails and multiple ramps when the indoor BP Skate Park closed down last fall. But as it turns out, having a park to yourself isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

“He loves doing it with other people,” said his mother, Val Powell. “By himself, it’s just not as much fun.”

Zeb is one of many skateboarders in Waynesville waiting for the long-promised public skate park on Vance Street, near the Waynesville Recreation Center.

For now, skaters still have to deal with a town ban on skateboards on sidewalks and most town streets. Violators face a $50 fine and the possibility of having their boards confiscated.

The proposed fenced-in outdoor park will cost somewhere between $275,000 to $325,000 to construct. So far, the town has lined up $120,000 to devote to the project.

Included in that total is a $60,000 state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant Waynesville recently received, plus a $20,000 grant from the Waynesville Kiwanis Club. The rest comes from town funds.

With the idea of a skate park stalled for more than a decade, the state grant eluded the town when it first applied in 2009. To boost its chances of winning the coveted grant in the next cycle, the town dipped into its own coffers to fund a design plan for the park — hoping to prove it was dedicated to the idea. The plan worked.

Waynesville hired California firm Spohn Ranch Skateparks to lead the project earlier this year. In March, the firm held a public input meeting with local skaters to help shape the look of the park. The firm will present three potential designs at an online meeting next week.

Recreation Director Rhett Langston says he sees a parallel between skate parks and golf courses. Each should have its own unique character and offer different elements from those facilities nearby. With skate parks relatively close in Asheville and Hendersonville, Waynesville’s recreation department wants to offer something else with its park.

“We want ours to be as nice but also different,” Langston said. “So all skaters can go from one location to another.”

Right now, Waynesville parent Joe Moore said he’ll be thrilled to see any kind of skate park.

“I wish there was more money to make it happen immediately,” Moore said. “The wheels of bureaucracy always move too slow.”

Moore wholly supports the project, though, and is happy the park will have no entry fee. He says he’s not worried about the park being unsupervised by town staff.

“Most parents are not going to drop off their 7- to 12-year-old to skateboard and run errands,” said Moore.

Though Moore originally preferred an indoor park, he would now love to see an outdoor facility with a roof overhead to protect skaters like his son Dylan from wet and snowy weather. He also suggests wooden ramps rather than those made of concrete.

“Skateboarders like to see things change,” said Moore. “Concrete, once it’s poured, it’s always going to stay the same.”

Most skaters who attended the first public meeting supported a hybrid of a bowl and a street park with ramps, rails, stairs and more, Langston said.

Langston, who has been instrumental in moving the skate park forward, was himself a skater in his youth. But that was before the rise of skate parks nationwide.

“We would just fly down the hill in our neighborhood,” said Langston. “We just made do with what we had.”

 

Donate

The Waynesville Recreation Department is selling bricks with personalized messages for a walkway leading up to the park. So far, skaters have raised about $3,000.

Those interested in purchasing one brick for $50 or two for $75, making a donation, or volunteering should contact Rhett Langston at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 828.456.2030.

Haywood commissioners take heat for planned overhaul of trash and recycling

Haywood County commissioners are fighting opposition on all fronts after a county task force recently recommended major changes to trash and recycling operations.

The central debate is revolving around a proposal that would privatize a portion of the county’s trash operations, put 15 full-time county employees out of work, and shut down a transfer station in Clyde where haulers now deliver their loads.

“The same folks that say reduce the costs are here saying save the jobs,” said Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick at a county meeting Monday, which saw everyone from private trash haulers to county employees to regular citizens railing against commissioners.

Meanwhile, town officials in Waynesville, Clyde and Canton are none too happy about greater expenses being passed down to them as the county offloads some of its current responsibilities.

Haywood County’s budget as proposed calls for the county to outsource operations of its 10 convenience centers, where residents without curbside trash pickup dump their household garbage and recyclables.

The county also plans to lay off employees who now sort all the county’s recyclables manually. Alternatively, recyclables would be hauled away to be separated much more quickly by machine.

If both measures are passed, the county would save $431,000. However, the household solid waste fee would still increase by $22 to make debt payments on an expansion of the White Oak landfill. Without the cost saving measures, those fees would jump up by $40 per household this year. The fee is currently $70.

Most controversial of all, though, is the suggestion not yet incorporated into this year’s budget: closing the county’s transfer station in Clyde.

For now, the transfer station offers town trash trucks and private haulers a one-stop shop. It’s where they drop off recyclables and where they offload trash, which the county then delivers the rest of the way to the White Oak landfill.

If the proposed changes are passed, all haulers would be forced to make the long trek out to the landfill, located off exit 15 on Interstate 40.

Though shutting down the transfer station could save the county $940,000 annually, opponents say the costs would still be passed down to customers in one form or another.

“It’s more expensive on the private haulers, it’s more expensive on the towns,” said Paul White, a hauler from Maggie Valley, who also criticized the county for excluding the towns and private sector from its solid waste committee, which came up with the recommendations.

“It’s going to affect everybody in this room, not just me,” said Roger Henson, a private hauler who handles trash pick-up for the Town of Clyde. “Reconsider this, because I’m telling you, it’s going to hurt.”

Dan Best, an employee on the recycling pick line facing a layoff in less than two months, argued the commissioners are sending money away from Haywood.

“Keep it in-house, keep it in Haywood County, and make Haywood County a viable place,” said Best.

The towns

speak up

Joy Garland, town administrator for Clyde, was caught completely off-guard by the county’s proposal.

“We just learned about this. It kind of comes as a little late in the budget year,” said Garland. “We’re just trying to put our numbers together at this point ... My board is not in favor of it, I can tell you that.”

Henson said if the transfer station in Clyde closes, his costs would skyrocket by 66 percent from having to make the long haul out to White Oak multiple times a day. The increase would be passed on to his main client, the Town of Clyde.

“We knew it would impact us, but had no idea 66 percent,” said Garland, who anticipates town residents seeing their household fees shoot up from $9 to about $15 per month.

Over in Canton, closing the transfer station would cost the town about $115,000 a year in new equipment. That translates to monthly fees jumping from $8 up to $13 per household.

Al Matthews, Canton’s town manager, said the town would seriously consider privatizing its own operations.

“We could probably contract for service cheaper than we could pass that cost on to our customers,” said Matthews.

Waynesville residents might see their household rate rise from $5.50 per month to $8 a month if the county shuts down its transfer station.

Waynesville Town Manager Lee Galloway said the town would need to acquire two new rear-loading garbage trucks and hire a new employee to shuttle trucks between curbside collection crews and the larger trucks bound for the White Oak landfill.

There also would be more wear and tear on the trucks, requiring more diesel fuel and more service, as well as an additional set of tires annually, Galloway said.

Driving to White Oak instead of the transfer station in Clyde would also add an extra 27,000 miles annually to each truck in Waynesville. The total cost increase annually for the Town of Waynesville would come out to $199,000.

Galloway said he couldn’t speak for his town board, but that he would prefer to see the county fee set higher to keep the transfer station open.

The Town of Maggie Valley, which is much closer to White Oak than its neighbors, is unfazed by the county’s proposal. Adding four miles to their private contractor’s journey each way will not result in a price hike.

“They might have to leave town a little bit earlier than if they were taking it to the transfer station,” said Tim Barth, Maggie’s town manager. “That would be the only difference.”

Maggie Valley residents can expect their household fees to remain steady at $8.24 per month.

Barth said the town decided to get out of the trash business in 2003 after growing tired of maintaining and replacing expensive equipment — not unlike the county’s current quandary.

At Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Skeeter Curtis reiterated that the proposal is far from a done deal, while Commissioner Mark Swanger said shutting down the transfer station would streamline the process and prevent trash from unnecessarily being handled twice.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Kevin Ensley expressed confidence that the private sector would somehow pull through.

“I believe the entrepreneurs that haul the trash now will find a way to make money,” said Ensley. “I really do.”

However, Best said if the county invested adequately in the department, solid waste director Steven King could run it more successfully.

“If he had the backing of the commissioners, they can make this place go,” said Best.

Tough times lead to tough choices

For its entire existence, this country’s leaders have wrestled with the slippery issue of power and how much is too much for government at all levels. In times like these, as tax revenues disappear while the free market struggles, the issue takes on even more significance.

So when Haywood officials said last week that their decision to privatize trash and recycling services was more about fiscal reality than philosophy of government, there was no reason to doubt them. Still, this move toward getting out of the trash business presents an interesting opportunity for a discussion about local government and its responsibilities.

Haywood commissioners made some waves last week when they voted to stop providing a service that was costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead of operating their own convenience centers and a “pick” line at the county-owned recycling center, commissioners voted to privatize many solid waste services. The decision will save nearly $500,000 per year. Another switch that’s liable to happen within a year — the closing of the transfer station in Clyde — could save an additional million dollars a year. A task force studying the cost of these services also says hiring a firm to manage the entire landfill would provide large cost savings.

All that sounds great from a budgetary perspective, and one would think there would be widespread praise for the savings. Unfortunately for the Haywood commissioners, that’s not what happened. As always, people’s lives are in the crosshairs when a decision of this magnitude ripples through the system.

More than 15 county employees will lose their jobs as the county shuts down a line of service that has been expanding for the last couple of decades. Leaders of the municipalities are upset and most private trash haulers don’t seem happy.

So what’s next for Haywood and other counties struggling with declining tax revenues while the cost of everything else — gas, health care, wages, to name a few — continues to rise? Perhaps the sheriff’s department or the health department will go private. Government at all levels is better off by privatizing and outsourcing services that the private sector can provide, right?

“I think it’s function-specific,” said Commissioner Mark Swanger. “There are things that only government can do that cannot be logically privatized: law enforcement, emergency services, education.”

Swanger’s right, but there is some irony in the fact that this move by Haywood comes at the same time the burgeoning Tea Party movement is criticizing government spending at all levels, and a local group has been riding Haywood commissioners incessantly. Let’s be clear that the hectoring by these government critics has nothing to do with the decision in Haywood. Still, there’s little doubt that the rise to power of the Tea Party is related to the economic crisis and government spending, which becomes an easy target when times are this tough. More than ever, there is a clamoring to cut costs and keep taxes low.

I’m not one of those who believe too much government is necessarily a bad thing. There are certainly inefficiencies in government regulations and bureaucracies, but the oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico right now points to real and ongoing need for oversight of certain businesses. The vital services that government provides to citizens are a reflection of our fundamental values as a society, whether it’s health care for the poor and elderly, or EPA regulators to keep an eye on industrial polluters. In many cases the only entity that can step in and provide these services is government, and that’s the way it ought to be.

The question of how far government’s hand should reach into our lives will never be settled outright. From our local courthouses and town halls to Raleigh (where a privatization of mental health care a few years ago has left us with a broken system) and up to D.C. (where many question using tax money to bail out banks and automakers), it’s a fundamental issue our founding fathers left unsettled.

These are the same philosophic issues that pitted Thomas Jefferson and his anti-government, agrarian vision against the Federalist Alexander Hamilton and his pro-business, strong central government beliefs. This was the central controversy at the time the republic was formed, and it still bedevils our government at every level.

I suspect that in the next few years we’ll see more attempts by local governments to divest or privatize services. It will be up to voters to decide whether that’s good or bad. Haywood commissioners can say this is about the budget and not philosophy, but it’s hard to see the difference from inside the voting booth.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

Haywood commissioners balk at state plan for secondary roads

Counties usually have no choice but to accept unfunded mandates from the state, but this time, Haywood County commissioners are pushing back.

For the second time in recent years, legislation has been introduced in the state that would pass on the responsibility of maintaining secondary roads from the state to local level by 2011.

The Haywood board of commissioners already passed a resolution opposing such a transfer in May 2009, but the legislation has since been reintroduced.

They unanimously passed a similar resolution at a meeting last month, vowing to write a strongly worded letter to the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, which has also opposed the measure in the past.

“We should make sure they get on board with us,” said Commissioner Skeeter Curtis at the meeting. “That’s our lobby group. We need to make certain they lobby very heavily against this bill.”

County Manager David Cotton pointed out that larger counties were in favor of the transfer since they have funding to take care of their own roads. But if the law is passed, it would be a detriment for rural counties like Haywood.

While Commissioner Bill Upton said he’d heard the measure would not be passed, he added that commissioners should not let their guard down.

“I think we need to watch this very closely,” said Upton.

Quest for cost savings leads Haywood to outsource trash and recycling

Faced with a tall and growing stack of bills in the solid waste department, Haywood County commissioners are seriously considering offloading part of county trash and recycling operations to private companies.

Whether it’s the $4.5 million spent to expand the White Oak landfill, expensive equipment sorely in need of repair or replacement, environmental fines incurred by the now defunct Francis Farm landfill, or a relentless rise in recycling without staffing to sort it — county commissioners have just about had enough.

The equivalent of 15 full-time employees would be out of a job as early as July 1, the start of the next fiscal year, if the outsourcing plan is enacted. Commissioners have yet to vote formally on the drastic change in county operations, but Commissioner Kevin Ensley says the board seems to be in agreement thus far.

“We’re pretty much going to be doing this,” Ensley said.

A solid waste task force has examined every facet of the issue and recommended the following:

• Privatize the county’s 10 convenience centers, where residents without trash pickup dump household garbage and recyclables, a move that would save the county $145,192.

• Eliminate the pick line at the recycling center where employees sort recyclables. Instead, haul recyclables — other than cardboard, paper and metal, which can be more profitable to sell — to another county to be sorted by machine. Citizens will be encouraged to sort their own recycling. Projected cost savings: $286,166.

• Eventually close the transfer station in Clyde some time this fall. Towns with trash pickup and private haulers would have to take loads directly to the White Oak landfill. Residents can still drop bulky items, metal, cardboard and paper in Clyde, however. Projected cost savings: $940,000 annually.

The first two recommendations may take place as early as July 1, though the transfer station shutdown will have to wait until the landfill is prepared for increased traffic. It would need a redesign to keep the public separated from heavy dump trucks and improvements to the dirt roads, which are passable only by four-wheel drive in the rain.

Even if the first two recommendations are implemented, the solid waste fee would still shoot up from $70 to $92 per household this year. County leaders say that the fee would jump even further to $110 if they don’t contract services out to private companies.

“We can’t ask our people to pay much more,” Commissioner Bill Upton said.

“Now would be the best time for us to go down this path,” said Commissioner Mark Swanger, who anticipates soliciting proposals and bids from contractors in the very near future.

Haywood leaders have already been in discussions with one Tennessee company and two North Carolina companies so far.

Furthermore, county leaders are exploring the option of private management of the landfill and have not completely ruled out selling the property.

“If they brought up the idea, we would listen,” said Stephen King, solid waste director for Haywood.

A devastating week

Last week, King had the difficult task of calling his employees at the recycling center together to announce that they would likely lose their jobs in less than two months.

King ran down to most of the county’s 10 convenience centers to personally deliver the bad news to workers there.

“It’s a very difficult predicament to be in,” said King. “I felt personally if I didn’t let them know, I would be doing them a disservice.”

Regardless, workers at the pick line are still deeply disappointed in county leaders.

“A lot of them have worked for some time,” said Dan Best, a pick line worker. “It’s just devastating for the people.”

With an unemployment rate at about 12 percent in Haywood County, Best said commissioners are sending much-needed Haywood jobs out of the county.

Larry Boone, an employee at Hazelwood convenience center, said he felt “uneasy” about the potential of losing both his job and benefits. Some of the savings from a private company taking over would likely be a result of lower wages and fewer benefits.

Though convenience center employees like Boone have a real chance of being rehired by the private companies that take over, it’s another story for the pick line workers at the recycling center.

“I have a lot of compassion for the employees,” said King, who said the gathering at the recycling center brought tears to his eyes. “I’m right here working with them.”

Ensley said he, too, hates to see job loss but pointed out that the county’s recommended budget is 2.5 percent lower compared to last year’s budget, reducing the size of government and saving taxpayers of Haywood County more money.

“I’m not comfortable with us losing jobs, but I’m more not comfortable with raising the fees and taxes,” said Ensley. “I would rather keep those as low as we can.”

Benefits of privatizing

Commissioners have depicted privatization of trash and recycling operations as a direct path to efficiency.

The county’s current system is decidedly antiquated compared to what private companies devoted solely to solid waste accomplish every day.

King said it’s been difficult trying to fix equipment so old that he has to call all over the country to find parts.

“It’s a lot of cost involved to get yourself updated,” said King. “We’ve just scraped by for so many years in trying to utilize everything we can.”

Most private companies can compact garbage far more tightly, which could mean a doubling or even tripling of the landfill’s capacity, according to Swanger.

Shutting down the transfer station would save the county from ferrying loads of trash to the landfill. “The least amount of times we can touch something, the more money you save,” said Upton.

County residents, however, would not be forced to make the long trek out to White Oak — located at exit 15 off I-40 — and would still be able to dump bulky items, like couches, at the Clyde facility.

Town and county residents may have to begin sorting recyclables since the county will ship off certain recyclables but keep paper, cardboard and metal in-house.

For now, blue bags containing those products would still be hauled away to be sorted by machine, even if they contain paper, cardboard or metal.

King pointed out that using a machine would be vastly more efficient than having employees pick through mountains of blue bags manually.

“If we’re able to process two tons a day, they’re able to process eight tons an hour,” said King.

Disputing claims

According to Dan Best, a recycling pick line employee, the commissioners would not save taxpayer money in the long run.

“It’ll be just as expensive or more expensive,” said Best. “They’re using that for an excuse, and it don’t hold water...What they’re after is to get it out of their hair.”

It would cost more to haul away recyclables than sort them here, Best said, adding that contractors may initially offer attractive deals, but they would jack up prices once they’ve secured an agreement.

Swanger disagreed, arguing that the county would carefully construct contracts with private entities to protect the taxpayers from such price increases.

Paul White, a private hauler in Haywood County, agreed with Best, adding that the move would actually harm small businesses and private households in the end.

Hauling trash directly to the landfill rather than the transfer station would prove taxing for his vehicle, since access to the landfill can be especially difficult during bad weather, and construction debris like nails often damage tires there.

White said he’ll have to pass on the cost for upkeep to his customers, some of whom are already having trouble paying for the service with the poor economy.

“That pretty well puts me out of business,” said White.

Though the county planned to meet with private haulers to discuss privatization, White is skeptical about how much voice he and his fellow haulers will actually have.

“They already know what they’re going to do,” said White. “This is just a token meeting.”

Not a philosophical decision

County leaders openly support the idea of privatizing the landfill, but they stop short of touting privatization as the answer to all of government’s problems.

“This is not a philosophical discussion,” said Swanger.

King said it’s not a matter of government’s ability, but rather of adequate funding.

“I think government can do jobs as well and sometimes even better as long as it’s properly funded or maintained through the years,” said King. “If we’d started from day one funding the whole aspect in a different matter, I think we’d be in a little bit different shape.”

Privatization isn’t the best option for every county department in Swanger’s view.

“I think it’s function-specific. There are things that only government can do that cannot be logically privatized: law enforcement, emergency services, education,” Swanger said. “Many things government does and does well. There are other things that can have better results with a public-private partnership.”

Swanger said the proposed solution for solid waste would create such a partnership, with regular reviews, scrutiny and compliance ensured by county officials.

Lake Logan dredging could reduce flood danger

Removing sediment from Lake Logan would not only benefit its owner, Evergreen Packaging, it could potentially save homes and businesses from flooding, according to a study that was recently completed by McGill Associates.

“If we’re successful, we could lower the lake level, hold the floodwaters, and decrease impact,” said Joel Storrow, president of McGill Associates.

Evergreen Packaging primarily uses the lake to maintain the water flow necessary for its paper mill operations. Lowering the lake level would increase water storage capacity for Evergreen, while simultaneously holding back floodwater that could potentially damage properties located downstream. Increasing the lake’s capacity would therefore remove properties from the floodplain.

Just how many properties would be saved by dredging Lake Logan is dependent on how much sediment is removed. Lowering the lake by 10 feet would remove 15 structures from the flood plain. Dredging 15 feet from the lake would save 23 structures, while lowering Lake Logan 20 feet would save 29 properties.

Evergreen says it is only comfortable with dropping the lake by 10 feet, however, due to fears that filling up a lake that’s 15 or 20 feet deeper during a drought would prove challenging.

McGill has compiled preliminary cost estimates, which show it would take $1.8 million to draw down the lake by 15 feet; $6.8 million to drop the lake 15 feet; and $9.8 million to dredge 20 feet.

Storrow said he plans to pursue funding from the Federal Emergency Management Association, which could potentially provide 75 percent of the cost.

However, the recession means FEMA, like many other agencies, has less funding to dole out in grants.

“This is a very competitive program,” said Storrow. “This isn’t a slam dunk.”

However, because McGill’s study incorporated floodplain mapping from the state and the Army Corp of Engineers, it can back up its claims that dredging the lake would save homes, thereby making its application more competitive.

The study was commissioned after the devastating 2004 floods with state and federal aid funds. The Town of Canton received enough aid to fund 50 percent of the study, while Haywood County and Evergreen provided 25 percent each.

Neighbors draw the line over latest rock quarry expansion

A grassroots effort to halt a mine expansion in west Waynesville jumped its first hurdle last week.

Citizens have convinced a state environmental agency that there’s enough community interest over the rock quarry expansion to hold a formal public hearing on the matter.

In April, Harrison Construction Company applied for a state permit from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to add about 13 acres to its 302-acre quarry on Allens Creek Road.

The company claims it must expand its gravel mining operations to help repair a slide caused by a wall failure inside its existing pit.

The slide sent a 600-foot slab of rock crashing down at the Waynesville rock quarry, which dislodged 480,000 tons of earth and buried a drilling rig.

“It can’t be left the way it is,” said Don Mason, environmental compliance officer for Harrison. “It has to be repaired ... This expansion is a safety act, not a mining act.”

Harrison says it needs to “back up far enough” to replace the quarry’s sheer face with a terraced-system to prevent future slides. While disturbing nearly 12 out of the 13 acres, Harrison plans to leave a hundred-foot-buffer around the perimeter.

Mason said mining more gravel is essential to repairing the slide.

“Are we going there specifically to mine that section? No,” said Mason. “We’re going there to repair the slide.”

But, residents say bringing the quarry that much closer to their doorstep will heighten health hazards by exposing them to more dust, which can cause extreme respiratory problems and even death. They claim blasting at the quarry already rattles their windows and cracks house foundations and walls.

Noise pollution, environmental damage including possible water pollution, and harm to property values are other objections to the expansion.

Mason retorted that the mine complies with strict state and federal regulations, and has never received complaints about structural problems. In reality, DENR records show there has been at least one complaint regarding cracks in a nearby house’s foundation and driveway retaining wall, which may have been caused by blasting.

Resident Nancy McGurdy said she built a cabin only 10 years ago near the quarry, and she’s already discovered a crack in her basement floor.

A petition that is being circulated states that the quarry creates undesirable living conditions for both humans and animals and destroys the natural beauty of the mountains, which is extremely important to residents, tourists, and the local economy.

“You can grow another tree, but you cannot grow another mountain,” said resident John Willis.

Public uproar

According to Judy Wehner, assistant state mining specialist with DENR, the fate of most mining permit applications are decided without a public hearing.

In this case, residents have gathered nearly 200 signatures protesting the mine expansion and demanding a public hearing. It held two community meetings, and solicited support from county commissioners, U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler, Governor Bev Purdue, and at least three state legislators.

More than 30 nearby residents appeared at a recent county board meeting, convincing commissioners to send a letter to DENR requesting a public hearing.

Many at the meeting complained that DENR sent out only six letters informing residents about the permit application, though the state agency was following policy, which states that only those who live 1,000 feet from the affected area must be notified.

“That’s spelled out in the law,” said Wehner.

Public interest turned out to exceed six families, however.

Michael Rogers has lived near the mine for more than 50 years, but this is the first and only time he’s ever been notified by DENR about a potential expansion. Rogers said the state agency would hardly receive the “significant public input” that’s required to hold a public hearing from the six families that were notified.

So he and his neighbors spearheaded an effort to stop Harrison Construction Company in its tracks.

“I know Harrison Construction has an interest in mining gravel, but I think they’ve disturbed enough of the mountain,” said Rogers.

Health concerns are especially significant for Rogers. His neighbor’s three grandchildren all have serious cases of asthma and must regularly go on antibiotics to cure their earaches.

Rogers recalled driving home one day and thinking the mountain was on fire when it was actually dust from rock near the quarry. “It matters which way the wind is blowing,” said Rogers. “It pushes it all right over us.”

Another concern for Rogers is seeing the quarry come as close as four feet to the springhead he shares with two other families.

“If we lose our wells and springs, how are we going to get back drinking water for our property?” asked Rogers.

According to Rogers, three residents have already signed up to file class action suits against Harrison Construction Company, due to mica from dust allegedly killing a family member.

He said he and his neighbors, too, are unafraid to take legal recourse if necessary.

Rogers has little sympathy for Harrison’s claim that it must repair a slide on its property.

“If they’ve had a failure, it ain’t anybody’s fault but their own,” said Rogers. “I think it’s just poor mining practices.”

According to Mason, the slide was caused by a fault in the foundation, which caused a section of the high-wall to fail.

Mason said he has the support of geologists from the state and federal governments when it comes to expanding the mine. He said he invited the neighborhood to attend a question and answer session last week but only four neighbors showed up.

“The information on all this is readily available,” said Mason, adding that few have taken up the company on its offer.

But Rogers said he and his neighbors have contacted Harrison Construction in the past and voiced concerns about the quarry and previous expansions, but they received little attention from the company. This time, they changed strategy and decided to go straight to DENR instead.

The neighborhood group said it would hand out flyers on Election Day to educate the community. It plans to meet again at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, at the Grandview Lodge in Waynesville.

Haywood challenger emerges as top vote-getter

With the county budget on everyone’s mind, two Haywood commissioners received a vote of confidence on the job they’ve done despite a staggering recession.

Chairman Kirk Kirkpatrick and Commissioner Bill Upton both sailed through the Democratic primary with comfortable margins. Newcomer Michael Sorrells, a service station, convenience store and café owner in Jonathan Creek, will join the two incumbents on the Democratic ticket come fall.

Sorrells has served on the Haywood school board for six years and has emphasized his experience working with a large budget as well as his business acumen. Sorrells said he’d always been told he had a lot of support within the community, and the primary results verified that for him.

“I ended up in the mix, and I’m tickled to death,” said Sorrells.

Commissioner Kirkpatrick said the current board provides an open forum and a transparent government, which helped both incumbents win the primary.

Both Kirkpatrick and Sorrells said the budget and solid waste needs will prove to be major issues in the November election. Kirkpatrick said the commissioners have handled the budget well despite a major recession. Commissioners will continue to analyze all of the county’s expenditures to see where cuts can be made, however unpleasant it may be to cut certain services, said Kirkpatrick.

“You just have to cut it with a sharp knife, but it’s difficult,” said Kirkpatrick. “We’ve made most of the cuts that we can make.”

However, growing impatience with government spending hit home in Haywood County, where the conservative 9/12 movement persistently made itself felt at every commissioners’ meeting.

Fiscal conservatives in Haywood asserted that county leaders were spending freely while ordinary citizens were just scraping by.

At the center of the debate has been the estimated $12.5 million commissioners plan to drop on renovating an abandoned Wal-Mart in Clyde. The former megastore will house the county’s health and social services department.

“I just think we need to think before we get out our checkbook,” said Waynesville voter Chris Forga.

But the two department’s current facilities have been used for more than a half century, and commissioners argued that it would be far more expensive to renovate or buy new property than renovate the Wal-Mart store.

Last year’s 1.7 cent tax increase similarly inflamed citizens who were struggling to pay bills at home. Simultaneously, other citizens took commissioners to task for cutting all nonprofits from the county budget.

Nevertheless, commissioners claimed they have worked well under a tight budget and point out that tax rates in Haywood are currently 17th from the bottom in the 100-county state.

Haywood County commissioner

Democrat – top three advance

Michael T. Sorrells: 2,537

J.W. (Kirk) Kirkpatrick: 2,520

Bill L. Upton: 2,290

Rhonda Schandevel: 1,942

John C. McCracken: 1,556

Raymond L. Brooks: 1,451

Frank (Danny) James: 628

Republican – top three advance

Mic Denny King: 1,099

David Bradley: 986

Tom Freeman: 817

Jeanne Sturges Holbrook: 781

Michael (Hub) Scott: 560

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