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Macon County commissioners have curbed local restrictions that aimed to reduce soil erosion and stream sedimentation. Landowners and developers now will be subject to North Carolina soil disturbance requirements, instead of a more stringent ordinance that’s been in place locally since 2001.
In August, Macon County’s Board of Commissioners voted to increase the land size threshold that requires a permit for any “land-disturbing” activity – which can include residential construction, road maintenance and industrial development.
Critics say this will give developers too much leeway and may contribute to soil erosion issues that lead to landslides and inland flooding.
For at least 20 years, Macon County has enforced stricter anti-erosion and floodplain protection standards than the baseline regulations set forth at the state level, beginning with severe flooding and landslides that ravaged the county in 2004.
With the recent change, land-disturbing activity will be allowed without a permit if the affected land is one acre or smaller. Previously, the county required a special permit through the Macon County Planning Department for earth-moving, construction, or land-disturbing activity on parcels as small as a half-acre.
At August’s meeting, most participants in public comment derided the change, while county commissioners defended it.
“There’s no malicious intent here,” Commissioner Josh Young, who proposed the change, said at the meeting.
Young said the measure would reduce burdens on homeowners and taxpayers Prior to the meeting, anyone who wished to disturb more than half an acre of soil would have to submit detailed erosion control plans. He added that most homes sit on more than half an acre anyway - and might have been skirting the rules.
“None of those sites have engineered erosion control plans,” he said. “We’re not enforcing those.”
Kathleen Russell, a public information officer for the North Carolina Department of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources, said the new local ordinance is in line with other North Carolina municipalities, and in line with changes to the state guidelines made in 2021.
Nonetheless, opponents said fewer environmental protections pull the county backward.
“The issue is, we have a particular source we could control more effectively and instead we change it to control less effectively,” Bill McLarney, senior scientist and aquatic program specialist at Mainspring Conservation Trust, said.
McLarney has been a vocal opponent of the change, as well as proposed floodplain management changes under consideration in Macon County.
He said he is concerned about a pattern of deregulation that benefits development rather than the public good.
In May, the county’s Planning Board recommended the ordinance change to the full Board of Commissioners. Commissioners proposed the floodplain, soil, and water ordinance changes at the same time and moved to vote on each individually in August, September, and October.
The updated soil ordinance passed in August. The county commission was set to move on to the watershed ordinance in its September meeting but opted to table both it and the floodplain ordinance to January, citing a need for further research and consultation with community stakeholders.
Commissioners have expressed concern that they do not have the resources in the county budget to enforce more stringent ordinances, and that the rules are being flouted anyway.
”Driving around here,” Josh Young said on August 13, “none of those sites have engineered erosion control plans, very few of them do, so, I feel like we're not enforcing those.”
Sedimentation is a serious threat to North Carolina’s waterways. Macon County, it’s been noted, is home to a primordial mix of North Carolina wildlife: mussels, hellbenders and trout. The Little Tennessee River which runs through the county is home to more than 3,000 species, and the basin that empties into it is nearly 90% forested.
