Tensions ran high at the most recent Macon County Commissioners meeting where about 300 people turned out to express their views on proposed changes to the flood damage prevention ordinance, soil erosion and sedimentation control and water supply watershed protection.
Discussion about updating the current regulation started in March when Commissioner Josh Young proposed changes to the county’s flood damage prevention ordinance - despite questions about property that he owns in the floodplain.
At the most recent meeting, the mood quickly turned from tense to spirited debate after Chairman Gay Shields opened the meeting by recommending that he planned to motion for all three ordinances to be tabled to individual meetings in the future so that each could be fully considered and understood by commissioners before a vote.
Commissioners ultimately tabled the vote for the ordinances to August, September and October, respectively.
“To me what you all are presenting tonight, especially on the three ordinances, is educational,” Shields said. “ I think we have a responsibility to understand it, probably beyond how you may understand it.”
While some individuals spoke at all three public hearings, no one spoke in support of updating the ordinances. In fact, many recommended increasing protection and asked the county to fund more support for code enforcement.
‘We’ll be back’ support unwavering
When 20-year-old Alex Haiss asked the crowd to stand up if they were in opposition to the proposed flood plain ordinance, everyone in the room stood up.
“Commissioners, what I want to impress on y’all is how much of a chord this has struck on your community. Look at how many new faces are here because of this,” Haiss said.
Haiss, who grew up in Macon and Swain Counties, explained that he started a petition against the ordinances at the end of June and that at the time of the meeting it had almost 300 signatures.
“There have been some implications that we don’t know what the people of Macon County think about the proposed changes. I think the message from the tourists and the locals is clear: Don't mess with the floodplain if you want their money, and you want their votes, I think you should listen,” Haiss said at the meeting.
Mainspring Conservation Trust, a nonprofit conservation trust across the six westernmost counties, sent an email before the commission meeting asking supporters to attend. Executive Director Jordan Smith explained at the meeting that the group believes conservation is nonpartisan but that it felt it was necessary to oppose the changes to these ordinances.
“The proposed amendments to this ordinance directly threatened the lands that we've worked to protect for more than 27 years,” Smith said at the meeting. “These lands represent investments by private landowners, state and federal tax dollars as well as private donations to protect those lands. We have publicly stated that any weakening of the current flood damage prevention ordinance would ultimately harm downstream property owners and negatively impact rare and prime farmland soils as well as critical habitats within the floodplain.”
The 24-mile stretch of the Little Tennessee River from Franklin to Fontana Reservoir contains all aquatic wildlife like mussels and hellbenders that were present prior to colonization, according to research
Kenneth McCaskill spoke on behalf of the Macon County Farm Bureau Board echoing a common sentiment of the evening, reciting an old adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Lee Waldrop from the Planning Board spoke to commissioners as a private citizen. He brought a slideshow to illustrate what the proposed 25% fill amendment would look like since there is no limit on the volume of fill put in the flood fringe.
“Let's go to the side view of the same property. So there's a quarter acre of fill. It's also a quarter acre high,” Waldroop said, pointing to a triangle of fill on the graphic.“ Fill displacement is a mathematical reality. Everything you do has an impact. Period,” he said.
Bob Cook, a former Republican primary candidate for Sheriff, spoke as a property owner against updating the floodplain ordinance. He said the changes would impact what he has worked for his whole life: his land on the Little Tennessee River.
“Our property brings tax revenue. The river brings in tax revenue. We already fight a battle in our area of bank erosion. Let's not have this add to our concerns and rising waters from the northern part of our river,” Cook said.
Where are the experts?
The planning board previously recommended that a subcommittee, which included Young and Commissioner Danny Antoine, speak with experts before making a recommendation.
Community member Sarah Johnson of Otto asked why experts have not been consulted on the ordinance.
“Still no experts have been called for this and I would like to know if the County Commissioners sincerely want to call on experts or are they just requiring the citizenry to be our own experts and advocates,” Johnson said at the meeting.
Lewis Penland and Bill McLarney, who were recommended as experts to the planning board, spoke at the meeting about the recommendations and expertise that they would have shared with the subcommittee.
Penland said he was disappointed that the subcommittee had not met. He said that he has been doing river restoration work since 2014. He presented a number of questions including how fill put in could impact other nearby properties.
“It may be his garden. It may be his chicken coop. It may be his house. So the floodplain line was up there now it’s at his front door,” Penland asked. “We need to talk about this.”
McLarney, who is a biologist and owns land on the Little Tennessee River, kept his comments straightforward.
“People in this county who are informed on this issue are very overwhelmingly in favor of thanking the previous commission and planning board who put in place the excellent floodplain ordinance that we have in place right now - want to keep it that way,” McLarney said.
Callie Moore, western regional director of MountainTrue, also advocated against any changes to the ordinances. She explained that her background is in water quality and watershed management and that she has been working in Southwestern North Carolina for more than 25 years.
“In the mountains with our steeper slopes and higher amounts of rainfall, professionally developed plans in the installation of appropriate best management practices before construction begins are required to protect our waterways from excess sediment pollution,”Moore said at the meeting.
Young said at the end of the meeting that he would welcome speaking with experts.
A possible conflict of interest?
A number of community members asked Commissioner Josh Young about his reasoning for proposing these ordinance changes and his ownership of floodplain property along the Georgia Road.
During the public hearing, Sarah Johnson asked if Young’s ownership of the property was a conflict of interest.
“While Mr. Young's deed restriction remains pending, we should halt any further decisions until we have a way to verify possible conflict of interest,” Johnson said. “And I'm not picking on you Josh. I'm sorry. I would do this for anybody.”
Young purchased three properties along the Georgia Road, all of which are at least partially in the floodplain, on March 7 of this year. The properties are held by Steele LLC, an entity formed in September 2023 operated by Young and his wife. The properties were purchased from Wanda Stamey and James Martin for $50,000, according to the deed.
As of Tuesday July 9, no deed restriction for the property was filed. The property does have a billboard permit which Young mentioned during the meeting. He said that the property is also currently being used for hay.
When pressed about why he bought the property Young said that it was just because of his love of farmland not for any particular purpose.
During the public hearing, Stephanie Almeida said that she was a former neighbor of Young’s and that he had sold property near her house because of access issues with a wetland.
Almedia, who is the founder of Smoky Mountain Harm Reduction, called on the supporters of conservation to care this much about substance use and hunger in the county.
“It’s irrelevant to talk about my personal business, but because I got called out, I do want to address this,” Young said.
He said that he sold the property next to Almeida’s house and bought the motel across from the Tractor Supply. He said that he renovated that motel and that has caused “drug activity” to go down in that area.
“When I pulled the vanities off the wall, you heard the stuff dropped and you look down - those were needles and so I just feel like it's positive, but I just want to kind of share that with her,” Young said.
Young maintained that there were issues within these ordinances that needed to be updated, namely that farmers and property owners were not allowed to build roads, concrete pads for parking and other developments to make their property “usable.”
“I’m not a good commissioner. I’m the narrow-minded guy that I guess just brought this up strictly for my own personal gain and profit,” Young said sarcastically. “Right? That’s me?
He maintained the need for changes to the regulations.
“This conversation is worthy of having a discussion. If this floodplain thing stays the way that it is, I’m fine. My job here is to have a conversation,” Young said.
Development and access
Commissioner Paul Higdon favored the changes because he said property owners should be able to access their property.
“If you can’t access your property, you need a site specific way to approach this board, the planning board whoever, starting with the administrator for access to the property. It’s just not right, if you have flood or mountain top property if you can’t get to it,” Higdon said.
Higdon also advocated for the Lake Emory Dam to be removed.
County Planner Caleb Wilson was sworn in at the end of the meeting to take on the role of Director of Planning and Code Enforcement. Prior director Joe Allen resigned on June 28.
Allen did not share his reason for resigning and did not respond to requests for comment on BPR’s previous story.
Wilson answered questions throughout the night including about the ability of the department to enforce all of the county ordinances.
“It's not possible to see all the sites in one month… There’s no possible way unless you get more people,” Wilson said to cheers from the crowd.
Higdon asked how it would be possible to enforce codes currently since the enforcement office is just one person.
“In my view of an ordinance, it’s worth is zero if it’s not enforced,” Higdon said.
Throughout the rest of the evening, the crowd advocated for additional funding for enforcement in the planning department, particularly related to construction sites.
Young explained that updating these codes would allow a larger percentage of the county to be available for development.
“Right now 53% of the county is Forest Service and 24% of the watershed is allowed to be buildable so that is the issue here,” Young said.
“I feel like you're danged if you do, you’re danged if you don't.”Commissioner Josh Young on proposed ordinance changes
He said he favored RV parks being built in farmland areas over mobile home housing, pointing to a recent project in the county in Clarks Chapel.
“'I’ll just tell you the truth: I think it looks terrible. And I supported that sitting right here on the board because we need housing. We need affordable housing. It’s a catch-22. I would 10 times rather sit right here and see paved roads with a nice class-A RV that they can pull out there,” Young said.
“What they've got down there is gawky, it looks terrible. So I'm just telling you right now,” he said. “I feel like you're danged if you do, you’re danged if you don't.”
Commissioner John Shearl traded words with the crowd throughout the evening as he expressed his support for property owner’s rights and the importance of allowing camping along rivers. Shearl said he used to own Coweeta Creek Campground but the county had previously threatened to close it when the flood ordinance changed.
“And the county came to me and said I had seven years and then I had to move all those campsites out of there until I got my attorney involved and then I was grandfathered in,” Shearl explained. He asked the crowd why they could live on the river but others can’t.
“I see it all the time. Folks I've got mine, but I don't want you to have yours,” Shearl said.
“You take your little tours down the river canoes and your kayaks and all this other stuff,” Shearl said. The audience booed at his use of the term “little tours” in reference to one community member’s business.
“I respect the fact that you go down the river in your kayak and your canoe and you host your people and all that, but you should also respect people like me that love to camp,” Shearl said.
Shearl said he agreed with Commissioner Higdon that the way to protect the river is to open up Lake Emory dam, a hydro-electric dam built in 1925.
At the end of the three public hearings, Commissioner Antoine stated that his position had changed and he no longer supported amending the ordinances.
“Personally I am not in favor of the government telling people what to do on their own land. But I also think that people should do their best to be a good neighbor and not be a nuisance or a danger to their neighbors. I try to listen well and I admire your passion for your belief especially in a time and culture of so much apathy,” Antoine said.
He added that the ordinance can always be revisited at a later date if the need arises..
Commissioners will consider the soil erosion and sedimentation control regulations in August, water supply watershed protection in September and flood damage prevention ordinance in October.
