Officials make final changes to draft ordinances - Rather than voting on proposed steep-slope and subdivision ordinances July 19, county leaders made some revisions to the guidelines. County Planning Director Linda Cable and Hendersonville attorney Michael Egan presented commissioners with a hillside district map, which includes all the unincorporated land in the county with a slope 30 percent or greater...

Federal officials OK removal of Dillsboro Dam - Duke Energy cleared another hurdle last week (July 19) in its bid to obtain new operating licenses for its Jackson County hydroelectric plants when federal regulators issued an order supporting removal of the 94-year-old Dillsboro Dam. Built by early Jackson County entrepreneur C.J. Harris to provide power for his Harris-Rees Tannery and light the...

Lawyers delay appeal of fines triggered by June 7 dam failure - An appeal to the local sediment and erosion control board has been put on hold until lawyers for Jackson County and Balsam Mountain Preserve can determine who has jurisdiction. According to county attorney Paul Holt, he and lawyers representing the 4,000-acre gated community are trying to figure out where the case should be heard. The development is appealing a $300,000 fine levied by county planning staff in the wake...

Judge rules for Sylva; Ensley’s dilapidated trailers to be removed - A Superior Court decision last week has cleared the way for Sylva officials to remove dilapidated trailers from Kirby Ensley’s Virna Lisa trailer park. During a hearing held last Thursday (July 19), Judge Marlene Hyatt signed an order giving the town of Sylva authority to remove trailers and a failing septic system if Ensley fails to do so within 30 days. If town officials are forced to take action, the order allows them to turn the cost...

Masked bandit - Sylva Herald Publisher Steve Gray caught this acrobatic four-legged thief stealing seed from the bird-feeder at his house in Webster last week. “The raccoon had been coming and taking seed from the feeder for the past two weeks. I started taking it down at night, so I thought he had moved on.” Gray said the feeder is designed to be “squirrel-proof,” meaning a metal grille comes down over the seed if too much weight is put on it. “I guess he found a way around that,” Gray said. – Herald photo by Steve Gray.

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