Lake Santeetlah – Two public hearings, two days apart last week set the stage for one day – 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 9, when the Town of Lake Santeetlah Town Council will decide the fate of zoning that controls development of some of the most valuable residential real estate in Graham County.
The first public meeting – on May 26 – focused on repealing the town’s zoning ordinance and zoning map – a mere six months after they were enacted.
Held via Zoom, the meeting drew more than 80 residents and property owners, along with more than 70 emailed notes and letters.
Of the 25 or so who spoke, just five opposed zoning. Of more than 70 emails (including form letters), an estimated 3 percent opposed zoning.
The second public meeting – on Saturday morning – focused on how the town will collect and spend money next year. Barely 10 people attended, including town staff and all five Town Council members.
The town’s budget is fairly lengthy, but the draft submitted for public comment on Saturday had numerous gaps.
Tina Emerson – a Town Council member who serves as finance officer – said she was waiting for public input before filling in the blanks.
A complete proposed budget will be ready for the June 9 meeting, she said.
Old zoning rules were first adopted in 1989 and remained in force until the new zoning rules took effect in November 2021, bringing the town into compliance with state regulations.
November 2021 was also the election when three write-in candidates were swept into office on an anti-zoning slate. Those three – Mayor Connie Gross, Vice Mayor Ralph Mitchell, and Finance Officer Emerson – comprise a majority of the board and now hold all the cards.
Council members Diana Simon and Jim Hager are the lone survivors of the previous council that enacted the new zoning ordinance; less than a year later, they find themselves outvoted.
An estimated ½ – ²⁄3 of houses in the town don’t fully comply with town zoning. They have been “grandfathered in” — allowed to exist without change, but if something like expansion or major repairs deviates from the previous structure, the new zoning rules apply.
Emerson wondered why people fear no zoning when existing zoning allows for things like solar farms, junk yards and adult entertainment – things most (but not all) town property owners would be united against. But that kind of activity requires a use permit issued by the town council, which is, presumedly, unlikely.
Emerson raised the issue about zoning weeks ago when she started going through the town budget and came to the conclusion that a part-time zoning administrator was insufficient – but the town can’t afford a full-time administrator.
Since then, the 3-2 majority of the council has done all it can to end zoning in the town, mirroring the rest of Graham County.
Some opponents say zoning has put non-complying houses at risk and hurts their resale value. Others describe zoning as a power grab.
Zoning supporters describe an anything-goes town if zoning ends. They say that without zoning, they don’t have any protections for their property’s value or the town’s ambience.
Public comments
Resident Anne Hager – who is married to council member Jim Hager – has been chairman of the zoning board since 2018 and oversaw the transformation to the new zoning.
She said she and the entire zoning board support continued zoning in the town.
Anne noted the town’s zoning ordinance was already crippled when the part-time zoning administrator resigned in March over what she described as a hostile work environment. Funding for the position has been omitted from Emerson’s budget drafts.
Without a zoning administrator, the town can’t enforce its zoning ordinance, Anne Hager said.
“We can’t afford to see the value of our property plummet,” she said.
“Until your ox is gored, you don’t care,” said resident Roger Carlton, who was one of the town council members to lose his seat to the write-in slate.
Zoning has “created perfection” in the town, he said.
“Maybe what we did is too much, maybe it is oppressive,” Carlton added. “What’s going to replace it?”
Beth Carlton – a member of the town’s planning board, who is married to Roger – said that without zoning, residents face the prospect of their neighbors clearcutting trees, building right up to the property line, and other unneighborly projects.
What’s left is litigation, she said.
“Do we really want to pitch people against each other like that? I don’t think so,” Beth emphatically stated.
The town teems with people with executive-level experience in municipal government, zoning, real estate law, property development — to name a few examples – and many of them were at the Thursday public hearing.
Mark DeVerges has served in Buncombe County on zoning and adjustment boards.
“No one wants the Old West – or Beverly Hills,” he said.
Jonathan Keith has been a developer in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. He said you can’t successfully develop property without land use regulations. The town doesn’t have enough new construction to warrant a full-time zoning administrator, he said. He suggested the town hire contractors as needed to do the job.
He also advised the town council that, rather than repeal zoning, they should amend it.
Robert Lampton, a real estate appraiser, agreed, saying the town’s zoning ordinance should be a living document. “It’s very important to real estate value,” he said. “‘No zoning’ could open the door for developers to make money” – and the town could see tiny houses, tall buildings and multi-use buildings in its future.
Resident Bette LaBue said a town without zoning protection is like going without insurance – the town will be uncovered and unprotected.
Property owner Rebecca Kirson urged the town council to listen to people in the community who are more educated and more experienced than the council members.
“This is not a hard problem,” said Adam McCall, urging the council to adapt rather than repeal.
For property owner Alan Davidson, it is a hard problem. Speaking at both public hearings, he his properties don’t conform to new zoning rules and are at risk of losing value.
At the budget hearing, Mayor Gross admonished him to stick to the budget.
Without skipping a beat, Davidson said the town will have to budget more money for lawyers “for when lawsuits are filed against the town.”
Budget
With so much focus on zoning, it might be easy to overlook the fact that the town council is working on its spending plan for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Council member Hager complained that the public did not have an opportunity to see the most complete draft budget (an older version was available online, but the newer version could only be seen by visiting Town Hall).
Resident Jim Pittinger brought up concerns about spending on fire protection and library support, two areas near and dear to Mayor Gross’s heart.
Referring to library funding, he said: “I thought you already voted on that and it did not pass.”
The town is drawing down its reserves, which is risky, he said.
“Let the county support the library,” he said.
Gross should recuse herself from voting because of her personal ties to the library, he added.
There were questions about a software package Emerson has been lobbying for to run town finances, billing, tax collection and other services, but there are snippets of funding for the software scattered throughout the budget with no summary of the total that would be spent.
There were comments about kudzu eradication, a 10-percent contribution to employee retirement (up from 2 percent), security fencing around water tanks and a budget with a reserve of just $3,713.
Anne Hager noted that the draft budget lacks funding for anything related to zoning.
“The ordinance is alive and well. It’s very doubtful that it’s going to go away,” she said. “So the presumption that you’re making that it will go away is a little bit farfetched.
“Don’t get in our faces by taking away what we need to work on our ordinance.”