The Jackson County Commissioners have unanimously approved an easement through county land that will allow plans for a 72-bedroom development adjacent to Cullowhee’s Speedwell Acres Road to move forward.

Mere months after the much-debated Cullowhee Community Planning Standards became county ordinance, commissioners are set to consider a pair of changes to the rules following a public hearing at 5:55 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, in room A201 of the Jackson County Justice and Administration Building.

Celebrating Southern Appalachian culture through concerts, living-history demonstrations, competitions and awards programs, Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, on the campus in Cullowhee.

Western Carolina University saw its previous high-water mark for enrollment blasted away this year as final student counts for 2016 came in, with new records set for both total enrollment and freshman class size.

The greenway in Jackson County has now been fully open for a month, and use is skyrocketing on the one-mile path along the Tuckasegee River in Cullowhee. From May to July, monthly use more than doubled to 5,485 visitors — that figure is more than five times the 1,034 people who used the greenway in November 2015, the first month data was taken.

Nearly a year after Jackson County passed zoning standards for Cullowhee, the ordinance is set to get ground-tested with the creation of the Cullowhee Planning Advisory Committee. 

When the bell rang for the end of school Friday afternoon, Jeff Vamvakias’ room at Cullowhee Valley Elementary emptied a lot less completely than is typical for a middle school on the edge of a weekend. Seven students — six of them eighth-graders, one sixth-grader — hung around after buses left, but they weren’t there for detention or make-up work or mandated study time. 

They were there to talk about worms. Their worms.

Phones in Jackson County’s planning department have been buzzing lately with people interested in developing property in Cullowhee, and that news has spurred county commissioners to work toward getting a planning council in place to handle requests that might come their way.

Western Carolina University leaders are getting ready to roll out the red carpet for the impending arrival of Margaret Spellings, the incoming president of the state’s public university system, who will be touring WCU campus on March 10.

River Walk Apartments, an eight-building complex in Cullowhee, will get a waiver on the $16,500 it paid in solid waste fees this year, Jackson County commissioners decided unanimously last week.