Sylva Commissioner Danny Allen had a question. He’d been watching what was happening with the incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York, where police-involved fatalities of black men have led to civil unrest, and wondered about his own home. 

“I wonder,” Allen asked during a recent Sylva Town board meeting, “if the police have gone through any kind of ethnic sensitivity training to handle such things?”

It’s nearing lunchtime in downtown Sylva. The noonday traffic passes by a small building that houses Innovation Brewing. Inside, Nicole Dexter is checking equipment, hauling bags of hops and malt, all the while ready to take on another day amid her dream.

“Things have been going really great,” the 28-year-old said. “Our numbers are much better than we projected or anticipated.” 

Quite a few parking tickets have gone unpaid in Sylva. Since 20011, a total of $7,585 worth of parking citations have gone unpaid.

“It’s pages of tickets,” said Sylva Town Manager Paige Dowling.

After landing a $10,000 grant from the Southwestern Commission — and putting in $10,000 of its own money — Sylva is waiting on a report to come back from JM Teague Traffic Engineering that will answer that one pivotal question: is two-way traffic on Main Street a no or a go? 

“Would it be safe? That’s the main thing,” said Town Manager Paige Dowling. “We don’t want it to cut down on parking or hurt business. Also, in the 1950s Sylva had two-way traffic but cars are bigger now, as are trucks. With Main Street being a highway, could trucks make the turn on Main Street if it were to be two-way?”

If Norman Rockwell were alive today, he might have painted a record store.

It’s as American and iconic as children playing outside until the streetlights came on or a young couple sharing a milkshake at a soda fountain. The record store is a place of congregation, of discovery, and of communicating the universal language — music.

Downtown Sylva property owners will still have to replace any plywood currently covering up windows, but they will be provided with more time to do so. 

In September, the Sylva Board of Commissioners considered a trio of ordinance amendments aimed at shoring up both aesthetics and safety in the downtown area. One of the amendments disallowed structures with exteriors of metal siding or concrete blocks, while a second targeted manufactured housing in the district. Those two passed.

The Town of Sylva is celebrating its 125th year since incorporation. To mark the occasion, a slate of activities are planned for Oct. 10-11. The celebration pays homage to the history of the town.

“The activities are all things that would have happened in 1889,” explained Sylva Town Manager Paige Roberson.

Manufactured homes, metal siding and unfinished concrete blocks are no longer allowed in downtown Sylva. The plywood coverings blocking out so many windows up and down Main Street, however, can stay a while longer. 

In an effort to assure aesthetic uniformity beyond town borders, Sylva’s commissioners have begun expanding the town’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. The first phase of the expansion was approved following a Sept. 4 public hearing, but not without some spirited back-and-forth between town board members and property owners concerned about the impact of an expanded ETJ. 

Sylva commissioners will hold a public hearing tomorrow, Sept. 4, on expanding its extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ. An expanded ETJ would mean that property owners within the area in question — an area not currently in town limits — would have to adhere to Sylva’s zoning regulations, although the properties would not receive services from the town and the town would not collect taxes on the properties.