Grant allows Sylva to conserve Fisher Creek
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
The Town of Sylva has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to purchase a conservation easement to protect its 1,088-acre Fisher Creek watershed.
Sylva set to expand planning district
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
Sylva Town Board members are expected to move forward with plans to make the Allen’s Branch community part of the town’s extra territorial jurisdiction Thursday, Aug. 17. However, several local residents are pushing for the boundary’s lines to be redrawn.
Sylva mulls over creating ETJ
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
Residents from Jackson County’s Allen’s Branch community said they didn’t know exactly what Sylva town officials were talking about during an informational session regarding plans to bring the area under the town’s extra territorial jurisdiction held Monday night — but they didn’t like it.
Keeping downtown alive: Revitalization organizations debate how to best improve downtown communities, as Sylva refocuses following a major spending cut
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
With a quick trip on Main Street in downtown Sylva, it’s easy enough to see the small town as a quaint collection of professional offices, locally owned restaurants, galleries, clothing and specialty shops.
Each business is located in a historically significant building, many of the old brick storefronts still bearing the name of their original owner somewhere up high in the masonry. Dotted with trees and park benches and old style lampposts, Main Street lures tourists for some lunch and an afternoon of shopping. Gaggles of families come from Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, indicated by the license plates lined up along the street’s two-hour parking.
Sylva proposal includes performance area, market space
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
In an effort to heal wounded relationships in the downtown Sylva community, local residents and leaders are uniting to develop an underused area of downtown into an attractive, accessible and functional public park.
DSA rallies support to oppose funding cut
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
Sylva town board members should expect a heated public comment session at their upcoming meeting on Thursday, July 6, as Downtown Sylva Association members are rallying support to persuade aldermen to overturn their decision to cut the organization’s funding from $20,000 to $2,000.
Sylva slashes funding for downtown group
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
Faced with a $20,000 budget cut, the Downtown Sylva Association is re-examining its plans after Sylva aldermen voted 3 to 2 last Thursday (June 15) not to renew the town’s annual contribution to the group.
Sylva residents rate quality of life high
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
“Overall, citizens seem fairly satisfied with the quality of life in the town of Sylva.”
So reads the first line in the summary of responses collected last month in a citizen satisfaction survey of Sylva residents.
Selling the library out for all the wrong reasons
Back last fall, about the time the Jackson County Library controversy mutated into an issue with all of the appeal of a dead mule in doorway of the Town Hall, I decided to give up my role as “gadfly.” I was bitterly opposed to the proposed site (Jackson Plaza), but eventually I began to feel that I was a single whining voice in the wilderness. The rest of Jackson County either approved of the site, or worse, simply didn’t give a damn.
Mixed drinks won’t be good for Sylva
By Jason Kimenker • Guest Columnist
What makes Sylva great? The people of rural Sylva, North Carolina are as unique as this area is beautiful. This small mountain town is so loved by tens of thousands of visitors year-round. With a population of just over 2,500, the incorporated town of Sylva and her residents share an incredibly rich history with their surrounding mountain communities.
