Macon to address floodplain, Lake Emory Dam in new year
Lake Emory Dam.
Public domain photo
After almost a year of work, discussion and often tense disagreement on the issue, Macon County is set to continue its pursuit of adjustments to its floodplain ordinances and considerations about possible removal of Lake Emory Dam in the new year. Not only did the effects of Hurricane Helene change the nature of these discussions, but new leadership on the county commission could impact the course it chooses.
On Jan. 2, the planning board is set to discuss both the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and the possible removal of Lake Emory Dam. The Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance is the third of three ordinances that were up for revision over the course of this year, and the removal of Lake Emory Dam, a topic of concern for over a decade, found renewed interest amid discussions regarding the floodplain.
While one of the three ordinance revisions has already been passed by the board of commissioners — in August the board voted to change the required land disturbance from half an acre to an acre before any plans are required for soil erosion control on a project in the Soil Erosion Sedimentation Control Ordinance — commissioners held off on final decisions on the Water Supply Watershed Protection and Flood Damage Prevention ordinances until January.
Thanks to an outpouring of public opposition to revision of the ordinances, then Chairman Gary Shields decided to s low the process of changing the ordinances late this summer when the second two came before the commission and instead of holding a vote, sent the ordinances back to the planning board for review saying the commission would take them back up in January.
Now, the planning board has had a chance to review one of those two ordinances — the Water Supply Watershed Protection ordinance. In October, it voted again to recommend a change to the ordinance that would allow RV parks to be eligible for special nonresidential intensity allocations (SNIA) in the watershed.
The planning board was set to consider the third ordinance — the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance — at its November meeting, but because the board failed to produce a quorum, it could not vote on a recommendation.
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“It appears that a significant number of individuals failed to discharge their responsibilities, effectively resulting in a boycott of the floodplain discussion, thus depriving the commissioners of information they are entitled to expect, while confusing the general public,” the Water Quality Advisory Committee said in a Dec. 19 letter to the county commission.
Planning Board Chairman Jean Owen apologized for the lack of quorum following the meeting.
“I apologized to everyone in attendance and let them know that there would not be an ‘official’ meeting, but we welcomed anything they wanted to present,” said Owen. “As there was no official meeting, there was no recommendation to the county commissioners.”
The December planning board meeting was canceled, relatively common for local government meetings around the holidays. Now, the planning board is again set to take up the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance at its Jan. 2 meeting and vote on a recommendation for the county commission.
The potential revision to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, which currently prevents placement of fill in floodplains, would allow for fill on up to 25% of the flood fringe area of any property.
The Water Quality Advisory Committee (WQAC) is staunchly opposed to changing the ordinance to allow for 25% fill, saying in its report on the issue that it instead advocates “for a variance process to allow for exceptions to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, while keeping floodplain protections intact.”
The WQAC is made up of nine volunteer members with careers in varying aspects of aquatic management, engineering, farming and planning. It includes Associate Director of the Highlands Biological Station and previous chair of Mainspring Conservation Trust Jason Love, previous member of the Macon County Planning Board and a contractor with experience in stream restoration and channel design Lewis Penland, Agronomist and Macon County Farm Bureau representative Kenneth McCaskill, Forensic Engineer and Mainspring Conservation Trust Board Member Ed Haight, Vice Mayor of Franklin Stacy Guffey, Business Programs Chair at Southwestern Community College Carolyn Porter, Executive Director of the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River Katie Price and engineer/author/white-water expert Doug Woodward. The committee is chaired by aquatic biologist Bill McLarney.
“A vote for the proposed changes to the two ordinances would be in opposition to the expressed wishes of the Towns of Franklin and Highlands; North Carolina Farm Bureau; Nikwasi Initiative; the Cherokee Tribal Heritage Preservation Office; every recognized environmental group in the region, including Mainspring Conservation Trust, WATR and Mountain Ture; Town and County Emergency response personnel; first responders; the Franklin fire chief; Forward! Franklin; numerous independent experts who have consulted with the WQAC and our Franklin-based State Representative and State Senator,” the WQAC said in its latest letter to the board of commissioners.
However, the WQAC has also pointed out the robust public opposition to revising the watershed ordinances. Over the course of almost a year’s worth of meetings and hours of public input on the issue from dozens of citizens, The Smoky Mountain News can verify only two members of the public who have voiced support for revising the ordinances during public meeting.
“In view of the overwhelming opposition from your constituents, reinforced by sound technical advice, to approve these changes would be an act against your duty as representatives of all Macon County citizens,” the WQAC said in its Dec. 19 letter. “On the contrary, responding to the wishes of your constituents and leaving the ordinances unchanged will create goodwill going forward.”
With the new year also comes new leadership on the Macon County Commission. On Dec. 2, Barry Breeden was sworn in as the county’s newest commissioner, replacing Paul Higdon, and Josh Young replaced Gary Shields as chairman.
Until he was sworn in as a county commissioner, Breeden had been serving as a planning board member and voted in favor of the recommendation to revise the Water Supply Watershed Protection Ordinance. Young, now chairman of the commission, serves as liaison to the planning board, and originally proposed changes to the ordinances. As chairman, it is now Young’s responsibility to formulate the commission’s meeting agenda each month, run meetings and call for votes when necessary.
While Young’s ownership of property in the area affected by the ordinance revisions raised questions from members of the public about his motives for the proposal, he has said he has deed restricted his land so that he will not benefit from the proposal.
What’s more, after long-time County Manager Derek Roland announced his resignation from the position, previous Emergency Services Director Warren Cabe was selected as his replacement.
While Cabe has not expressed his opinion on the ordinance revisions, many members of the public, as well as the WQAC, have noted that decreased regulations in the floodplain could lead to worse conditions during natural disasters and more dangerous work for emergency service workers. This became especially poignant after Hurricane Helene ravaged much of Western North Carolina with severe flooding and wind damage in September.
“All of this is very, very important stuff and I really just have one question. Why are we doing this right now?” said one speaker at the Oct. 3 planning board meeting. “Our region has suffered one of the worst catastrophes that I can think of… this can wait. Our people are suffering.”
While Macon County fared better than other WNC counties to the east, it was not spared the worst effects of natural disaster. On Friday, Sept. 27, Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Lau’s truck was seen submerged in floodwaters. His body was recovered the next day. Lau was the only confirmed death in Macon related to Hurricane Helene.
“Our mountains protect us, but they also funnel all that water into places that people don’t think of as being dangerous,” said Sarah Johnson during the October planning board meeting. “If you have any possibility of preventing it now, now is when you do that. Because I guarantee you that Asheville, Canton, Clyde, the rest of them, if they could go back a little bit and rethink some of the things, they would.”
Hurricane Helene caused over 100 deaths in Western North Carolina and an estimated $58 billion in damages.
“While other counties just to the east of us that were impacted by this storm are looking at ways to make their communities more resilient to these type of extreme flooding events, we have heard nothing from the Macon County Planning Board or the County Commission on ways to strengthen our community against extreme flooding,” the WQAC said in its letter. “Instead, the board is considering efforts to weaken existing protections.”
The planning board is set to take up both the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and discussion of Lake Emory Dam removal at its Jan. 2 meeting.
Today, Northbrook Power Management owns the dam at Lake Emory, the same company that owns the Ela Dam and inadvertently released a massive amount of sediment there in October 2021, blanketing the downstream reach and severely damaging its aquatic communities. Northbrook also owns the Mission Dam on the Hiawassee River.
In an effort to generate electricity for the local community, as well as income from tourism, in 1925 the Town of Franklin created Lake Emory by funding a $300,000 bond to pay for a 35.5-foot tall, 463-foot-long dam on the Little Tennessee river.
After one failed attempt to offload the dam to Northwest Carolina Utilities, the town eventually transferred title of the dam to Nantahala Power and Light Company in 1932, which later morphed into Duke Energy. Over the last several decades the lake has been plagued by the buildup of silt from storm damage and development activities upstream of the dam.
