Mayor wants windfall from watershed invested

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The Town of Sylva has begun surveying the Fisher Creek watershed in anticipation of receiving a $3.5 million conservation easement to be awarded by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

Sylva librarian resigns as of Jan. 31

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Jackson County Librarian Michael Cartwright will be resigning from his post by the end of the year, prompting the Fontana Regional Library System to begin a search for his replacement.

Many Sylva building owners support downtown tax

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Most business and property owners have reacted positively to a Downtown Sylva Association proposal to create a municipal service district that would tax the downtown area to pay for improvements, say DSA officials.

An open letter to Sylva

Most of us in the course of a week find a reason to go to downtown Sylva. We may go out to eat, or to the library, post office or bank, or perhaps just shop. There’s plenty of pleasure — and necessity — to be found downtown for residents of the area. As a real, working, genuine town, Sylva functions very well.

Bridge project brings community together

The Bridge Park Project is a community effort to create a covered performance pavilion, market space, public gardens, and improved parking at the municipal parking lot in downtown Sylva, between Mill Street and Scotts Creek.

Sylva set to extend planning jurisdiction to Allen’s Branch

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Town aldermen are moving ahead with plans to vote the Allen’s Branch community into Sylva’s planning jurisdiction.

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.

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