#Environment
Target:
Jackson County, NC Planning Board and Commissioners
Region:
United States of America
Website:
www.youtube.com

A group who attended the February 2014 Jackson County Planning Board meeting pertaining to the Mountain and Hillside Development ordinance developed a Petition to generate a unified campaign by concerned citizens of Jackson County, NC.

The petition delineates the issues that were brought up in the Public Hearing and proposes that more time, study and thought be put into the Planning Board’s proposed amended version of the county’s existing Land Use Regulations.

WHEREAS the Jackson County Commissioners proposal to revise the 2007 Mountain and Hillside Development Ordinance (MHDO) contains minimal editorial, administrative, and technical evidence supporting a need for change; and

WHEREAS the critical mapping of landslide hazard locations within Jackson County has only been minimally funded and not yet completed; and

WHEREAS scientific data regarding groundwater recharge on steep slopes during droughts are incomplete and currently being assessed; and

WHEREAS the Jackson County Planning Board has largely ignored numerous economic impact studies confirming the negative impact of steep slope and ridge top development on costs of services, infrastructure, and impact to tourism; and

WHEREAS the Jackson County Planning Board has only recently acknowledged the beneficial role of aesthetics and natural heritage in planning decisions; and

WHEREAS the proposed revisions allow for dense housing developments on very steep slopes introducing unacceptable risk of environmental damage downslope; and

WHEREAS the proposed revisions do not protect mountain ridge tops.

KNOWING ALL THIS, the undersigned Jackson residents urge the Planning Board and the County Commission to reject the proposed revisions and then develop new revisions that include the benefits of the current proposal, are based on valid and complete scientific information, protect the aesthetics and natural heritage of Jackson County, and are supported by wide community consensus.

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The Reject Mountain Hillside Development Ordinance Revision Recommendations petition to Jackson County, NC Planning Board and Commissioners was written by Allen Lomax and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.