JACKSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD  MINUTES  Date: March 2,2017 Time Begin: 6:00 p.m. Time End: 6:55 p.m.  Location: Jackson County Department on Aging, Heritage Room  Members Scott Baker Kirk Stephens Jeremy Hyatt Vickey Wade Others Present:  Present Absent X X X X  Present Absent X X X  Present Absent X X  Keven Hawkins Bonnie Claxton X Ken Brown Jim Mincey  Steven Johannessen Scott Ogle Julie Painter  X  Michael Poston, Planning Director John. Jeleniewski, Senior Planner Caroline Edmonds, Planner 1 Shelby Cook, Administrative Assistant Heather Baker, County Attorney Gary Thompson, NCGS Chief Kevin Jamison, GIS Director Call to Ordera and Quorum Check Approval of the Agenda and it carried unanimously. Approval of the Minutes motion and it carried unanimously. Public Comment  Chairman Scott Baker called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and a quorum was present.  Steven. Johannessen made ai motion to approve the March. 2nd agenda. Kirk Stephens seconded the motion  Ken. Brown made ai motion to approve the minutes from. February gh, 2017. Bonnie Claxton seconded: the  Jason Kimenker - Jason is a resident of. Jackson County. He would like to commend the Planning Board and the Jackson County staff on their work to protect not only ridgetops, but all of the other important environmental components of the county, like water quality and forests. He is here to support the strong protected ridge ordinances the county already has, and the growing technologies the county plans to use  to better enforce those ordinance regulations.  New] Business: Protected Ridges Discussion - NCGS Chief, Gary Thompson  Planning Director, Mike Poston, introduced North Carolina Geodetic Survey (NCGS)Chief, Gary Thompson, to the board. Mr. Thompson explained the history behind the Mountain Ridge Protection Act of 1983. Without the mapping technology of today, ridges had to be identified manually with help from United States Geological Survey (USGS) topo maps. "Adjacent valley floor" is not defined anywhere in North Carolina' 's statutory language. Mr. Thompson has looked to the USGS for guidance on what might have been used ini the '80s, and it's likely that they looked for water bodies to identify the valley floor. If there are two valley floors in question, Mr. Thompson said you should choose the most restrictive to go    by. For example, in a situation where there'sa 300 ft. valley and a 500: ft. valley on either side ofai ridge, If the protected ridge maps were recreated today, modern technology would make the process much easier. Aircrafts are used to send thousands of laser pulses per second to capture very detailed land information. Laser pulses are: now able to identify different pieces ofl landscape - trees, water, etc. LIDAR technology can be used in the air or on the ground via truck, and it captures 4 different angles of Jackson County's Mountain and Hillside Development Ordinance (MHDO) is more restrictive than the state's Ridge Protection Act, and a map has never been created to reflect the county's protected ridge requirements. Mike Poston said it might bej possible to reverse engineer the process from the '80s to identify where adjacent valley floors should be, in order for Jackson County to come up with their own protected ridge map. Planning staff is currently working with the GIS Department to see what mapping options there are. As Mr. Thompson said, the state does have some baseline data that could be used as a jumping-off point for the county's GIS automation. There's also flood plain data to identify a valley's As Scott Baker explained, the protected ridge issue has been a topic of discussion for the Planning Board since a proposed development in Cullowhee was approved in July, 2016. Conflicting language in the county's MHDO and the Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance prompted the board to look into protected ridge and adjacent valley floor definitions. Having a map that depicts the county's Mike Poston said the county would love toj produce the map in-house. Ift that is possible, paying for the map would just be an allocation of staff time. GIS Director, Kevin Jamison, explained that North Carolinai is leading the country in GIS technology. Even though Jackson County's GIS department is only comprised oft two people, they have many resources that could help aid the mapping process, like the base Mr. Thompson ist teaching an upcoming class to professional land surveyors in the area. Protected ridges is a topic he plans to cover during the workshop. He plans to go through some historical NCGS files to see what other information he can uncover that might be useful for the county.!  you should go by the 500: ft. side.  everything it picks up.  lowest point.  specific protected ridges would make ordinance enforcement easier.  GIS layers from NCGS.  Informal Discussion  Mike Poston gave a quick update on the Jackson County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which was recommended by the Steering Committee on Wednesday, March 1st. The comp plan will be coming  before the Planning Board in April.  Adjournment  With no: further business to discuss, Chairman Scott Baker adjourned the meeting at 6:55 p.m.  Submitted by:  Approved by:  hk Scott Baker, Chairman  LeQuigeCook, Administrative. Assistant-P Planning AMydins  2