JACKSON COUNTY PLANNING BOARD  MINUTES  Date: November 9, 2023 Time Begin: 6:00 p.m. Time End: 6:51 p.m.  Location: Department on Aging, Heritage Room  Members Emily Moss Sandy Davis Brian Barwatt Adam Holt Staff Present: Michael Poston- Planning Director Anna Harkins- PlannerI Call to Order and Quorum Check Approval of the Agenda unanimously.  Present Absent X X  Present Absent X X  Present Absent X X X  Nathan Shepherd Ollin Dunford X Joyce Cooper X Ken Brown  Thomas Taulbee Beverly Crespo X Elmer Rhodie Humbert X  Chairman Thomas Taulbee called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and a quorum was present.  Elmer Rhodie Humbert made a motion with the addition to the agenda to add item b) Discussion about December Meeting under "New Business." Ollin Dunford seconded the motion, and it carried  Approval of the Minutes There were no minutes to approve. Public Comment There were no public comments. New Business  a) G.S. Chapter 160D Discussion  Mr. Poston presented the interests that the board members sent in to staff:  160D-1119-Unsafe Buildings department. 160D-910-Manufactured Housing  o Grant of power from the states, and is enforced by the County building  The statute does speak about location and architectural standards. This would require some discussion as the County is partially zoned and as we speak about where manufactured homes can go in the County that can be easily done to be regulated within a zoningj jurisdiction, and ifiti is outside in an un-zoned portion ofthe County it would need to be: zoned for such. The County would need to have a legal counsel to discuss architectural standards for manufactured housing. The state prohibited regulating manufactured housing based on the age ofthe manufactured house. Ifyou were planning to put a manufactured house in a  1    regulated district it would need to be permitted use in the district, and they would need to obtain a: zoning permit. Ifyou were planning toj put a manufactured house outside of the zoningjurisdictions within the County they would need to obtaina building permit and permits from environmental health for septic and sewer. If they are planning toj put multiple manufactured homes on a property that would trigger the manufactured home park ordinance that has standards based on the number ofunits as to what type ofr road system, buffering, etc. is required. We do have the authority to adopt a local ordinance; however, the enabling statutes require doing that in conjunction with the states erosion control program. The County has a local erosion control program that does conform to existing state regulations and there is some local choice built into the ordinance that the County has adopted. The states erosion control plan only requires an erosion control permit when you get to 1 acre of disturbed area. At the local level, the County was ablet to reduce that to 0.50 acre of disturbed area since either 2005 or 2006. They would need to discuss what the state would allow the County to do that would be more restrictive, and thel Board has made some additional tools for the erosion control officers when they are enforcing these standards. They are not required tol have floodplain regulations, but ify you do have floodplain regulations, the community would not be eligible for thel National Flood Insurance Program, which is subsidized by the government. The National Flood Insurance Program helps regulates and makes flood insurance affordable to property owners and they would need to adopt those regulations, and they do have some local choice and the County has done that before. The County adopted their floodplain ordinance regulations around 1988, and in the late 90s, early 2000s they adopted a freeboard standard where the state comes in andi identifies all floodplains. The local jurisdictions do not have the authority to identify floodplains and it is done through hydrological studies called a flood insurance study that eitheri is limited or full detailed studies on streams, creeks and rivers. The information for these studies provide the backbone ofhow we regulate floodplain areas, the state last mapped those areas in 2010 and the County adopted the new: floodplain maps and updated the ordinance. When they come in to do the flood insurance study they will tell you what the base flood elevation is ins ai floodplain (1800 or 2400 feet above sea level, etc.). Ifyou are planning on construction al building or dwelling in the floodplain, you can do that with proper permitting. The bottom floor ofhabitable space has to be at the base flood elevation, but as the local option, the County has required to build two feet above the base flood elevation, which has been enforced for over 20 years. The County GIS Department ai few years ago produced maps that showed suitability for development and the locations ofthe areas that were difficult to develop versus locations of primary areas to develop, which has been included several times in The County adopted thel Mountain Ridge Protection ordinance in 1983, which is one of our earliest development regulations. The state had mapi makers come into the western counties and identified all the ridges that would meet the state definition ofaj protected ridge, which is 3000: feet in elevation, and more than 400 feet between the ridge and the adjacent valley floor. The mountain protection law regulates how and where to construct tall buildings above 401 feet in height, and it does not include TV antennas, cell towers or communication, radio antennas,  160D-922-Erosion Control  60D-923-Floodplain Regulations  the land use planning process. 160D-924-Mt. Ridge Protection  2    which are exempt from the state statute. The ordinance does not prohibit the building on ridges or even protected ridges; it provides some development standards for building on those ridges. Thel Mountain Ridge Protection and Mountain and Hillside Development Ordinance are prescribed how you build and under what conditions because ifyou were told that you cannot build on your property, the government isj just taking your property without compensation. There is some ability to make local decisions and designate local protected ridges, and the County did that through adoption of thel Mountain and Hillside Development Ordinance (MHDO) in 2007. The MHDO requires a protected ridge as 2500: feet in elevation, and more than 4001 feet between the ridge and the adjacent valley floor. The protected ridges are in the southern end oft the county, and the eastern area near. Balasm and the Blue Ridge Parkway, and a lot of federal land is included in these protected ridge areas. In addition, in the northwestern portion ofthe County there are not as many protected ridges as it is our lowest lying area in elevation as the Tuckasiegee River is flowing into Swain The County has al Historic Preservation Commission that was established in 2009 and iti is aj joint board represented by Forest Hills, Webster, Dillsboro, Sylva and jurisdictions. The Commission conducted: a County Architectural Survey Update ofHistoric Resources from 1945-1975 in 2021. Ms. Harkins would speak at one ofthe board meetings in 2024 about the County's historic preservation The Unified Development Ordinance Article 3 includes the language of the development approval process, which can be: reviewed and modified as we add new features to our land development regulatory framework. o The County adopted the Outdoor Advertising Ordinance int the early 2000s, and it has not been reviewed in a while. In addition, the outdoor advertising lobby is very active in] Raleigh and they have gotten the state to modify what can be done locally. The County does not regulate on premise signage, and the County has been more concerned with regulating off-premise signage, which is when a sign isn not located where your place of business is located. The Board can look into sign regulations for on premise signage tol help set an expectation, and to address Mr. Poston explained the Community Appearance Commission (CAC) topic that would pertain more to as small municipality, rather than a county. He stated there was a CAC that wanted tol help identify zoning violations in the town he was in had 25001 homes, and he would receive 70 complaints from that commission a month. The Board can look into this to discuss ifthey are interested what their expectations are out ofthe Community Appearance Commission and ifthat helps Mr. Poston stated one comment he received was whether or not we need more stafft to do more int the County. Depending on the type of policies the County adopts would dictate the need: for additional staff. For example, ifthe County establishes aj new program that may require additional staffing to enforce that would be considered prior to the adoption ofthe new policy.  County. 160D-303-Historic Preservation  programing.  60D-403-Development Approval Process  160D-912-Outdoor. Advertising  any concerns regarding on premise signage. 160D-960-Community Appearance Commission  us achieve the goals we are trying to achieve.  160D-402-Administrative Staff  3    160D-1130-Vacant Building Receivership isg given to the chiefbuilding inspector.  This comes back down to the building code, is already prescribed by the state and Mr. Poston stated out of these topics that the Board had interest in learning more about hel believes it is worth it for us to discuss almost everything and for you to hear about what we are doing and how we enforce ordinances. In addition, he stated he believes that in some oft these areas there are policy improvements that thel Board could help the County with amending these ordinances. Mr. Poston highlighted the 160D items that are regulated by the building department Unsafe Buildings and Vacant Building Receivership and would reach out to the director Tony Elders ifhe would be available to The Board decided to not hold al December meeting due to the regular scheduled meeting  come speak to the board in the New Year.  b) Discussion about December. Meeting  space being unavailable and reserved and for the Holidays.  Adjournment Submitted by:  With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:51 p.m.  Approved)  Murkillu  Allison Kelley  Thomas/aulbee Planning Board Chairman  E  Administrative Asistant-Planning  4