Highlands’ town board of commissioners had a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, Aug. 17. They continued their discussion on Little Bear Pen road safety, the proposed Chamber of Commerce lease, ADA compliance with the Highway 106 sidewalk easement, and commissioner meetings featuring a monthly workshop.
Little Bear Pen Road
James Worrell appeared to discuss safety at the intersection of Little Bear Pen Road and Highway 64. His goal was to make a specific proposal for a public-private partnership where residents of Little Bear Pen Road and the Town of Highlands would enter into a reimbursable agreement.
Worrell said there had been previous discussions to address this safety issue. The line of sight at this intersection is around 90 feet. A lower speed limit, police presence, and flashing caution signs hadn’t immediately brought positive results. Worrell said the DOT then encouraged the use of a flashing light that would face Little Bear Pen Road and flash when there was no car immediately within 90 feet, hopefully giving people time to safely exit the road.
The DOT quoted the cost of the light and construction at $66,000 dollars. Little Bear Pen has put forward around $17,500, or over 20 percent, of the budget. Worrell said for the agreement, the Town of Highlands would need to establish an account with the DOT with a balance of $66,000. Additional funding may be available to help, but the DOT would control the light. The Town Hall approved a motion for a budget amendment at next month’s meeting to set nearly $50,000 for the partnership with Little Bear Pen.
Chamber lease discussion
Discussions continued regarding the Chamber of Commerce lease for its office on Main Street.
Rent would be paid to the Town of Highlands for bathroom maintenance at Kelsey Hutchinson Founders Park and Town Square. The issue is the Chamber of Commerce would be responsible for an increased lease, but the Chamber does not have the guaranteed budget for this. The Chamber had proposed adding event fees or other solutions to get the town the money. These fees would come from the Visit Highlands, NC side of the Chamber, which has a budget comprised of occupancy tax funds.
Bob Hagemann, Highlands town attorney, asked the county attorney if there would be an issue with payments coming from occupancy tax. The county attorney and Hagemann disagreed about the use of occupancy tax. Hagemann believes it is appropriate and lawful for rent payments to come from occupancy tax. The county attorney proposed a legislative solution giving the town clear authority to charge the chamber rent.
Commissioner Brian Stiehler and members of the Chamber of Commerce said this would be poking the metaphorical bear. As tourism and occupancy tax falls under the county’s purview, there is no guarantee how much of the money the town will get back in the future. Kaye McHan, Chamber of Commerce executive director, said Highlands currently gets 68 percent of occupancy tax, but that rate is subject to legislative agreements.
“I couldn’t agree more. We don’t want to poke this bear. The bear has already said, to Brian’s point, they would love to keep a larger portion of the money at the county level. Highlands would lose out,” said Tricia Cox, chairperson of the Chamber of Commerce.
Cox said the Chamber has offered the town money in a variety of ways, including proposing event fees, licensing fees, and more.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me that we can’t come to an agreement that would prevent us from signing a lease that the Chamber budget can’t afford… We can get you the money in other ways,” Cox said.
Commissioner Amy Patterson expressed concerns this would be considered an impact fee, which is frowned upon in North Carolina. Hagemann said this shouldn’t be the case as impact fees typically are attached to regulatory land use approval.
ADA compliance
Ward said there has been no solid feedback regarding the ADA compliance with the greenway trail portion near Shelby Place. Shelby Place has approved an easement to the town given certain criteria. Ward has met with an NCDOT engineer regarding ADA compliance. A grant for the sidewalk construction can not be acquired without ADA compliance but Ward said they are discussing whether the greenway can be exempt.
Board workshops
The last large item on the agenda included commissioner workshop discussions. A motion was passed to amend the town’s meeting calendar to add a workshop session prior to the regularly scheduled board meetings occurring the third Thursday of each month. Workshop sessions will be at 6 p.m. before normal meetings. These workshop meetings can help the community be involved and allow all commissioners to participate. These workshops may be canceled if there is not enough business to discuss, but the commissioners were confident they could find enough material to discuss for an hour a month.