A standing room only crowd packed into the Highlands Community Building on Wednesday night for the unveiling of the town’s first-ever comprehensive plan.
Representatives from Stewart Inc. and town staff discussed several facets of the plan, which is meant to shape the next 20-25 years of living in Highlands.
“I think this is a good plan, and one that can be useful and effective for many years to come,” town manager Josh Ward said. “I’ve been working for the town for a long time and we have been discussing writing a comprehensive plan for probably 10 years now, so it’s good to see it come together.”
Jake Petrosky, municipal planner with Stewart Inc., was quick to point out that the comprehensive plan was not meant to overhaul Highlands or change the town’s character.
“Highlands has so many natural advantages, and incredible mountain charm, which make it such an amazing place to live or visit,” Petrosky said. “We want to keep all of that, and protect that natural beauty that everyone loves, while also planning for the future needs of the town as it continues to grow.”
The planning process started in 2020 when the town contracted with Stewart Inc. to write the plan. Stakeholder meetings preceded an open public forum and a community survey, which drew more than 1,000 responses.
Among the high points of the plan Petrosky pointed out were increased walkability via future projects to add sidewalks in high-traffic areas, a crosswalk traversing Main Street halfway between 3rd and 4th Street, and a continued effort to improve and expand the greenway.
“In the survey a number of people pointed to Highlands walkable downtown area as an asset, and they shared the need to make improvements in pedestrian safety,” Petrosky said. “The trend toward walkability isn’t just important to Highlands but small towns everywhere.”
Another hot topic among the crowd on Wednesday was future parking management and the potential to add parking spaces.
Petrosky shared one example where parallel parking spaces could be added on Main Street between 2nd Street and 3rd Street. The potential revamping of Main Street to accommodate parallel parking spaces drew mixed reviews.
The idea of adding a parking deck also had heads shaking both for and against.
“When you look at parking there are three options,” Petrosky said. “We can better manage the parking spaces the town has currently, we can add on-street parking like the parallel parking example, or we can add off-street parking via a parking deck or some other lot on town-owned property.”
Ways to regulate short term rentals was also a much-discussed topic during the meeting. Petrosky noted that there are ways for the town to steer short term rentals, also known as vacation rentals by owner, in a productive direction but few ways for the town to effectively regulate the businesses.
“The state of North Carolina passed a law in 2020 that says towns cannot have registries, fees or licenses that only apply to VRBOs,” Petrosky said. “The recourse for the town is to enforce its current ordinances related to noise, trash, parking, etc. if the rental is creating a problem. There are also ways that zoning regulations could be changed to regulate where short-term rentals could operate, but that may not be practical and is really a last resort that some towns have looked into.”
Petrosky added that while VRBOs that operate in residential areas may come with issues for neighboring homeowners, not everyone is against the practice of short-term rentals.
“VRBO owners are obviously in favor of them, especially if they operate their units in a way that don’t cause problems,” Petrosky said. “Area business owners also appreciate VRBOs and the people they bring in. The idea that everyone is against short-term rentals isn’t accurate.”
Along with parking and short-term rentals, Petrosky covered many other aspects of the plan including residential and commercial development, environmental protection measures, the future of parks and recreation, and the future of Highlands’ utilities.
The next step in the planning process will be for the representatives from Stewart Inc. to make final edits and compose the second draft of the plan for potential adoption by the town board of commissioners. While no exact timeline was given, Ward noted that the final plan could be ready as early as this fall.