The Town of Highlands Board of Commissioners met for its monthly Workshop on March 19 to discuss the noise ordinance and parking regulations aimed at preventing traffic obstruction, before holding its regular board meeting to review several requests, including those from Bill Futral and the Highlands Motoring Festival.
Rezoning request on Dillard Road
On Dec. 19, 2025, Bill Futral submitted a petition for rezoning for a property located on Dillard Road. The property is currently zoned R-1 residential and Futral requested a rezoning to B-3 commercial. The Planning Board reviewed the application on Jan. 26 and recommended the approval of the rezoning as submitted.
Before taking action, the board held a public hearing, with three local speakers denouncing the request.
“I don’t think it’s going to better the town of Highlands,” said William Reeves. “I think it would take away some of the property, the looks of the area that we have now, and I’m kind of against it for that. And it is butting my property.”
The floor was then opened up to the commissioners for discussions on how to proceed in council action. Commissioner Amy Patterson questioned whether the town needs more commercial space and referenced the already-open commercial spaces in Wright Square and on Main Street.
“The comprehensive plan says, both on the business and citizen surveys, that they wanted to maintain that vibrant downtown,” said Patterson. “And so, if you’ve already got spaces there, I’m not sure why we need to go out any further.”
Commissioner Jeff Weller concurred, noting that Wright Square is fully occupied for the first time in 15 years, aside from one space, and that Highlands Creek Village is also at full capacity for the first time since it opened.
“I’m just saying from a commercial standpoint, there’s not much available,” said Weller.
Commissioner Eric Pierson expressed concerns over North Carolina Senate Bill 382 (SL 2024-57), which stated that local governments cannot adopt downzoning without written consent from all affected landowners.
“I think every municipality, us included, in the state should be very wary of changing zoning right now at all without a good, community-wide plan for those municipalities,” said Pierson.
Commissioner Jim Tate said he agreed with the Planning Board’s recommendation and asked if it’s fair to let the candidate wait another six months to a year for a comprehensive plan.
“I think if there’s any property in Highlands that makes sense to be commercial, it’s this one,” said Tate.
Patterson motioned to deny the applicant’s request to rezone the property from R-1 residential to B-3 commercial. She and Pierson voted in favor of the motion, while Weller and Tate opposed, resulting in a 2-2 tie. Mayor Taylor broke the tie, siding with Patterson and Pierson, saying he supports completing a comprehensive review of zoning and exploring whether additional R-3 multi-family properties can be built in Highlands amid a lack of affordable workforce housing.
The board also voted 3-2 to adopt a statement of plan consistency and reasonableness denying the rezoning request, with Mayor Taylor again breaking the tie alongside Pierson and Patterson.
Committee discussion
Following a workshop in which board members expressed interest in reinstating committees, the board discussed the topic further. Town Attorney Nick Tosco said that, to comply with North Carolina open meetings laws, committees should include five members — two commissioners, the Mayor and three staff members — ensuring a quorum of three to take formal action.
Committees are required to provide at least 48 hours’ notice of meetings to the public.
Tosco then outlined the process in which commissioners are appointed to committees.
“Essentially, the way you would do that is the Mayor would nominate with the advice and consent of the majority of the board,” said Tosco. “So, the Mayor would establish the committees, when they meet and who would be on them.”
Mayor Taylor said under this format, he would speak to commissioners about which committees they are interested in serving on and would then present the assignments for confirmation during the board’s December organizing sessions.
Tosco added that, in his experience, the board applies the same set of rules and procedures to each committee, outlining details such as term length.
The board reached a consensus to allow Tosco to structure the details, with Tosco advising members to determine which committees are needed at the next workshop.
Festival and show requests
Ricky Siegel and Steve Mehder of the Highlands Motoring Festival requested an increase to the number of show car parking spaces on Fifth Street to make up for the lost space in Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park due to construction.
“This also gives us some vision,” said Siegel. “We’d be more visible to Main Street and people coming and going and visiting.”
The new plan also adds barricades on Fifth Street at Main Street to block northbound traffic, as well as in the northbound lane of Fifth street to safely extend space for show cars and attendees to Main Street. This allows one-way traffic on Oak Street to continue operating normally while creating additional space for the festival.
The request was unanimously approved by the board.
Highlands Chamber of Commerce Event Manager and Bookkeeper Tina Rogers outlined the chamber’s 2026 events, along with the special event use permits and related resolutions to request permits for holiday events.
The main topic of discussion was whether alcohol would be permitted at this year’s Fourth of July celebration at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park, limited to the live music and firework shows.
“If we don’t permit alcohol on the Fourth of July, which is on a Saturday — and we do permit it at the concert series in the summer [Pine Concert Series] — this will create a lot of miscommunication in the park,” said Mayor Taylor.
Rogers said the Chamber plans to hire three off-duty police officers to supervise alcohol use and create clear pathways for attendees moving through crowds. She also requested additional parking for the band and sound crew.
The board unanimously approved all of the Chamber’s requests and resolutions.
On behalf of Highlands Rotary, Ryan Bryson presented a proposal to close Hickory Street on July 4th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to address safety concerns.
“It’s becoming more and more crowded and I just want to be able to close that down to general traffic to make it easier for emergency vehicles to get out,” said Bryson.
Mayor Taylor added that the road closure would better protect children playing in the street. The Board unanimously approved Bryson’s request.
The board also approved Mountaintop Rotary Club Fundraising Chair Cath Hudson’s request to extend the Arts and Crafts Show’s “Sip and Stroll” from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Workshop
During the workshop prior to the board meeting, Chief Holland asked commissioners to take a closer look at noise and nuisance ordinances due to a lack of clarity and conflicts between the two.
“The noise ordinance itself is clear,” said Holland. “That approach is objective, measurable and provides a consistent standard for everyone. The issue arises when the sound does not exceed that [noise] limit, but complaints continue.”
Holland said in those scenarios, officers are forced to look to the broader definition of a noise disturbance, which entails any sound that annoys or disturbs a reasonable person based on volume, duration and location.
“The challenge is that Section 815 and that definition are subjective. They allow the noise to be treated as a violation based on perception,” said Holland.
As a result, someone can be fully compliant with the noise ordinance, but can still receive a warning citation. Chief Holland said this creates two different standards based on measurable data and perception, putting officers in a difficult position to distinguish the two.
After discussions, Mayor Taylor suggested that Chief Holland work with Tosco on a proposal to align these ordinances so that they function together, establishing clear guidelines for officers.
Chief Holland, along with Police Captain Leah McCall, also proposed an amendment to Section 7-99 of the current ordinance to align with NC general statute 20-161. Under that statute, vehicles may not be parked on the main travel portion of the highway unless they are disabled and cannot be moved.
“This amendment would not introduce a new concept, but rather bring out local ordinance into alignment with existing state law,” said McCall.
Tosco, the police department and Commissioner Jim Tate will be part of ongoing discussions on the issue.
Other news
Town Manager Josh Ward said the Interlocal Agreement with Macon County regarding improvements to the old landfill for dredging material disposal was approved at the Macon County Board of Commissioner’s recent meeting. The board then unanimously approved the agreements, allowing final engineering design work on the project to proceed.
Following an agreement with Kompan, Ward presented the design-build playground contract to the board for approval. A key element of this contract is the guaranteed maximum price of $1,599,470.67, just below the town’s maximum budget of $1.6 million. The board unanimously approved the contract.
Wilkes named Planning Board Chair
At its March 23 meeting, the Highlands Planning Board named Vice Chair Chris Wilkes as its new chair after Bill Grubb vacated the post to join the Town Board of Commissioners. John Muir was appointed to fill Wilkes’ former vice chair position.
- Mitch Stone
reporter@highlandsnews.com