Downtown Sylva to test social district

HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

The Sylva Social District test period is one step closer to launch following input from a community task force.

“We have been taking our time crafting the plan to make sure we consider all of the feedback,” said Main Street Economic Development Director Bernadette Peters. “We all agree that implementing the social district in a test period will be the best approach.”

The Sylva Town Board approved the ordinance for a social district during its Feb. 10 meeting. A social district is an outdoor area in which a person may carry and consume alcohol sold by an ABC permitted establishment. Following the decision by the board, Peters said the town must create a specific plan, file it with the state and implement the plan according the bill’s specific requirements.

“We plan on hosting a merchant permittee brainstorming session and a non-permittee merchant brainstorming session, plus consider all of the public input from our Feb. 10 Town Board Meeting to create the details of the plan,” Peters said after the meeting. “We will periodically evaluate the social district’s usage and any reported safety concerns periodically and are open to changing the district plans accordingly.”

The Sylva Social District Task Force is made up of community members, business owners and local law enforcement. The group has been reviewing feedback given during the public hearing on Feb. 10, and spent eight hours in merchant meetings to hear and process the needs and ideas of downtown merchants.

The current plan is to implement a test period for the social district which involves limited hours. The recommendation is to change the ordinance so that the social district is in effect Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday from 1-9 p.m.

Town Commissioner and downtown resident Greg McPherson indicated that a launch with limited district hours will provide good data for the town board to consider in rolling out, changing or discontinuing the social district.

“Although we don’t anticipate any significant negative impacts of the social district, we want to make sure that we review all of the data objectively and determine our unique community’s best path forward,” said McPherson.

The Sylva Police Department is gathering baseline incident reports for the downtown district and will re-evaluate the impact of the social district after the test period.

Economic impacts for downtown merchants will also be reviewed following the test period. The test period will require consumers to purchase an eco-friendly reusable cup for use in the social district, placement of portable toilets on Main Street and in Bridge Park until the public restrooms are completed, and social district map and rules that permit customers to enter particular public areas, but not shops unless invited by signage and merchant permission.

Commissioners will have to vote on the reduced hours for the social district test period. The next town board meeting is April 21. The test period will last for six months after it begins. The start date depends on the approval of the ordinance change and plan submission to the state.

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SCC Health Science Center open for learning

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

Though students have been enjoying the amenities of the new Health Sciences Center at Southwestern Community College since the start of this school year, SCC staff and community members gathered last week for the official grand opening of the new building.

“This vision began way back in 2016 when the county government, along with SCC, agreed to spend some funds for a strategic master plan,” said College President Dr. Don Tomas. “And our number one priority was the health science building.”

According to Tomas, the 55,411 squarefoot building allows SCC to expand its health sciences programs from 14 to 16, with new programs in surgical technology and opticianry.

“We now have 16 programs, and, you know, for a college our size, we are the only college in the state of North Carolina that has 16 health science programs,” said Tomas.

The new building and additional programs mean the college will be able to enroll over 240 additional students in its health science department.

“That’s how many additional students we will be able to expand, to create and prepare a work-ready workforce,” said Tomas. “This building enables our students and our faculty to have instructional equipment and technology that our students may not even see in clinicals. It is state of the art, and that’s what’s exciting for all of us.”

A few exciting resources for students and staff are the full-size, simulation ambulance in the EMS paramedic room, simulation labs, a surgery room, a birthing room that is identical to those in a hospital, a critical care room and an Anatomage table.

“I’m very grateful for everything I’ve got here,” said Heber Najera, student representative for the SCC Board of Trustees. “The labs are identical to what they will be in the reallife scenarios. The teaching experience is phenomenal. Every single thing that’s available in this building, we can use it universally. I’ll use the Anatomage table a lot, and I’m a PT student, but the nursing students use that as well.”

Funding for the new Health Sciences Center was a broad effort that involved local community members, county and state government. Commissioners Gayle Woody, Boyce Deitz and Mark Jones attended the open house, as well as reps. Mike Clampitt and Karl Gillespie.

The building cost about $21 million, plus

the price of equipment and furnishings for the state-of-the-art health center. The 2016 Connect NC bond included $7.1 million in funding for repair, renovation and construction projects. In May of that year, Jackson County approved a quarter-cent sales tax to provide additional funds to Jackson County Public Schools and SCC. The $2.6 million for equipment and furnishings was raised with the help of the board of trustees, the Golden Leaf Foundation, the Bridge Foundation, the Nantahala Foundation, Cashiers Highlands Health Foundation, Dogwood Health Trust, the Cannon Foundation, the Great Smokies Health Foundation and the SCC Foundation. “The people that helped build this building are the people that you see their homes up and down these streets and creeks,” Deitz said. “Going through that building, we look out the big windows and you’re looking at the whole Balsam Mountain Range. It’s

The new Health Sciences Center on the campus of Southwestern

Community College is open for learning. SCC photo beautiful. And it’s who we are. A lot of this is for our people in the Balsam Mountains. I thank y’all so much for allowing us to be part of it. We are so glad as a county and as commissioners that we can do the little that we do.” Led by founding program coordinator Melissa Daniels-Dolan, surgical technology is housed on the third floor of the new building. The top level also hosts medical laboratory technology, medical assisting, an anatomy and physiology lab and faculty offices. The second floor is home to the latest medical-training technology, as well as nursing, radiography, respiratory therapy and medical sonography programs. The emergency medical science program and clinics are located on the first floor. The new opticianry program, along with existing programs like health information technology and human services technology, remain in remodeled sections of the Balsam Center. “Thank you to everybody in here ... We are a community college,” Tomas said during the open house. “We’re here to serve you. We’re here to be part of you. We change lives. The students that walk through our doors come out with work-ready, workforce skills.”