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Maggie Valley looks to develop waterfall park
Maggie Valley starts planning process for waterfall park
BY HANNAH MCLEOD S TAFF WRITER
When tourists visit this region, many of them come seeking the beauty and awe of the waterfalls that decorate the slopes of these mountains. One of those natural beauties is a long, cascading waterfall located off of Old Still Road in Maggie Valley.
However, more than 17 years after it was gifted to the town, it has no parking and remains largely inaccessible to visitors. Now, the town is one step closer to changing that.
At a special called meeting on Tuesday, June 16, the Maggie Valley Board of Aldermen heard presentations from Mosaic Civic Studio, Mattern and Craig Engineers and Destination by Design about possibilities for developing the property.
In 2002, BB&T donated the property to the Town of Maggie Valley after it had inherited the property from Haywood Savings and Loan. At the time there was an active sewage pump on the property that BB&T did not want to maintain. They donated the land to the town to be used as a park in exchange for the town taking over the sewage pump station. The town received $10,000 for maintenance of the sewage station and part of the land was required to remain a greenway or park area.
The town owns 6 acres of property that encompasses the waterfall. There are currently No Trespassing signs blocking a trail that leads to the waterfall, and the old staircase and viewing platform is rotting and broken from fallen trees. What’s more, the road leading to the waterfall is a narrow, dead end road in a residential area above Maggie Valley Golf Club.
“Our team would also include civil engineers with Mattern and Craig Engineering and a trail design and construction specialist with Benchmark Trails. So, it’s really kind of a three-firm team. We would be working with the town to determine what the options are for this property,” said Taylor Broyhill of Mosaic Civic Studio in Boone.
According to Broyhill, the process will require an analysis of both the topography and the built environment, the context of the surrounding neighborhood and natural features of the site.
Broyhill said this analysis will determine “what is physically possible from an environmental standpoint and a build standpoint. Then we develop concepts founded in that understanding, and then put those concepts out to the public as well for their input.”
Once the public has had the chance to give feedback, the team can refine those concepts and develop a more final plan for the property. Broyhill said the whole design process will take between eight and 12 months. The team will then provide the town with phases for the plan and bid packages that the town can put out for bid to begin construction as soon as funding is possible.
At the end of the meeting the board decided to accept the contract with Mosaic Civic Studio for $30,000. The money for the project was set aside in the 2019-20 budget, and therefore did not take any funds from the current 2020-21 budget. on from it.
“It’s something we’ve had for 15-plus years — we have to make a decision if we’re gonna do something with it or if we’re going to try and sell it or just move on from it. But in order to do that, we had to take this step,” said Mayor Mike Eveland.
In a follow-up interview, Alderman Phillip Wight said, “We’ve had this property in our possession. So, the question is, this is a beautiful cascading waterfall, what’s one of the greatest assets when people come to visit our region? They go out and look at waterfalls and go hiking and it’s just an added asset right in our backyard to develop something that the town owns.”
At the meeting the board discussed its ability to seek funding from different companies and entities in the community, host fundraisers, sell naming rights, memorials and enter public-private partnerships to help raise funds.
“The town financially is in a very stable position, even with the pandemic going on,” said Eveland. “If we get the vision that we’re looking for out of this, then that is a
natural resource that I believe would be
— Mike Eveland
great if we can develop the land.”
Ed Evans of Mattern and Craig engineers said that there is also the opportunity for grant funding. According to Evans, grant funding can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. Agencies like to see the community involved and the project “shovel ready.”
“My vision is just something nice and peaceful and tranquil. It’s not gonna require a lot of maintenance once this thing is developed out. Added attraction for Maggie Valley, beautiful waterfall,” said Wight.
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BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER
North Carolina’s graduated three-phase COVID-19 reopening plan was set to cruise into Phase 3 on June 26, but due to growing community spread, increasing daily case counts, a high percentage of positive tests and rising hospitalizations, Gov. Roy Cooper has hit the brakes.
“The numbers we see are a stark warning, and we must pay attention,” Cooper said.
Cooper made the announcement in a 3 p.m. press conference on June 24, just as the state had reported 1,721 news cases and 906 hospitalizations — both the second-highest totals since the pandemic began. To date, there have been 1,346 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in North Carolina.
Cooper called North Carolina’s approach to reopening more of a dimmer switch than an on/off button. He also said the state’s response would be guided by science and data, and that current caseloads warrant a “pause” in the “safer at home” Phase 2 until July 17.
By far the biggest news put forth by Cooper was that the use of face coverings would become compulsory, but there are many caveats.
“We’re adding this new requirement because we don’t want to go backward,” he said.
Face coverings must be worn in public and in private by all people over the age of 11 where six feet of social distancing is not possible.
All employees and customers of retail businesses must wear them, as must employees and customers of several other industries, including restaurants, personal care and grooming or tattoo businesses.
Persons present at childcare facilities, day and overnight camps, state government agencies, public transportation, meat or poultry processing plants, long-term care facilities or other health care settings must also wear face coverings.
Those who have underlying medical conditions, are exercising, or are associating with members of their own household don’t need to wear them, nor do people actively eating or drinking, giving speeches, driving in a personal vehicle or remaining in their own homes.
Cooper’s executive order #147 says that the failure to wear required face coverings won’t be enforced criminally by police, but persons refusing to wear masks could be cited for trespassing if they’re asked to leave a business but refuse.
Wearing a mask slows the spread of COVID-19, Cooper said, and doesn’t hurt the economy. In fact, it does the opposite.
“Slowing the spread helps our economy, and these face coverings do that,” said Cooper.
Right now, economic data on the state of likely soon, that too may be a mixed bag — North Carolina is mixed, at best, but it could North Carolina moved from its highest level get far worse; there’s a lag between the colof restriction, Phase 1, to Phase 2 on May lection and publication of the data, so fig22. That progression enabled the reopening ures for the month of April — the state’s of large swaths of the economy, albeit at a first full month under various lockdown prolesser capacity for some of them. visions — are only now becoming available and don’t reflect what’s happened since. According to the North Sales tax collections for the month of April, in millions Carolina Department of Commerce, the seasonally 2020 2019 2018 adjusted unemployment Buncombe ................$18.34 ..............$22.90 ..............$23.23 rate for April was 12.2 perCherokee...................$1.37 ................$1.46 ................$1.32 cent, up from 4.3 percent Clay............................$0.39 ................$0.39 ................$0.32 the previous month, and up Graham......................$0.28 ................$0.30 ................$0.23 from 4.1 percent in April Haywood....................$2.98 ................$3.19 ................$2.89 2019. Henderson.................$5.21 ................$5.50 ................$5.16
North Carolina’s unemJackson......................$2.36 ................$2.28 ................$1.96 ployment rate had Macon........................$1.85 ................$2.07 ................$1.90 remained fairly stable over Swain .........................$0.46 ................$0.50 ................$0.46 the past year, around 4 perTransylvania ..............$1.41 ................$1.46 ................$1.28 cent or less.
Another major indicator Source: N.C. Department of Revenue of economic activity — sales tax collections — showed April to be a mixed bag. Some counties On May 22, North Carolina had reported across the region, like Cherokee, Graham, a total of 22,110 COVID-19 cases, according Haywood, Henderson and Swain saw to Worldometers.info, a website that’s been declines between 6 and 8 percent. Macon tracking the global spread of coronavirus and Buncombe counties fared the worst, with cases since March. declines of 11 and 20 percent, respectively. On the day Cooper announced that
Bright spots include Transylvania Phase 3 would have to wait three more County, where collections fell by less than 4 weeks, there had been more than 56,000 percent, and Clay County, which saw no cases in the state. change from April 2019. Jackson County Read the full text of Gov. Cooper’s actually saw an increase in collections, by Executive Order #147 at almost 4 percent. https://files.nc.gov/governor/documents/
When economic data for May is released, files/EO147-Phase-2-Extension.pdf.
Cherokee has second COVID-related death
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Macon experiences nursing home ‘outbreak’
BY JESSI STONE N EWS EDITOR
As of June 30, North Carolina had 64,670 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The death toll is now over 1,300 and 908 people are currently hospitalized.
The surge led Gov. Roy Cooper to keep the state in Phase 2 of reopening instead of moving into Phase 3 and now people will be required to wear facial coverings in public places.
Looking at the most western counties, Macon County Public Health identified a COVID-19 “outbreak” June 25 at Macon Valley Nursing Home when two staff members tested positive for COVID-19. While two positives doesn’t seem to warrant an outbreak, the state COVID-19 guidelines defines an outbreak of COVID-19 in a congregate living setting as two or more laboratory-confirmed cases within a 28-day period.
“This is based on CDC guidance for influenza outbreaks in long-term care facilities and is appropriate for settings where the likelihood of exposure having occurred at the facility is high and rapid implementation of specific interventions is needed to reduce morbidity and mortality.
A cluster is defined as a minimum of five cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period and plausible epidemiologic linkage between cases.
Both employees are asymptomatic and are isolating at home. They will not be allowed to return to work until they have two negative COVID-19 tests, taken 24 hours apart. Macon Valley Nursing Home has been following the highest levels of Personal Protective Equipment standards while in their facility and especially when working with patients.
At this time, no patient in any Macon County nursing home or long-term care facility has tested positive for COVID-19. All the residents and staff at the nursing home are being tested and plans are in place to isolate any residents, should there be a positive result.
Macon’s total cases are now up to 281 cases as of June 29 — 159 are considered active, 121 recovered and one death. More than 3,719 tests have been completed in Macon and 288 results are pending.
In Cherokee, Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Richard Sneed announced a second COVID-related death on the Qualla Boundary June 27. Four new positives were announced in Cherokee on June 30, bringing the total number of positives to 71. The tribe reported that 42 cases were considered recovered and 20 test results were still pending.
Haywood County Public Health received notice June 27-28 that five more residents tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of cases recorded to 90. The individuals are currently in isolation at home. Two had recent out of state travel; one traveled out of state on business and the other for vacation. One is unsure of the exposure although they had out of county vacation travel. One was exposed at work out of the county. One is a close contact of an existing known case and was identified and tested through contact tracing efforts.
According to a press release, 68 cases in Haywood are categorized as recovered and the other 22 remain in isolation. There are 44 people are in quarantine because they have been identified as close contacts of known cases during contact tracing efforts.
Jackson County had performed 4,819 tests as of June 29 with 107 positive cases — 42 are currently in isolation and the county has had one death. About 42 percent of the people who’ve tested positive are in the 25 to 49 age range while almost 20 percent of positive cases have been reported in people 24 and younger and 71 percent have been white.
Swain County has 56 confirmed cases and zero deaths. The county has performed a total of 2,041 tests with 337 still pending result.
For more information about COVID-19 cases in North Carolina, visit https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov.
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