The following members of the Council were present:

Mayor Marcia Almond

Councilmember Robert Kehrberg

Councilmember Daniel Shields

Councilmember Nilofer Couture

Councilmember Larry Ingersoll

Stephanie Gibson, Clerk

The following non-Council members were Present:

 Residents Andrew Hansen, Rochelle Mau, Ron Yount, David Shapiro, Jim Wallace, Jack Brown, and Hannah Butler (Journalism Student with The Sylva Herald).

 

1. Call to order: at 7:00pm Mayor Almond called the meeting to order. 

     2.  Announcements:

Reminder – Please silence cell phones for meeting. 

     3.  Approval of Agenda: Councilmember Shields made a motion to approve the agenda, Councilmember Ingersoll seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 

     4.  Approval of Meeting Minutes for February 04, 2025, Regular Council Meeting: (All meeting minutes are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) Councilmember Kehrberg made a motion to approve the meeting minutes for February 04, 2025, Councilmember Couture seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 

     5.  Acceptance of Financial Report & Checklist for the month of February 2025: (All financial reports are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) Councilmember Couture made a motion to approve the financial reports, Councilmember Shields seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

Stephanie asked Council for a motion to reclass funds to cover overage in the Village Audit line items.  Councilmember Shields made a motion to reclass funds from Professional services to cover $500 in the Village Audit line item, Councilmember Ingersoll seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

      6.  Municipal Attorney: Mayor Almond introduced Remington Jackson, the Attorney, taking over as the Municipal Attorney for Anthony Fox in his retirement.  Attorney Jackson shared that he is with the firm Parker and Poe based in Charlotte.  He shared the draft amendment to the Short-Term Rental Ordinance for the Village that he had edited and explained the Ordinance and how it was to be interpreted for the Village and its residents and/or property owners.  He noted that no short-term rentals will be allowed in R-1, R-1A, or R-2.  Attorney Jackson confirmed that prior to the amendment being voted on, there would need to be an advertisement in the paper, for two consecutive weeks and it would need to be posted on the Village website.  He noted that it would need to be reviewed by the Planning Board at their meeting and then brought before the Council and voted on.   

     7.  Public Comment: Resident Rochelle Mau shared her thoughts and concerns on the proposed development in the Valley and expressed concerns and recapped discussions from the February meeting about the Village’s response printed in the newspaper regarding the development proposal.

Resident Andrew Hansen introduced himself as a new resident and shared that he bought the property formally owned by the Eckard family and expressed concerns about the impact the proposed development would have to the community.

Resident David Shapiro shared that he has concerns about the proposed development and the impact the proposed development would have on the Village community and the impact the influx of more homes would have on the community and village roads.

     8.  Reports: 

Mayor’s Report: Marcia Almond – Mayor Almond shared that she and Councilman Shields met with John Allen of Brown Haven Homes and told him that they would need to have a new plan to submit to Mike Poston with Jackson County Planning, noting that their current plan was not compatible with the Village’s Zoning Ordinances.

Mayor Almond shared that she with the Senator at the NCLM Town State Dinner in Raleigh on February 26^th and ask if there was anything new on Zoning. She said that she will call Mike Clampitt.

Mayor Almond attended the Southwestern Commission meeting in Asheville and she attended the meeting in Sylva today and noted that Russ would like to meet with the Village Council and Planning Board.

Roads:  Councilman Ingersoll said that Robbie Hess was able to remove the large tree stump lying in the right-of-way on upper South Country Club Drive and put pine straw to enhance the village entrance.

Councilman Ingersoll said that he was able to locate the 6 missing sign posts and no parking signs, he said the signs were delivered to DOT in error.  He said that Robbie put up the no parking signs along North Country Club Drive and mirrors on SCC and NCC.  He noted that he had to return one mirror as it was damaged.  Councilman Ingersoll said that the mirrors still need some adjusting to be effective but they did clear some brush to enhance the line of sight for drivers on certain curves.  He said that the new sign for Cave Springs Road has been ordered to replace the one wiped out during the snow storm.

Councilman Ingersoll said that BH Graning is working on a bid to fix Meigg’s Way and Aaron at Sylva Grading and Paving will also be giving a bid to repair a couple areas of pavement along Cave Springs Road.

Ordinance Violation update: Councilmember Ingersoll said that Attorney Jackson has revised our STR amendment to remove any misconceptions and has drafted the Affidavit that all STR tenants must sign at the start of each stay.

Councilman Ingersoll said that he signed and mailed a response to the existing cabin owner’s attorney regarding the SCC property and noted the response was prepared by the Village attorney.

Councilman Ingersoll asked attorney Jackson to review the “Amortization” clause in NC law with respect to existing STR’s being non-conforming after the new amendment is in effect.

Councilman Ingersoll said that he received two complaints about a barking dog at 1165 NCC Drive and he has sent the owner a letter asking that they rectify the issue to be in compliance with the pet noise ordinance.  He also received a complaint about the ongoing construction at 137 SCC Drive, he has not yet addressed the issue.

Councilman Ingersoll and Mayor Almond are still reviewing different area dog ordinances to aid in writing a new ordinance for the Village. 

Village Safety:  Councilmember Couture said that of the 911 calls for the month were about 65% from the Prospect, two calls were from Pin Cushion, three were from SCC Dr, and one call was from the Sky of Forest Hills.

• TWSA:  None 

• Planning Board:  The Planning Board has not met in sometime but plan to hold a meeting on the last Tuesday in March.  Planning Board member, Judith Lambert, resigned her position.     

9. New Business:

 RFP for Auditor:  Stephanie noted that the she has submitted an RFP to five potential new auditors.  She will send copies of responses to Council members for review and discussion.

    10.  Unfinished Business: 

• Updates on Engineering Study:  The Engineering Study is underway and updates will be sent as the company completes stages of the study.
• Update on Grants:  TBD
• Additional Comments:  None

    11.  Adjourn: At 8:05pm, Councilmember Shields made a motion to adjourn.