February 2020

Village of Forest Hills
Council Meeting
Tuesday February 4, 2020 – 7:00 pm
Forest Hills Assembly Hall, Cullowhee NC
 
 
 
The following members of the Council were present:
 

Mayor Jim Wallace

Councilmember Marcia Almond

Councilmember Clark Corwin

Councilmember Jerry Rice, III

Councilmember Nilofer Couture

 

The following Non-Council members were Present:

Stephanie Gibson, Clerk

Rick Cardona, Village Homeowner

Ron Yount , Village Homeowner

 

  1. Call to order:  at 7:00pm Mayor Wallace called the meeting to order.  
  1. Announcements: 
  • Reminder – Please silence cell phones for meeting 
  1. Approval of Agenda – Councilmember Rice made a motion to approve the agenda, Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 
  1. Approval of Meeting Minutes January 7, 2020 Regular Council Meeting: Councilmember Almond made a motion to approve the minutes; Councilmember Rice seconded the motion, unanimously approved.  (All meeting minutes are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) 
  1. Acceptance of Financial Report & Checklist for the month of January 2020:  Councilmember Rice made a motion to accept the financial report; Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved.  (All financial reports are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) 
  1. Public Comments:  Mr. Yount said that he has a tree down near his home, it is across from his home at the Greenway.  Mayor Wallace said that the area is state maintained, and he will contact DOT.  Councilmember Couture said that the wet area between her and Mr. Yount’s house needs to be checked as well. 
  1. Reports:  

Roads:  Jerry Rice – Councilmember Rice said he hired someone to remove the tree down past John Adams house and across the street. The new road signs ordered will be delivered to BH Graning to be installed. 

RPO/TAC:  Marcia Almond – Councilmember Almond said that she attended the meeting held on January 27th and there was a lecture by supervisors.  She said that she spoke to Jack Debnam about the portion of the road between North and South Country Club Rd. being paved and that he said that if the Village of Forest Hills paved to state standards, Chris Lee could assess the road and it may be able to be taken over by the state.

Planning Board:  Clark Corwin – Councilmember Corwin said there has been discussion about what is going on in the Valley and he said that Chris Green has only presented a concept map at this time, it is for R-1 only, there is no formal plan.  The board would like to hold an Organizational meeting to elicit members.  Councilmember Corwin noted that Conditional use is no considered special use.

Councilmember Almond mentioned workshops that are available for the Planning Board on 160D.  Councilmember Corwin suggested purchasing the text on 160D, it is approximately $20.00.  He said that if anyone is interested, there is a workshop in Charlotte.  Councilmember Corwin made a motion to purchase the 160D publication, Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved.  He noted the publication could be purchased through the School of Government.  

Village Safety:  Nilofer Couture noted no safety issues were reported.  Stephanie noted that Lieutenant James mentioned the Village hours and asked if hours still need to be increased and that the county was preparing new contracts and asked about the contract the Village previously discussed.  Mayor Wallace said he will discuss patrol hours and a contract with Kim Hooper. 

  1.  Mayor’s Comments: 
  • Planning Board Nominations – Rick Cardona applied to become a volunteer as a Planning Board member.  Councilmember Corwin made a motion to nominate Rick as a Planning Board member, Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

Councilmember Couture feels that a representative from the Planning Board should attend Council meetings to report on Planning Board meetings and feels that the Council and Planning Board representatives should be separate so there is no conflict of interest and they take more responsibility for maintaining separate boards.

  • Responsibility of Non-council/Planning board use of Assembly Hall – Councilmember Corwin suggested having Attorney Fox create a form to be submitted to request use of the Assembly Hall.
  • Sound echoing problem of Assembly Hall – Mayor Wallace asked that Council members to bring ideas for sound blocking to the next meeting.  Councilmember Corwin suggested speaking with the Prospect manager to see what would be allowed.
  • R-1 vs. Mixed Use – The Land Use Map needs to be corrected so that any consideration for mixed use is disallowed.  Councilmember Couture made a motion to have the Land Use Map corrected and nullify the potential of mixed use, Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 
  1.  Unfinished Business:

Councilmember Corwin left the meeting early and left letters to be distributed to the Council.  The letters were distributed and read after the agenda was completed.  Councilmember Corwin resigned his position on the Village Council effective immediately. 

Councilmember Couture made a motion to drop the position of Liaison to the Planning Board, Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 

  10.  Additional Public Comments:  None 

  11.  Adjourn:  At 8:30pm, Councilmember Almond made a motion to adjourn; Councilmember Rice seconded the motion, unanimously approved.