Mary Louise Fairey passed away Sunday, February 10.  She ran the mail route in Saluda for many years and had many friends here.  She was from Orangeburg, SC.

The Saluda Board of Commissioners held their annual vision and planning retreat February 15^th and 16^th at the Saluda Community Library.  The focus of the retreat covered three areas of governance:

·         Budget

·         Saluda's Water Future

·         10 unresolved issues from the recent revisions of the Zoning Ordinance

o    Parking

o    Ozone Transition Zoning (e.g., Neighborhood Commercial District)

o    Undersized lots

o    Junk Yards

o    Signs in Zoning Districts C-1 and C-H (Historic downtown area)

o    Vintage Signs in the C-H District

o    C-1 Prohibited Uses

o    Storage Trailers

o    Landscaping in C-1 District

o    Alternative Modes of Transportation

The significance of the retreat is that it allows the Mayor, Board of Commissioners, Citizens Boards and City Staff to address issues in an open forum of ideas and discussion.  The good news is that this retreat was particularly successful in all areas.  Following is a summary.

Budget

Over the last several years, the basis for our budgeting process has been changing from a short-term view to a long-term view.  Past budgeting has occurred on a year-to-year basis which has created an environment of uncertainty, planning decisions that can't be implemented, inefficient use of tax revenues and generally poor governance.  To correct and improve the governance process, the Board agreed to a 5-year planning window for the budget.  What this means to our tax payers is more certainty on when and how much tax rates will be changed during the period of the planning window.  It also gives us the opportunity to plan and direct resources in a more deliberate manner to correct infrastructure and service deficiencies using a "reasonable further progress" thinking each year rather than an "all or none" approach that was common before.  The good news is that it is already working.  Beginning in 2007, we set the tax rate that will fund our City needs through 2011 barring any unforeseen external factors.  Included in our planning window is the property re-evaluation cycle, which we are planning as a neutral tax event regarding the budgeting process for the city.

As a matter of information, the annual 3^rd-party financial & procedures audit was completed and the report submitted to the Mayor and Commissioners.  The auditors conduct a thorough review of how we manage the finances of the City, the accounting processes and procedures used and the many aspects of operating the finances of our separate Departments.  Each year the lead auditor gives us a summary of the findings during a regular meeting.  The findings and discussion were very short this year because there were no significant findings or deficiencies in the way in which our Budgeting and Financial Management system operates.  This should provide comfort and assurance that your tax dollars are being used appropriately.

The "Toys for Children" run by our Police Department has become so successful that it was necessary to hire some temporary help for a few days during the Holiday Season to receive, document and disperse the gifts and toys.  Congratulations to you Saluda for your kindness and generosity.  Because occurred during the Commissioners debate about hiring an Administrator for the Police Department, some viewed this as "backdoor" filling of this position after the Board of Commissioners rejected the permanent position.  This is just to inform you that it was not such an effort and is not the kind of behavior that the Mayor or Board of Commissioners would condone and we will continue to govern to the best of our ability in a transparent way.

During the retreat, each of the Commissioners stated their goals for the upcoming budget year beginning July 1^st.   The goals are areas that each Department Commissioner feels is important to their budgeting priorities and will try to include in their budget structure.

Public Safety-Police & Fire

·         Community Policing

o    Bicycle and Foot Patrols will continue and increase

o    Consistent marking of police vehicles-same color cars with logos

o    Installation of additional community cameras

·         Communications upgrade

o    Replacement of obsolete analog radio system

·         Officers Equipment

o    Bullet proof vests that are beyond life-cycle limits

o    Bicycles

Water & Sewer

·         New supplemental water sources

·         Completion of sewer plant repairs and modifications

·         Operating cost savings with new water meters

·         Capital fund setup

Streets & Parks

·         Capital fund setup & additions

·         Street management to enhance Powell Fund revenues

·         Parking improvements

Buildings

·         City Hall Renovations

·         Library Maintenance & Deep Cleaning

·         New Programs

o    Community Archives

o    Cemetery Memorial

o    Recycling Center

Saluda's Water Future

The plans for a Polk County Water Authority is well underway  after 4 long years of effort by your local officials and government staffs.  Saluda will continue to provide support and commitments to this important effort.  Future generations face many uncertainties concerning fresh water supplies and we are actively addressing those anticipated needs now.  There are limits on the natural resources and there is a need for unprecedented flexibility in accessing regional fresh water resources.  The new waterline connections between Saluda, Tryon and Columbus is about to become a reality in the near future since the "emergency" grants have been issued by the State of North Carolina.  These lines will provide immediate benefits to Tryon and future benefits to Columbus and Saluda.

However, Saluda has some unique opportunities to expand our options on water supplies that we believe will not only give us dependable and adequate sources of drinking water but will help us to contain our costs as the value of water rises.  We are pursuing those and have hired a consultant to do the technical and cost evaluations for these options.  We'll bring more information to you as it develops.  The options involve wells and a surface-water intake and treatment system.  Preliminary economic analysis indicates that the options are promising.

10 Unresolved Issues from the Recent Revisions of the Zoning Ordinance

It is very important for our community to give thanks to your neighbors who committed to providing the Mayor and Board of Commissioners with revisions to our Zoning Ordinance that was passed unanimously by the Board.  This includes not only the Planning Board Members but the Advisory Committee for their hard work.  The Planning Board and Advisory Committee provided a product that had eluded us in our past efforts.  It was an exercise of practical thinking by people with differing viewpoints that were heard by the group in an environment of understanding and tolerance.  Although the process was the structure for bringing the ideas together, it was the people exhibiting classic Saluda Culture that made it happen.  All too often Boards and Advisory Committees get diverted from their objectives by self-interest, power plays, egos and personalities.  Thank you for putting the Community first.

Having said that, they were realistic about the things that they couldn't agree upon.  When that occurs, it's perfectly legitimate and proper to kick those issues back to the elected officials.  In this case, they identified 10 issues that they felt needed leadership from the Mayor and Board of Commissioners.  The Commissioners and Planning Board will be working to resolve the issues over the next several months.  During the retreat there was a clear consensus on moving forward with each issue including:

Parking in C-H District

Parking will be addressed by City infrastructure investments as well as through requirements of private property owners through the Zoning Ordinance.  The Zoning Ordinance will require parking spaces for uses in an overlay area of the existing C-H District.  Parking spaces will be required for new residential and business uses outside the high density historic areas.  Parking spaces will not be required for uses in the existing high density areas.  These areas will be defined and presented to the public for review and comments.

The remote lot off West Main Street will be prepared for parking this year.  In addition, sidewalks will be constructed to make the parking more accessible and safer.

Another important idea that was received well by the Board is restricting the traffic on Church Street to one-way from Main Street to Henderson Street.  This would remove a safety hazard due to sight restrictions at the corner of Main Street and Church Street as well as allow parking along one side of the street to the tune of from 15 - 18 parking spaces.

Ozone Transition

There is a vision of the commercial zoned area along Ozone Road that begins at the Hwy 176 intersection as having a softer commercial character than the remainder of Ozone as you move towards  I-26.   The Board has a strong interest in creating a "neighborhood commercial" district that is more consistent with the existing neighborhood feel and provides a buffer and transition zone.  This option will be explored and recommendations placed in front of the Board this year.  We will attempt to access the knowledge and experience of our neighbors through an Advisory Committee.  If you're interested, please let us know.

Undersized and Odd-size Lots

Many years ago when our forefathers laid out the neighborhoods and lots in Saluda, they commonly broke lots up into 25-foot-wide parcels.  Under today's vision and zoning requirements,  a 25 foot wide lot by itself is not useful as anything more than a buffer.  Additionally, we also have a number of odd-sized lots that don't meet current minimum lot line lengths.   Unfortunately, we still have a number of these lots scattered throughout the community that must be addressed such that property owners can have some reasonable expectation that the value of the property can be realized.  The basic approach being pursued by the Board has the following priorities:

1.    Where possible, lots are to be combined to achieve the minimum lot size requirements.

2.    At a minimum, the lots must meet the setback requirements due to safety concerns.

3.    If the first two efforts are not possible or reasonable, then the variance procedure should be adequate.

Signs in C-1, C-H and Vintage Signs in C-H

After much discussion, it is clear that the primary issue relates to vintage signs in the C-H District.  Because of the limited number of these, the Board is going to pursue specific exemptions for certain existing signs in the C-H District.

C-1 Prohibited Uses

The Board reviewed the list of prohibited uses in the C-1 Districted and made several recommended modifications.  One important aspect of the current prohibitions is the restriction of general retail merchandise stores to less than 7,200 square feet.  This was recognized as a prohibition that limits many undesirable uses in the C-1 District.  The modified prohibitions will be provided for public review and comment.

Landscaping in C-1 District

A careful review of this District shows that there is very little opportunity for private property owners to provide landscaping of any sort.  As a result, the Board did not entertain any option of putting such a requirement into the Zoning Ordinance.  On a going forward basis, any landscaping that is appropriate will likely be done by the City.

Alternative Modes of Transportation

The appropriateness of the Zoning Ordinance relative to alternative modes of transportation was considered.  It was decided that this issue needed to be addressed in the context of the state driven Transportation Planning process.  We currently have an Advisory Committee that is charged with developing general recommendations on a Transportation Plan for the Saluda Community.  The recommendations should include pedestrian, bicycle, golf cart, trucks, car and other vehicle uses and infrastructure needs.  Additionally, it needs to consider linkages between "green belts" and conservation areas.  The Board will actively direct the efforts of the Transportation Advisory Group on this matter.

Junk Yards and Storage Trailers

The revised Zoning Ordinance contains requirements for both Junk Yards and Storage Trailers.   There appears to be a need for clarification as well as coordination with Federal and State Statutes in both these areas.  Further work will be planned for these issues.

Keep in touch with all the happenings at The Jamboree by visiting their website: www.saludamountainjamboree.com and make every Saturday night a special night At The Saluda Mountain Jamboree.