TO MAKE A VILLAGE:

Cashiers debuts its own Mountain Landscapes charrette

CASHIERS, NC, May 14, 2008 – Is Cashiers ready to grow from a crossroads to a village? How might that affect its feel and character? How do you keep the character, yet welcome growth?

Those and other key questions were on the agenda for Kevin Klinkenberg, leader of the consulting team for the Cashiers project. But they aren’t entirely new questions and aren’t entirely resolved, as some of the words and images in the following video demonstrate.

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One advantage Cashiers enjoys is a highly engaged citizenry. More than 45 people turned out on Wednesday night to kick off a four-day mini-charrette in a building by the area's primary crossroads, an area which could become a village center.

Many were ready with specific ideas for specific places. Others came with cautions: “Keep Cashiers Cashiers,” read a button printed for the occasion.

The challenge for Klinkenberg and this team will be in helping such a passionate group to reconcile competing visions. Just about everybody agrees on the need for affordable housing and for more effective traffic and parking management. But there was considerable discussion Wednesday night about whether or not Cashiers will ever be suitable as a walkable place and to what extent “village” implies a more urban, as opposed to a more rural, character.

With so many partners – including developers and property owners – in the sponsoring group for the mini-charrette, the broad base Cashiers needs for resolving its contradictions and for taking plans forward may already be in place.

At the Jackson County Community Forum on April 30, William Shelton told local residents, “As a county commissioner, I can tell you it would have helped to have a ‘Tool Box’ like the one we’re talking about when we started (Jackson County’s discussion about planning for growth).”

The Jackson County Community Forum, which attracted more than 30 folks, was the last in a series of eight such gatherings in the seven westernmost NC counties and the Qualla Boundary. As with the other Forums, visions discussed in Jackson will shape the agenda for the seven-day regional workshop that begins at Western Carolina University on May 13. That workshop – called a “charrette” – will produce the first draft of the “Tool Box” for responsible planning and development that Commissioner Shelton referred to.

In several ways, Jackson County will play a major role in the charrette. With Western hosting the week-long event at its University Center, the county is automatically in the center of the action. And at the same time the larger regional charrette focuses on contents for the “Tool Box,” Cashiers will be trying out some of the tools in its own charrette from May 15 to 17.

At the April 30 Community Forum, locals talked about ideas they wanted on the table for the “Tool Box” charrette. Here’s one unique perspective on the role of tradition in planning:

And Western student Gregory Hirsh issued a challenge not only to local officials but also to students:

“What we need right now – not next year, or next month, or next week – is action on some of these important planning issues,” says Hirsh. “There’s a new generation coming of age now. We need to know how (decision-makers) plan to involve us in shaping the future. And we need to be working for that future ourselves.”

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Jackson County’s 2006 population was 35,562, second only to Haywood County in the seven-county region. Jackson is home to Western Carolina University, site of the Mountain Landscapes Initiative charrette, May 13-20.

Watch this page for more county-oriented updates and reports.