Math used to be fun when there was a sense that it was leading to some kind of truth. Today, we find Jackson County is stuck with a formula and clueless about it. The magic numbers direct where buildings can go on hillsides, otherwise known as steep slopes. Saith Quintin Ellison over at the Sylva Herald:
As it stands now, Jackson County’s staff determines slope using a calculation largely based on human conjecture. When figuring the average slope of a land parcel, county employees select geographical start and end points after making best guesses about drainage paths.
It’s not clear why the county in 2007 adopted a hybrid calculation as part of the Mountain and Hillside Development Ordinance. There’s no public record of who made the decision to hire a local engineer to develop the formula. Commissioners serving on the board at that time – including current Chairman Brian McMahan – have said they didn’t realize the calculation they adopted was unusual.
No two people are likely to derive the same answer using the current method of calculation, according to former Planner Gerald Green, who resigned May 1. During a meeting the day before, the veteran administrator told planning board members someone could justify almost any slope calculation that might be derived. This left open questions about how many parcels in Jackson County have been calculated correctly. Green described finding slope ranging from 25 percent to 52 percent on a single 10-acre parcel using the county’s calculation formula.
