Story was originally published in the Sylva Herald, March 12 edition
The Webster town board met last week and heard a presentation from Southwestern Community College President Don Tomas about rezoning 26.96 acres on Webster Road adjacent to SCC.
Tomas hopes to expand the college with a new library. Tomas reported that two upcoming projects planned within the confines of the existing SCC campus are a new library that he referred to as a learning commons, and a small business center.
“We don’t have the opportunity to continue to build and expand with the 50 or 60 acres we already have now,” Thomas said.
Tomas says it’s a great opportunity for SCC because there’s no land open near the campus, so re-zoning would give the college the opportunity to grow.
“We don’t have the opportunity to continue to build and expand with the 50 or 60 acres we already have now,” he said.
Its future use is unknown, Tomas said.
“I know the first question you’re gonna ask, ‘What will we do with it?’” he said. “I can’t answer that right now because that will go into our next master capital improvement plan. If this property were to become available for purchase by SCC, the next step would be to go into the programming and a new Master Plan would take into consideration the potential for growth and what programs would be productive for the college. That’s above my paygrade, but I would be involved with it.”
Tomas is asking for the land, which is in Webster’s ETJ, to be rezoned from residential to governmental use.
Tomas thinks this rezoning could be the expansion of a growing community in Southwestern Community College.
The property in question abuts a 23-acre piece of SCC land behind the National Guard Armory.
