Water.

That's the number one concern of the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council [GSLCC], as its members prepare for a meeting with the Moore County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, October 13.

The meeting is open to the public and will be held in the Great Room of the West Side Park Community Center, starting at 5:00 pm. It's the third such public meeting between the groups, something the Council hopes to make a regular semi-annual event. In the past, the Commissioners have been accompanied by a number of County department heads, primed to answer the Council's questions.

The GSLCC is made up of the Presidents of the Seven Lakes, Seven Lakes West, and McLendon Hills Landowners Associations, as well as the President of the Seven Lakes Business Guild. They laid out their questions for the county in an October 3 letter to Board of Commissioners Chairman Nick Picerno. [Download a copy here.]

In January, Moore County's Board of Commissioners compiled a list of short and long term goals. Ten months later, during the Board's Tuesday, October 4 meeting, Assistant County Manager Ken Larking reviewed the status of each of those goals.

Short Term Goals

Water. At the top of the Commissioners' list of short term goals was finding a second source of water for the Seven Lakes area. The preferred option for meeting this goal is working with the Town of Robbins to utilize the town's existing but unused reservoir as the centerpiece of a plan to bring water from Robbins to Southern Moore County.

Over the last ten months the Town of Robbins and the County have gone back and forth with a proposal and counter-proposal on this issue. At the beginning of Tuesday night's meeting, Chairman Nick Picerno announced that the Board had decided, in closed session, to send two Commissioners, along with Public Utilities Director Randy Gould and County Manager Cary McSwain, to meet with Robbins' representatives to try to move the negotiations forward.

Taxes. The Commissioners did not increase property taxes for Fiscal Year 2011-2012, satisfying another short term goal. However they were unable to realize their goal of lowering the Advanced Life Support tax by one-half cent due to a federal requirement to update emergency communications systems and uncertainty about changes in the healthcare system.

Planning for and evaluation of the County's approach to public safety falls under the mission of the Commissioner-appointed Emergency Service Advisory Committee [ESAC], which is currently focusing efforts on reducing response times -- particularly in remote areas of the County.

Land Use Planning. Another of the Board's short-term goals was to "endorse and support the planning and community development department timeline with regard to the Long Range Plan." The County's current Land Use Plan dates to 1999, and was developed through a countywide public input process, in which Commissioners Jimmy Melton and Tim Lea were both key players.

After Melton and Lea briefed their fellow Commissioners on that process, the Planning Department was asked to bring to the October 18 meeting additional information on the make-up of the 1999 Land Use Plan Advisory Committee and the Steering Committee that developed the Area A Small Area Plan. The goal is to put together a steering committee for the new land use plan by December 31, 2011.

Identifying the need for and basic objectives of a new policy are the easy part; nailing down the precise language to accomplish that goal often proves to be more difficult.

Tangling with terms, and short-staffed, with two Directors absent from the table on Wednesday, September 28, the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] Board of Directors hashed over three proposed boating rules before sending two amendments back to the Lakes & Dams Committee for fine tuning.

The Board was in agreement with the basic premise of proposed rule 8.4.4.2, which would loosen the existing regulation that all powerboats must travel in a counter-clockwise direction. Instead, the Lakes & Dams Committee proposed that powerboats only be required to travel in such a manner when operating within the designated skiing area. Powerboats motoring slowly along the shoreline would be allowed to freely travel in either direction.

But the rule went back to committee because it specifically addressed only Lake Sequoia and not Lake Echo, which, while smaller in size, also permits powerboats and skiers.

A proposed amendment to 8.3.3 also quickly derailed during the approval process. As recommended, the rule would continue to restrict swimming in the boat launch and marina areas, but also within the designated ski area.

Bright colors, fun activities, a creative curriculum, and a dedicated, professional staff greet children each morning at Cyber Ed Learning Center in Seven Lakes.

Located in the heart of the Business Village, the facility is one of three Cyber Ed centers in Moore County, with all three earning the coveted five-star daycare license from the State of North Carolina.

But it is much more than just a daycare.

With four teachers on staff — including new director Abbie Locklear — daily programming at Cyber Ed includes a strong emphasis on early learning.

“We like to think of ourselves more of preschool than a daycare . . . but we are open all day,” explained Locklear. “To accommodate the needs of the community, we reduced the size of our space, but increased the quality of our program.”

Catering exclusively to younger children between the ages of two and five, that programming incorporates several learning strategies in a unique way.

“We like to take the best of all the curriculums available and then make them our own,” explained Cyber Ed owner, Sharyn Trinko.

Daily activities include library and learning centers with blocks, computers, math, science and music areas, plus quiet corners for reading and a regular nap time. Children bring their own lunch, but breakfast and an afternoon snack are provided.

“Children learn best when they are allowed to play and express their individuality,” said Locklear. “I believe in giving them several opportunities to express their natural, innate qualities and strengths, and I love their unique perspective on the world at this age.”

Some parts of Moore County have grown faster than others in the past ten years; results of the 2010 Census make that clear. And that leaves the Moore County Board of Commissioners with the task of deciding how to redraw the lines of the Commissioner and Board of Education districts to reflect the changes.

That challenge was the focus of a special Commissioners Work Session on Thursday, September 22, with four options put on the table for review.

The goal is to take Moore County’s current population of 88,000 residents and evenly divide that into five voting districts, each holding roughly 17,600 residents. Moore County’s districts are “residency districts.” The Commissioner from District II must reside in District II, but all county voters cast ballots for that seat on the Board.

One of the problems in moving district lines is the chance that a sitting member of the Board will find his or her residence no longer within the district he or she represents.

Commissioner Tim Lea stressed during Tuesday’s meeting that moving certain district lines could affect whether a commissioner could run again in the future or not.

For instance, District III is represented by Commissioner Craig Kennedy and is currently the smallest district in the County. In an effort to increase the population to get it as close as possible to the 17,600 mark, some residents from District II — the largest in the County and represented by Chairman Nick Picerno — would have to move over to District III.

Given that Picerno, who lives in McLendon HIlls, already resides close to to District III territory, rebalancing Districts II & III could move his home into District III, which would prevent him from running for re-election in District II or force him to run against Commissioner Kennedy for the District III seat.