Montreat Minute 05/01/26
Street Repairs Begin Next Week
At the March Town Council meeting, the Council approved repair and repaving of five streets including Appalachian Way, Kentucky Road, Salem Road, Louisiana Road, and Calvin Trail. Work will begin on those streets next week. Contractors will begin with Appalachian Way.
The project will be done in three steps: milling and removing the existing asphalt, grading the roads, and paving them with asphalt. Public Works Director, Barry Creasman, will be personally overseeing the project to ensure the paving allows for proper stormwater flow and prevents erosion.
Road equipment will be delivered and staged today, with work beginning next week, weather permitting. Barry anticipates all the paving will be completed in 6-8 weeks, again, weather permitting. The total contract for the project is $619,422.
Lookout and Greybeard, along with others, will be included in future rounds of repairs. Both Lookout and Greybeard require significant residual work to be done prior to repaving. Thank you for your patience.
May Town Council Meeting Cancelled
Due to lack of a quorum, the Montreat Town Council May meeting has been cancelled. Three Commissioners will be out of Town, preventing a quorum. We appreciate your understanding. The June 11 Council meeting will occur as scheduled.
Montreat Loses BearWise Certification, Introduces New Program
The NC Wildlife Resources Commission recently notified Town staff that Montreat has lost its BearWise certification. The reason it was revoked is due to our not prohibiting feeding of wildlife, which primarily comes down to not prohibiting bird feeding. However, Town officials urge residents to stop feeding birds in the spring, summer and fall.
However, Town staff and Commissioners plan to continue with a bear awareness program. The Town needs to educate residents and visitors about bears. Arrington Cox, who chaired the BearWise program, developed a very successful neighborhood “bear watcher” system that monitors bear sightings and mischief. She will continue to lead our own program. Our own privately branded program is called Bear Aware. “We regret that Wildlife Resources pulled our certification”, commented Commissioner Tom Widmer. “However, we have worked hard over the past three years to develop communications and systems to inform everyone about how to protect themselves and our bears. We will continue to move forward with bear awareness and our recently revised Sanitation Ordinance underscores our commitment.” The new Sanitation Ordinance requires Montreaters to have bear resistant refuse containers to prevent bears from getting into trash. Stay tuned for more about Bear Aware in Montreat
Montreat Celebrates Professional Municipal Clerks Week
Mayor Tim Helms recently signed a Proclamation designating May 3-9 as the 57th Annual Professional Municipal Clerks Week. The proclamation recognizes the important and vital work performed by professional municipal clerks around the country and especially Montreat’s Town Clerk, Angie Murphy.
We are extremely grateful to Angie for the work she does serving residents, Town Council, visitors, and others. She also provides an important link to other municipalities and levels of government. To read the complete Proclamation, CLICK HERE.
Sanitation Ordinance Public Information Session May 7
With the recent adoption of the revised Sanitation Ordinance, Town staff and Town Council invite you to a special public forum to discuss the ordinance and ask questions about it. The meeting will be held in the Town Hall Community Room on Thursday, May 7th, at 4:00 pm. This will be an informal session to talk about all aspects of the revised ordinance.
As part of the community communication about the ordinance, we began sharing Sanitation Ordinance Q & A’s to inform Montreaters about the changes.
Here are several more Q&A’s from the Q & A document. CLICK HERE for a copy of the entire document. We will soon be posting a section on the website including all the Q&As, a list of approved BRC containers and systems, and other important information.
Q: I have a bear resistant container/BRC system. Will it be grandfathered/approved?
A: If it is in good working order and prevents bears from getting to refuse, probably so. Email Town staff at info@townofmontreat.org and request an inspection of your BRCs/system.
Q: I’m on a fixed income and don’t see how I can afford new trash cans to meet these rules. What do I do?
A: We certainly understand how this could be a burden. That is why we are giving everyone 6 months to get ready for the BRC requirement to go into effect.
Did You Know?
Mary Martin and her dog Calvin
It is Spring in Montreat – get those birdfeeders in, be sure to lock your car doors, and don’t leave any windows open. The bears are up, and they are hungry. If they get even a whiff of something that might be tasty, a closed (unlocked) car door or a house window protected only by a screen will soon be damaged. Our other wildlife is less problematic. The deer might nibble the azalea shoots, coyotes and bobcats are spotted only infrequently, crows will peck open a bag of trash if left out. Dogs are on leashes.
In 1898, Montreaters experienced an entirely different relationship with animals inside the newly settled cove. While there must have been bears, early records don’t mention them specifically. People were avid hunters, though, and venison or rabbit for dinner was not unusual. However, the major problem seems to have been livestock running around, unfenced, since Montreat had no stock laws. Mary Martin, an early resident, wrote that residents hoped their dogs would run off the pigs. However, she said, “when I set Calvin [her dog] on the pigs, they turned on him and he fled in terror.” A few weeks later she saw several pigs in the road. Calvin saw them, too, and “he made a dash at them and then there was a great scatteration. The funniest thing to see is Calvin running with a pig after him, as I am ashamed to say he does now and then.”
Horses and mules wandered around, also. One evening about 9:30, Mary noticed a “large, black object” very close to her window. She gathered up her courage to investigate, only to discover that “this terrible creature was nothing better nor worse than poor old Zeb” (a local mule) who was intent on eating as much of Calvin’s bedding as he could pull out from underneath the woodshed.
Montreat’s General Manager Weston Gales reported in 1902 that “The stock law fence has added very decidedly to the comfort both of residents and visitors at Montreat.”
Thanks to the Presbyterian Heritage Center, especially Nancy Midgette, for this glimpse from the past. Stop by the PHC for additional Montreat history and so much more. Have an idea for a future “Did You Know?”? Let Nancy know at midgette@elon.edu.
Updates and Reminders
- Join other cottagers on Friday, May 8th at 9:00 am at the Gate to help plant a variety of flowers that will not only enhance the beauty of our town but also attract local pollinators, supporting the health of our ecosystem. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow cottagers, share gardening tips, and enjoy a sunny day outdoors. Please RSVP to Beth Casper at casperbeth1@gmail.com.
- A reminder that the North Carolina Forest Service still has a statewide open burning ban due to extreme fire danger conditions including low humidity, gusty winds, and dry fuels. We will alert you when the ban has been lifted.
- The Montreat Stone Bridge Advisory Committee will meet on Monday, May 4th, at 10:00 am in the Town Hall Community Room. The meeting will not be live streamed. All are welcome to attend.
- The Montreat Landcare Committee will meet on Wednesday, May 6th, at 9:00 am in the Town Hall Community Room. The meeting will be live streamed. For streaming instructions CLICK HERE. All are welcome to attend.
- The Montreat Town Council will meet on Friday, May 8th, at 9:00 am in the Town Hall Community Room for a third budget workshop. The meeting will be live streamed. For streaming instructions CLICK HERE. All are welcome to attend.
- Do you receive your own copy of the Montreat Minute or know someone who doesn’t? Sign up for the Sunshine List to receive the Montreat Minute and stay “in the know” about the Town’s happenings. CLICK HERE to sign up for the list!
- Do you receive Montreat CodeRED alerts, an emergency communications system used a number of times during the hurricane? If not, CLICK HERE to register and ensure you will be contacted in the event of an emergency.
Questions or Comments?
Do you have Town-related questions or comments to offer? If so, please send them to Angela Murphy at info@townofmontreat.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Have a good weekend!
