To the Editor:
On Dec. 23, 1981, the Town of Tryon (Town), N.C. recorded a deed for 134.99 estimated acres. This property lies in its entirety in Greenville County, S.C.
From the beginning, the town elected to cover this parcel with water. Minus the dam we might have 134 acres of kudzu or abandoned automobiles. Under any circumstance, the town’s ownership status is fairly well defined by our English-based foundation of common law. The town failed to exercise their rights of ownership from “day one.”
Rules, not phony zoning, could have been established, letters of understanding could have been negotiated with the diverse parties of interest and a revenue-generating program could have been established.
The town has missed a 30-year period of fees. Every structure anchored in the reservoir and every surface user could have been a source of recurring revenue.
The recent flow of articles and discussions regarding the role and relationship of the town to the ownership of the land contain a common thread. The commonality is – misinformation, fabrication and distortion.
There is not a SC Statute, an executive order, a legislative action or a legal agency ruling that establishes the town reservoir (a.k.a. Lake Lanier) as a “private lake.” Anyone using this term should be required to define it and to provide a legal source. The reservoir is as close to being “private” as Trade Street in Tryon is to being a “private road.”
South Carolina does not enforce any regulatory or legal codes and neither do they provide any oversight of any activity that occurs on the reservoir surface. They do not test the water for contaminants or its potable status.
Any stated involvement by S.C. officials is a fabricated illusion. As an example, construction on the town’s property has occurred for years without awareness or involvement by the town or the state.
The town discussion regarding zoning around the reservoir is ludicrous. Their legal capability to zone ends at town limits.
What is fact is that anyone with resolve and resources can construct any type of structure on the town’s property; anyone can swim, boat, drown, defecate, urinate or celebrate on the town’s property. All these activities occur as a matter of routine.
During the Christmas holiday, local emergency units were summoned to the town’s reservoir to rescue a child who had fallen into the water. You won’t hear this event discussed at a council meeting.
– Michael Verbonic, Landrum