About

Greater Ivy Community Citizens Association (GICCA)

At Greater Ivy Community Citizens Association (GICCA), we are dedicated to creating a strong and vibrant community that brings people together. GICCA offers a range of events and activities at the Beech Glen Community Center (BGCC). The Community Center also hosts events that are sponsored by various organizations in Madison County, for example, Senior Lunches, are offered by Madison County every weekday except Thursday; other groups also meet at the BGCC. The playground and hiking trail are available to all area residents. We post all events we know about on this website regardless of whether GICCA sponsors them. Through our programs and events we aim to foster connection, growth, and collaboration among our members.
Area residents can rent the community center for parties, showers, reunions, etc., or to use the gymnasium for sporting events. To reserve the Community Center, kitchen, meeting area, gymnasium, please contact Chris Maney, Director of Madison County Park and Recreation, at (828) 206-3849.
The Greater Ivy Community Citizens Association (GICCA) was formed in 1974 to help facilitate the support and eventual demolition of the old Beech Glen School and the erection of the Beech Glen Community Center (BGCC) dedicated in 2003. GICCA is a non-profit organization with about 70 on the email list and about a dozen active in the group.
GICCA is a non-partisan organization with bylaws which state that GICCA “shall not be used in any way for political purposes, nor shall it support or endorse the candidacy of any person for political office.” We enjoy NOT talking politics at our monthly meetings (BGCC, 3rd Thursdays at 6 pm). However, at our last meeting on Jan. 18, 2024, we discussed the Mountain Ridge Protection Act of 1983 and the Madison County Ordinance of 2010 restricting building on ridgelines above 3000 feet. The seven members of the Board of Directors discussed the issue facing the Madison County Commissioner’s decision to keep or eliminate the ordinance, which would allow building all over the county atop the ridges with no setbacks at all, producing vistas that have blotted the scenery in Woodfin, Weaverville and other cities and counties in WNC. All seven of their BODs agreed to that the ordinance should stay in place with the current restrictions or with modifications to strengthen the setback even more than they are now.
With the bylaws in hand, much of the discussion concerned the politics of the issue vs. the environmental harm of removing the ordinance; we concluded it was an environmental issue. No mention of Republicans, Democrats, or Unaffiliated entered our conversation. Without hesitation on the first vote, all seven Board members voted to support the 2010 Commissioners’ ordinance.
What will Madison County look like in 30, 40, or 100 years? With one person requesting the ordinance be scrapped across the county, the Planning Board agreed and recommended the elimination of the ordinance to the Commissioners. The entire ordinance, was not rejected, but a variance for that one person was awarded, a known developer whose goals are unknown.
The beauty of Madison County is at stake – either tree-silhouetted ridge tops or scenes of Hamburg Mountain in Weaverville. Madison County needs slope development restrictions and the ridge top ordinance maintained or strengthened to keep Madison County’s beauty.
Jim Thorsen, GICCA Chair
Beech Glen