BACKGROUND: The new rules for "Planned Developments" (PDs) in the Town
of Boone passed the Boone Town Council by a 3-2 vote on November 19. Last
Thursday, December 17, the first test of the PD process -- a "neighborhood
meeting" with the developer -- took place concerning the proposed redevelopment of the old Southern States site at the end of Rivers Street into student
housing -- a 50-ft.-tall building (current ordinance only allows 40 feet
downtown) with 350 bedrooms renting @$700 each and with only 150 parking
places, all of which have to be leased separately and at extra expense by the
tenants.
The general public was not
informed of the "neighborhood meeting." That non-notification
non-requirement is a feature (not a bug) of the new rules. Only adjacent property
owners are notified, if they're within 150 feet of the proposed development.
Under the new PD rules, property owners may complain all they want to; the
developer is not obliged by law to pay any attention to any of it. The
developer gets to report the content of the "neighborhood meeting" to
the Town Council, which must vote the project up or down.
No staff members from the
town's Planning and Inspections Department attended the December 17 meeting. In
fact, according to Town Manager John Ward's email (# 3 below), town officials
would really rather not know anything about it, and it's fairly clear that they
don't want the general public to know either. They wouldn't want anyone to
think that the Town of Boone is standing up for neighborhoods.
So here's the way it now
works: You may have the right to find
out when and where a "neighborhood meeting" is, but the Town of Boone
can't provide that information to you, because the TOB intentionally made sure
it doesn't have that information. Because if the TOB did have that information,
some of its Council members might go hear neighborhood concerns for themselves,
and/or the developer might get mad. Ignorance is bliss.
1. From: Christine Pope, Boone
Town Clerk
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 9:36 AM
Subject: Boone Town Council Agenda Deadline
Good morning,
For your information, attached is notice of our next agenda item
submission deadline for the Boone Town Council. As a reminder, if you have not
already done so, please fill out the attached form and return it to me at your
earliest convenience if you would like to
continue to receive notices of Council and/or board and
committee meetings after the New Year. If you have any questions, just let
me know.
Thank you,
Christine
Christine Pope
Town Clerk
Town of Boone
2. From: Pam Williamson
To: Christine Pope
Date: 12/21/2015 10:12 AM
Subject: Re Boone Town Council
Agenda Deadline
Hi, Christine. You already have my updated forms, right?
Also, would you please consider this email a formal request to be notified in advance of any P[lanned] D[evelopment]
neighborhood meetings—time and place.
Thanks,
--
Pam
3. From:
John
Ward
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 1:40 PM
To: Pam Williamson
Cc: Christine Pope
Subject: Re: Boone Town Council Agenda Deadline
Dear Mrs. Williamson,
As you can see from the UDO text below, the petitioner [developer] is
responsible for the meeting from setting it up to providing a report to staff
which is to be included in the application. The ordinance adopted by Council
purposely did not include a requirement for staff to attend these meetings or
to organize them. Several reasons including overtime pay, a perceived
bias against the developer as well as a misconception from neighbors that the
Town would appear to endorse the project if we attended the
meetings. Staff, and the Town generally, must appear to be neutral
throughout the application process.
Since this is a meeting between the neighbors who are within 150 feet of
a proposal and the petitioner [developer] then Christine will not be
keeping the same type of schedule for these meetings that we do for Town hosted
meetings.
Because the PD is not tied to a designated primary zoning district,
specific procedural steps not generally applicable are mandated and more
detailed information must be submitted by the petitioner [developer] before
the petition may be acted upon.
A. Specific procedural requirements include:
2. Before submitting the
petition, the petitioner must schedule a meeting with owners of property
located within 150’ of the development site.
a. The petitioner must
provide notice at least 21 days prior to the meeting in accordance with
Subsection 1.13.02 herein.
b. The meeting must be
held at an accessible and convenient location in light of available options.
c. The petitioner must
record the names and addresses of all attendees at the meeting. Town of Boone
Unified Development Ordinance Article 9 Amendments 9-11
d. At the meeting, the
petitioner, at a minimum, shall present all the following information:
i. Contact information of
the parties involved in the ownership, design, and development of the property;
ii. The location of the
property and general information on the current conditions of the site;
iii. Proposed use(s) and
site development;
iv. Any preliminary plans
or renderings, if available; and
v. Any other information
deemed pertinent by the Administrator.
e. The petitioner shall
provide the Administrator with a report which details the meeting including any
concerns expressed by attendees and any commitments made by the petitioner.
This report shall be included in the staff report.
Please let me know if you would like to discuss further.
Sincerely,
John A. Ward III
Town Manager
Town
of Boone
4. From:
Pam
Williamson
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 4:17 PM
To: John Ward, Boone Town Manager
Cc: Christine Pope
Subject: Re: Boone Town Council Agenda Deadline
John, with all due respect, your explanation is specious.
(1) I'm sure the neighborhoods would welcome council members and P&I
[Planning & Inspections staff] at the meeting to hear their concerns. I can
assure you they would not take such as a sign that the council is
"for" the developer. Instead, they will take what you are doing as
evidence that the council is railroading the neighborhood. Which they are.
(2) I cannot imagine what kind of Town staff or council member would not
want to attend the meeting.
(3) What makes you think a developer will adequately represent what the
neighborhood concerns are? Isn't that exactly like asking the fox to document
the chickens' concerns before he builds the henhouse in such as manner as to
ensure himself the greatest profit?
I want to know when the
neighborhood meetings are. I assume you are telling me I don't have that right.
--
Pam
5. From:
John
Ward
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 4:33 PM
To: Pam Williamson
Subject: Re: Boone Town Council Agenda Deadline
Dear Mrs. Williamson,
I'll call to discuss. I'm not telling you that you don' t have a right
but I think that a discussion of what was adopted may help.
Sincerely,
John A. Ward III
Town Manager
Town
of Boone
6.
From: Pam Williamson
To: John Ward, Boone Town
Manager
Date: December 21, 2015 5:02
PM
Subject: Re: Boone Town Council
Agenda Deadline
Call anytime, John, but you don't need to read the ordinance to me. I
know it and understand it well. In fact, I might point out to you
that there is nothing at all in the regs that disallows the council or
staff to ask for notice of the meeting, nor anything that would prevent a
council member nor anyone else who wanted to from attending.
--
Pam
No comments:
Post a Comment