You probably won't recall
that back in November the Boone Town Council passed sweeping new rules that
allow "planned developments" in any neighborhood (after a 2-2 tie was
broken by acting Mayor Rennie Brantz).
The first "planned
development" to come under the new rules: the development of the old
Southern States property at the end of Faculty Street (now known as Rivers
Street). The developers want a 50'-tall building containing 350 bedrooms which
will rent at $700 a bedroom. Best part: the developers plan to provide only 150
parking spaces, all of which will be leased and will not be provided as a part
of the rent. Dumpsters for the complex will be placed right on Water Street in
full view of people driving down Howard St.
The new rules required a
"neighborhood meeting" between adjacent property owners and the
developer. Since no one else is invited, nor informed, only five adjacent
property owners showed up last Thursday evening to hear about this development.
No one from Boone's Planning and Inspections Department bothered to show up, because
under the new rules, they don't have to.
It's up to the developer to report any neighborhood concerns to the Zoning
Administrator. And, O my children, the developer does not have to accept any of the suggestions/criticisms/cries of
alarm. The Town Council has the final say.
The new rules allow
developers to avoid Boone's existing minimal development standards by bypassing
the town's Board of Adjustments altogether. Neighborhoods no longer have the
right to appeal approvals through a court of law. Neighbors only get to express their frustrations
to both the developer and Town Council members in hopes that sanity might
prevail. Best of all (for the specter of
corruption, collusion, and cronyism), both the developer and the Council
are now allowed to meet with each other without public knowledge.
This is what Town Council
members Lynne Mason and Quint David and Rennie Brantz chose for the future of
Boone back in November. It stinks to high heaven.
The final approval of this
now falls on the shoulders of new Town Council members Jen Teague, Charlotte
Mizelle, and Jeannine Underdown Collins, who'll be called upon to vote for or
against this development, along with Lynne Mason (who pushed the new rules to
begin with) and Loretta Clawson (who opposed the new rules from the get-go).
25 comments:
I thought about retiring to Boone in a few years.
I guess there won't be much for me to retire to except an overdeveloped mess that sounds worse than Chapel Hill.
50 feet tall! My gosh, that will surely block out the sun! Building housing next to the downtown area where people can walk to instead of driving?! How unheard of! They should kill all developers? Developers are evil!
anon 3:41...When you retired to Boone, where did you plan on living? A tent in the forest? A cave on the mountainside? In your car? Or, maybe you thought some magic housing would appear in the fog?
Chances are, if you planned on retiring here, you would move into a house or apartment that was built by a "developer". Of course, once you got here you could then join the other liberals in trying to prevent anyone else from joining you.
Sarcasm didn't work at 9:25 PM last night, Anon, so let's move on to insulting posters who don't apparently agree with you. Way to elevate the discussion!
Suzasnnah.....It has been my observation that, in any discussion which includes you, EVERY comment beyond yours "elevates the discussion".
But thanks for proving my point again.
Perhaps you could also help anon3:41 find housing to retire to (keeping in mind it should be housing that was not built by someone "developing" property).
Does this surprise anyone? The Boone Town Council is a joke. Just look at what they have allowed the "Winkler Group" to do to destroy the town. Not to mention the mess above Walmart. Just how much housing does one town need? Its embarrassing what the so called Council gets by with. I travel for my job and I hear it everywhere I go in the state. Ridiculous.
"Just how much housing does one town need?"
It needs as much housing as the market requires. When the market runs out of demand, supply will respond accordingly.
This is a system that seems to work better than the central planning concept favored by liberals where a small group of elected 'officials', decide the 'needs' of citizens.
In the present situation, we need only to be sure to provide enough housing for anon 3:41 to retire to "in a few years". After that, we can close the door to any new growth.
"As much housing as the market requires."? Who are you trying to kid? More than two years ago the town council hired a company to do a housing study. The results were published on the front page of the Watauga Democrat:
"Based on a current demand from approximately 16,000 students, RKG estimates a surplus of units available to students between 1,200 and 2,500," the analysis states. "With approximately 1,600 additional student housing units in the development pipeline, and a projected increase in student enrollment by 2020 of less than 450, the oversupply of housing units targeted to students will increase."
Students tend to flock to the newest cheaply built "rent by the bedroom," vacating the older cheaply built "rent by the bedroom" complex, which continue to deteriorate. They were a blight when first built. The "market" you worship is greedy and cares not at all about the future.
http://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/study-boone-has-student-housing-surplus/article_a11a0d69-2ecc-5c86-ac4e-0ae341762bfb.html
Thank god, there's a lack of housing in boone that's only getting worse. However, no lack of whining liberal hippies unfortunately
I always love how people label themselves conservative or liberal. These labels only divide our attention from things that truly matter, like pooping. Which is awesome!
The development at Southern States already went before the Board of Adjustments a few times, right? The developers did not present a valid reason that would justify an exception of 50'. They eventually came back with an alternate, reasonable plan for 42' (with justification) and got approved by the board for 42'.
Stupe-zanna....The town council decides what housing is needed? Will they also decide how many groceries can be offered for sale in Boone? What clothes will be allowed to be sold? To decide what businesses may be opened?
Geeze - what an idiot!
The point is that people decide for themselves where and how to invest their own money. If they think there is a market for student housing, they are free to invest their money consistent with their own assessment. If they are right, they will make money. If they are wrong, they won't be around for long and, as a "side benefit" housing prices will drop due to overbuilding and you liberals can have the "low cost housing" you seem to think is your right!
It's really unfortunate (for you) that you don't understand free market principals.
Anon 6:56, you go from the regulation of high-density rent-by-the-bedroom development to fantasies of regulating what groceries and clothes can be sold? That's in a league of its own for exaggerated "fears" (which in your case aren't really fears at all but merely an attempt to stampede the gullible).
I understand "free market principals" perfectly well, which is why I'm opposed to them. The pursuit of filthy lucre above everything -- that's the free market -- was first condemned by Jesus. You remember Jesus?
LOL...Thanks Anon 9 36 for demonstrating your ignorance of the subject matter! You help my case!
I hope you find the workers paradise you seem to be searching for. Probably Cuba? Russia, maybe? Someplace where a group of political elites do the central planning and determine what housing should be built and also a place where investors donate their money to help others instead of seeking a return on their investments.
You can change ID's but you give yourself away by your stupidity!
anon 943: I lived in the Boone area until around 1990 and I had planned on coming back to the place I grew up to retire. My family's owned a home on the outskirts of town since the 1950s.
After my mother passes away, I'm just going to let it go. Over the past decade, just going up and dealing with all the traffic and crowds around Boone has been frustrating as I've taken care of my aging parents. The growth in the town is too much now and even more development isn't going to help the situation.
Partly, I blame Appalachian State - the character of the school has changed, trying to attract more out of state students for the higher tuition they could charge. The growth in ASU has fueled a development mess that has taken away just about every good quality of living in the place. I live in the Triangle, and every time I visit Boone, it reminds me more and more of the expensive overdeveloped mess that is Chapel Hill-Carrboro.
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Considering how our state government is screwing over seniors and those with low incomes - a category I'll fall in when I retire in a few years - it doesn't even make sense to stay in NC.
I care about Boone and Watauga a great deal. My family and my roots are there. It's too bad that it's been overrun by people out to make a quick buck who haven't had the foresight to think about the long-term implications of what they're doing.
This town is so full of crap they dont care about the people who were born n raised here they only care about that stupid college they town counsel, the town justice system, the dss all of it is corrupt they r all about making money...
I know people on both sides of this--they are reasonable people trying to do the right thing. It would be better to talk about the issues instead of saying the town council is a joke or full of crap etc etc which is entirely unhelpful. If you have a better idea, let's hear that instead.
I'm confused as to what you want here. Do you not want to the town to develop at all or just specific things. You don't want to add anything that will attract more students or cater to the students who live here already (some of whom decide to live here after college.) We can all agree, the cottages are a disaster and the standard will most likely be as well. But we have lots of areas that are just languishing that make the town look terrible(ie: old watauga high) And it's not land being deforested and developed, but land already developed that is left abandoned. Would you have preferred the run down husk that was the Scottish Inn to remain there. You could say it was a piece of history or a town landmark, but if so, great job taking care of it. Since I've lived up here, it had been only one thing, a dump. People are excited about Publix it seems, but do we really NEED another grocery store in addition to ingles, Harris Teeter, Lowes, Food Lion, Walmart and Earth Fare? Couldn't a better business have been chosen to go there?
Offices are going in across from ingles and the house that once stood there at the corner had been for sale since I got up here in 2007. It languished for almost 9 years. The old Appalcart Depot is still sitting empty, rotting and molding. Several shops on King Street are just rotting and being an eye sore to our beautiful down town. What do we do with them. Property owners want to keep them for "tax reasons," but aren't held responsible for their deterioration. Tourism is important to our community and no one wants to look at a derelict building. Mountain House has sat vacant for how long? We have spaces to develop and needs to cater to. Focus on that. It isn't an issue of liberal or conservative. It's about community development and sustainability.
There are old timers, yes, and their needs have to be met. But we also have to think about 1, 5, 10. 20 years down the road as well. They won't be here forever. Do we cater now to the 60-70 year old group now, who may live another 10-ish years or do we try to attract the 25-30 year olds who a looking to settle down, and maybe start a family. Families need things to do, places to shop (not just for groceries) and places to live. Why would a 20 something want to try to deal with a house when all they need at the moment is a one bedroom apartment. Hiking is nice, but you can't do it every single day when you're off work. It gets old. A bar is nice, but at 27 I don't want to be around the plastered 21 year olds anymore, but places like Videllia and Proper are out of my price range and close fairly early. I don't want to have to drive all the way to Hickory or Johnson City, just to go clothes shopping. The outlets in Blowing Rock are outrageous and Boone Mall has such a poor selection. Black Bear is nice and I like supporting their business, but I'd like a proper book store. I want to go on a date, so it's either Chile's or Applebee's because the other places are either way too expensive or not a good atmosphere for a date. Teenagers want a place where they can go socialize and contrary to popular belief, they aren't all up to nothing but trouble. The only place I see teens out and about now these days is grocery store parking lots. What else have they got to do? I watched a group if kids get run off from the park because they were loitering...IN THE PARK?!?! They weren't bothering anyone, just sitting there talking. Wasn't a mob of them either, just 4 or 5. I'd rather see them sitting outside at the park then with their heads buried in their phones. For younger children, the two playgrounds I know of here are terrible. They're dirty and rusty and not a place I would want bring my young kid.
I've found that renting from a property owner is just as bad as renting from one of the many developers in Boone. It's almost impossible to afford and I work 2 jobs. And they aren't usually taken care of very well. That includes previous tenants and property owners. Trying to get them to fix something is a nightmare. And if they're not rented, they're languishing. And that contributes to the deterioration of our town as a whole. We can't sustain it. It's nice that you have the nostalgia for the house that your great grandparents lived in across town when you were little, but if it's sitting there with busted out windows, rotting wood and a rusty tin roof (looking at you house over by the hospital.) It's time to let it go. Tear is down and build something new for your kids or grand kids to use. No one is saying you have to sell it a property developer. But if that is the best use it can serve then by all means, do it. And make a pretty penny while you're at it. And spend it on the retirement you deserve, not the one you wish you had. The Bamboo area is such a nice place, marred by run down barns and old trailers and all sorts of other junk. It's the perfect place to develop some nice family communities. Not stores. Not student apartments. Homes. Parks. Solar and wind farms. And a nature preserve. There is plenty of space. (and please put the DMV back in town. It's so inconvenient. Particularly to our seniors.) Bradford Park needs to go bye-bye. It's an eye sore. And it smells bad. Yes the people there are in poverty and yes they need somewhere to live, but they should have decent housing, not that mess. (that is also in a flood plane.)
"Hippie Hill" needs a serious make over, and it takes the folks who own those properties to do so. You can't call it cheap student places, because they're expensive (trust me I looked.) Sidewalks and roads are in bad shape (go to Mountain Aire Ln. I dare you.) and they town says they're not their responsibility it's the property owners, but the property owners say it's the town. I agree with the town. It's is the property owners responsibility, TO GET ON THE TOWN'S BUTT TO DO THEIR JOBS! The cottages may be thrown together pieces of crap, but they are maintained on the outside and that makes a difference (albeit a small one. Still most likely going to collapse on you.) Got a problem with Winkler? Go raise a stink about it. Enough people band together and they have to listen. I see a lot of complaining, but not a lot of planning. Blaming the college and it's population isn't going to help either. It's an institution that is over 100 years old. It's not going anywhere. And the students aren't to blame for the issues in our town either. They're an easy target. If we want something done, WE have to do something about it.
Check out Abingdon or Damascus Virginia
I don't have a problem with student housing, but I do have a problem with the mega developments. Surely we can do better than that! Why do we have to have these huge buildings? Why can't they be broken up? I mean, my god, the place looks like hell, and it's getting worse. Aren't we already built up with these things enough?!
More housing will lower the cost of living in Boone. More development means better jobs. What is needed is more commercial jobs development.
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