Boone ETJ Residents Are Almost Unanimous: "We Want Boone's Protections!"

The public hearing last night before the Watauga County Commission over what to do about land-use protections in the (former) Boone Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) was lopsided by a wide margin. The vast majority of speakers said they wanted the county to provide the same protections they had depended on under Boone's zoning regs before Senator Dan Soucek succeeded in eliminating those protections.

By my count, only three of the speakers last night expressed joy that the ETJ had been stripped naked by a law passed in Raleigh. One of those speakers, Margaret Buck, seemed to tie land-use planning to the evils of educational standards (Common Core) and ultimately to a communist plot in the United Nations. Well, okay then.

During a pre-hearing press conference held by "Citizens for Local Control" (emphasis added ... and, take that, Dan Soucek!) -- a group formed by residents of the ETJ -- we learned that there are over 2,400 parcels of land in the ETJ and some 1,500 families.

Residents of Seven Oaks, Sunny Knolls Acres, Jordan Cook Road, the Locust Hill neighborhood, Snaggy Mountain, Homespun Hills, and Fieldstream all voiced the same concern and often said they had bought their homes in the ETJ because of the zoning protections. They are feeling very exposed and vulnerable now. Most said that they were not polled or surveyed about what they wanted. One speaker asked, Who wanted the ETJ destroyed?

As if to answer that question, up popped Jeff Templeton, who perhaps more than any other individual had propelled Senator Soucek into his project to eliminate the ETJ. Mr. Templeton said he thought it was fine for these other neighborhoods to have some protections, but he doesn't want regulations imposed on undeveloped land in the ETJ (and you're free to make whatever inferences come to mind). Mr. Templeton also joined the chorus at the hearing asking for a two-year moratorium on "polluting" industries while new regs are considered.

By "polluting industries," most people seemed to finger a certain concrete plant off Roby Greene Road, and the Radford Quarries rock crushing operation, and a possible asphalt plant (Radford Quarries has twice before attempted to install an asphalt plant in the ETJ, both defeated because of Boone's zoning).

County Commission Chair Nathan Miller, who has lawyered for the concrete plant, did not show up for the hearing, which was interesting. The meeting was presided over by Vice Chair David Blust.

The whole issue of zoning the ETJ was referred to the Watauga Planning Board, which is tasked with coming up with a plan to be presented to the County Commission. Don't expect any action before the Fall elections.

In the meantime, a moratorium on certain kinds of development while the Planning Board studies the issue is highly doubtful, with the current Republican domination of the County Commish.

A New Protection Racket

Last night at its July meeting, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners set a public hearing for August 19 on what to do about zoning issues in Boone's former Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). Until the passage of Senator Dan Soucek's "local bill" to strip Boone of its ETJ, county residents of the ETJ were protected by Boone's development ordinance. Watauga County has no such regs for development, other than very limited restrictions on "high-impact development," which do not as a matter of fact cover college student "quad" housing and other high-density developments.

Following its regular business, the County Commissioners opened the floor for public comment. From coverage in the High Country Press:

Of the four that spoke, only Jeff Templeton, a member of a family of local developers and a resident of the ETJ, spoke in favor of the elimination of the ETJ and told the commissioners he was “overjoyed” with the fact that this became law.

Noting concerns that this change might have on residents of established neighborhoods in the ETJ, Templeton said that the commissioners could approve of “some measure of regulation in order to protect property values” and the quality of life of residents in the ETJ once the new law goes into effect.

“The county should be able to adequately address [these concerns] without burdening everyone with overregulation,” Templeton said.

So ... the one who pulled the strings in Raleigh ... to make the axe drop on Boone ... to deprive ETJ neighborhoods of their zoning protections ... is now saying that maybe "some measure of regulation" might be needed "to protect property values" (just so long as they don't involve steep-slope development or "view shed" regulations).

That was mighty big of Jeff Templeton.

We assume that since he is now saying publicly that some zoning in the former ETJ is fine by him, there will be some zoning in the former ETJ, since the Templeton family is in charge of the known universe.

Less certain is what will happen with Jeff's father Phil Templeton's decree that Watauga County needs its own county-wide water system. The Templetons may discover that the universe they command ends somewhere short of publicly funded water.

Soucek & Jordan's Local Bill, and Newton's Third Law

Soucek

It's all about gravity, isn't it? At this moment in North Carolina history, all the gravitational pull is in Raleigh, and our Republican representatives down there, Sen. Dan Soucek and Rep. Jonathan Jordan, are learning the giddy pleasures of stomping all over smaller entities who have relatively less power.

Decentralized government? Naw, not on their watch. The town of Boone will be crushed by Bigger Government. Resistance is futile.

Watauga County Commission Chair, Republican Nathan Miller, and his 3-2 majority on that governing board had already explored the joys of crippling Boone's ability to survive by depriving the town of $2 million in sales tax revenue, and they did it out of pure spite. That action by Chairman Miller and the subsequent action by Soucek/Jordan were both prompted by the towering desires of one family, the Templetons, who are now running virtually everything, from the local Republican Party to the County Commission to the General Assembly.

Sir Isaac Newton propounded the universal law of gravitation, and he also mucked about with force, mass, and acceleration, but the Newtonian Law that is about to come into effect for Soucek/Jordan and the Templetons is his Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Reaction # 1: Homeowners in the ETJ Cry Out

Without the protections of Boone's Unified Development Ordinance, which governs what can be built, where, and how, the residents of Boone's Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) are now exposed to harm from their neighbors, if their neighbors are of a mind to harm them.

This new reality apparently prompted County Commission Chair Nathan Miller to issue a statement on behalf of the Commission majority (which includes a Templeton son-in-law) that the Commission will hold a public hearing for residents and for property-owners in the ETJ, to see what, "if any, restrictions the citizens and real property owners wish imposed upon them by their elected officials."

That's a direct quote from Mr. Miller's statement, with emphasis added where emphasis was obviously intended. In fact, the entire first paragraph of Mr. Miller's statement is nothing but full-throated crowing over the way the town of Boone has been treated. Mr. Miller is already abundantly on the record as being opposed on ideological grounds to most if not all land-use regulations, and his statement that a public hearing will be called to consider land-use regulations is also a signal that only one sort of testimony is going to be listened to.

We'll see how the homeowners in the ETJ get on with their new masters.

Reaction # 2: Boone Residents Cry Out

The question of the hour: Why should Boone taxpayers now pony up many millions of $$ to acquire, build, and develop new water resources to service the Templeton family's ETJ holdings?

It was always ultimately about the water.

Big developers want it. Big developers intend to get it. Hell, they have a power-hungry General Assembly in place to help them seize it.

But the taxpayers of the town of Boone do not have to build it for them. They would be fools to do so now.

The fact has consigliere Jeff Templeton is now calling for a county-wide watersystem might wake up a few more taxpayers: It was always about the water.

As always, Senator Dan Soucek gets the Out-to-Lunch Award: "Water? There's an issue with water? Why didn't someone tell me?"

Reaction # 3 (and beyond): Who the Hell Knows?

Eggers

The Soucek/Jordan bill to deprive Boone of its ETJ powers is a one-off. No other town in North Carolina history has ever been treated this way. The bill opens a legal can of worms. Let those worms of unintended consequences wiggle! We're sure that County Attorney Four Eggers can handle every one of them!

Soucek's ETJ Bill Fails in House Committee

BREAKING
The NC House committee charged with considering Sen. Dan Soucek's "local bill" to deprive Boone of its ability to hold the Templeton family to certain development ordinances (steep slope ordinance, tops among them) failed in the House committee, 12-15.

Eye witnesses tell us that it was Republican Majority Leader Rep. Edgar Starnes of Caldwell who swayed the vote most passionately in his remarks to the committee. Jeff Templeton also spoke, along with Boone Mayor Andy Ball and Seven Oaks resident Lee Stroupe.

Starnes is a real estate "investor" with property in the Boone ETJ.

Soucek dies in the House, once again.

He faces reelection this November against Democrat Jim Sponenberg, a Lenoir banker.

ADDENDUM
Rep. Starnes said in the hearing, "This would be the only time in the history of North Carolina that we have removed a town's ETJ authority," Starnes said. "I think it sets a dangerous precedent."

WRAL coverage suggested that several Republican members of the committee made a hasty exit after Starnes spoke, deciding perhaps that it was better to visit the restroom rather than go on the record voting for Mr. Soucek's special interest bill.

The Templetons Strike Back at Boone

Anne Marie Templeton Yates, Chair of the Watauga GOP,
trying to block video coverage at the Dan Soucek
forum on education, Dec. 5, 2013

Senator Dan Soucek has introduced a "local bill" in the General Assembly (S865) to strip the Town of Boone of its extraterritorial powers to control and regulate development. The bill contains one primary sentence: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Town of Boone shall not exercise any powers of extraterritorial jurisdiction as provided in Article 19 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes." Boom.

If the senator didn't introduce that pluton bomb at the behest of the Templeton family, the Templetons certainly stand to profit handsomely by the elimination of the "steep slope" regs, among other ordinances that keep them from doing exactly as they please. Let's call S865 what it is: "The Templeton Family Enablement Act of 2014."

(NOTE: Jonathan Jordan is a part of this, because the rules governing "local bills" in the "short session" of the General Assembly -- now underway -- is that no local bill can move forward without the support of both House and Senate representatives. Voters in the Town of Boone and in the ETJ need to know that both Soucek and Jordan, who are both also up for reelection this fall, have targeted Boone -- and only Boone -- for this particular abuse of power.)

Senator Soucek tried this same move almost exactly two years ago in the short session of 2012. He stirred up a hornet's nest of opposition, and his bill ultimately got shelved in the House, primarily because of the opposition of Rep. Ruth Samuelson of Charlotte. Samuelson is still in the House and still powerful (though she announced last year that she wouldn't be running for reelection in 2014. Perhaps some skullduggery has gone on out of sight down there, and Soucek thinks he'll slip this one through. At any rate, he seems perfectly willing to stick his tongue on that frozen lamp-pole again. Has he forgotten the significant backlash two years ago among voters living in the ETJ?

The Templetons have now lost two historic elections in their lust to take over the government in Boone. Their last trump card is Senator Bobblehead and his co-conspirator, Rep. Jordan. Toadying to the rich is not a good look for these lawmakers in an election year.

Everything You Need To Know About the Watauga GOP, in One Convenient Package

The High Country Press got hold of the texts of the resolutions passed at the Watauga County Republican Convention last Saturday.

A fine collection of special interest plumping, self-congratulatory back-patting, revenge fantasy paybacks, and selective memory.

The resolution on education alone is jaw-dropping in its complete failure to recognize the destruction done to public education in North Carolina under two successive Republican state budgets. It actually praises Rep. Jonathan Jordan and Senator Dan Soucek for their votes on education, but in Republican World those votes don't seem to include making North Carolina 46th out of 50 states in teacher pay and the firing of hundreds of teachers and teacher assistants across the state.

But, wait! No praise therein for book-banning? There's an oversight!

Wonder if County Commission Chair Nathan Miller wrote the resolution praising the County Commission? Wonder if Virginia Foxx wrote the resolution praising Virginia Foxx? Wonder if some member of the Templeton family wrote the resolution condemning the steep slope regs in the town of Boone? Wonder if Four Eggers wrote the resolution praising the disenfranchisement of ASU student voters?

The document properties of the originals would possibly reveal much about who really runs that party.

Resistance Is Futile

Anna Oakes gets on the money trail of Team Templeton in the Watauga Democrat, and Jeff Templeton is forthcoming on why his family has felt it necessary to bludgeon and then buy Boone's town government: They're doing it all to save Watauga County!

"We warned the town council that the over-reaching regulations could have the unintended consequence of encouraging large-scale apartment development outside the town's planning jurisdiction, and now we see that prediction coming true with The Cottages [of Boone]," sez Jeff.

Got that logic? Because Boone now regulates high-density development on steep slopes within its limits, all the obnoxious, destructive, and dangerous development moves out into the county (and Watauga County allows virtually anything). Therefore, O my Brethren, the Town of Boone is totally responsible for that hair-raising development on the ridge known as The Cottages of Boone. And for everything else you see in Watauga County that you don't like.

High Country Press photo

With logic like that, Team Templeton is going to make marvelous overlords! And with the money they've got they're clearly intent on doing whatever it takes to win. Just this week, we've heard of three different violations of the law committed by Team Templeton:

1. Stuffing their flyers into people's mailboxes -- a Federal offense

2. Putting out a flyer with a "Paid for" line listing a local business, which is also illegal under North Carolina law.

3. We are told that Mark Templeton was doing a robocall to cell phone numbers, which is another Federal offense.

Brace Yourself, Boone

Citizens for Change, the notorious political action committee of 2007, is returning, with Jeff Templeton at its head. (See the Certification to Return to Active Status for political action committee, "Citizens For Change," below.)

A little history from 2007: Citizens for Change formed primarily to fight the new Steep Slope Development ordinance and to rout the progressives in Boone. The PAC endorsed a slate of four candidates that year, one mayoral candidate and three town council candidates, one of them a multiple-term incumbent. Out of those four PAC candidates, only one of them won, but in the process their multiple-term incumbent (and most experienced public official) lost. (The Watauga Democrat did an eve-of-election run-down on all the candidates and the issues at that time. And please note that in 2007, Boone's municipal election was on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in October.)

The coverage of the Chamber of Commerce candidate forum that year in the Watauga Democrat makes interesting reading too, especially the report that developer Phil Templeton, Jeff Templeton's father and a prime mover in Citizens for Change, heckled incumbent candidate Lynne Mason from the audience.

We note that the Certification to Return to Active Status (pictured below) was dated October 3, which means that the PAC will not under current law have to report any contributions or expenditures until well after the election is over, in January 2014. We note that because the timing seems intentional, as though someone were willing to hide out until after the planned damage has been done.

For the record, in 2007 Citizens for Change raised $45,426.12 and spent most of it. That total in cash does not count what Phil Templeton individually spent on multiple newspaper ads (many of them full-page), though he was also a big donor to Citizens for Change.

Also for the record, and in case anyone has forgotten the full extent of current Templeton family power: Phil's daughter (and Jeff's sister) Anne Marie Yates is chair of the Watauga County Republican Party and is named in one of the charges currently pending against the Republican majority on the Watauga County Board of Elections. Anne Marie Yates is married to Perry Yates, a new Watauga County Commissioner, and she is sister of Mark Templeton, a candidate for Boone Town Council in the November elections. Mark Templeton made a Citizens for Change-style endorsement of Matt Long and James Milner at the candidate forum last Tuesday, and presumably it is this "Team Templeton" that will be the object of affection for the reactivated Citizens for Change.

Soucek: It Depends on the Meaning of 'Developer' ... And What the Definition of Is Is

Sen. Dan Soucek gets wrapped around the Templeton axle once again in an interview with Jesse Wood of the High Country Press. Saith the senator about his push to lift all development rules in Boone's extra-territorial jurisdiction, "No developer, per se, has talked to me about this issue regarding anything they would like to do."

Per se. We call that parsing one's words. Step around that cow pie, Senator!

He also appears to admit that he's thrown in the towel on Senate Bill 949 for this session.

Did Jordan Double-Cross Soucek?

Early on in his crusade to do the Templetons' bidding, Sen. Dan Soucek assured the NC Senate committee considering his "local bill" to eliminate the Town of Boone's extraterritorial jurisdiction that he had the backing of the rest of the local delegation. That is to say, he said he had the support of Rep. Jonathan Jordan, since it's customary for "local bills" to have the full support of all members of the House & Senate representing that area.

If Soucek did actually have Jordan's support, or was merely speaking out of his alimentary canal (as is his wont), he most assuredly did not have Jordan's support when Senate Bill 949 actually reached the NC House for action. Jordan pointedly did not show up to support the bill in the House Rules Committee. And he is now evidently in favor of side-lining Soucek's initiative into a "study" bill, which is just another name for "face-saving." Study bills are where problematic legislative ideas go to die.


Why Jordan, the Art Pope fellow-traveler, would be in favor of cutting off Boone's water supply and not in favor of crippling her ability to maintain zoning regulations in the ETJ is a mystery past the talents of mere mortals to decipher.

Sen. Soucek Finally Tells a Truth

From Anna Oakes' most recent update on Dan Soucek's Screw Over Boone Act of 2012, in the Watauga Democrat:

Soucek said, “There has been a developer who has been very, very loud.”

In the senator's individual case, that would have to qualify as the understatement of the month.

In Jeff Templeton's case, that would have to qualify as being forced involuntarily out of the shadows.

We also find unusually instructive the smug self-interest and screw-everybody-else casualness of Rep. Paul Stam of Apex, who said "he would not support eliminating the ETJ in his county of Wake nor statewide, but that he could support a bill doing such in the mountains...."

That Rules Committee meeting on Monday brings new meaning to the term "circle jerk."

And where, by the way, was Rep. Jonathan Jordan? Hiding behind the door?

Update on S949

This is the Soucek bill that actually passed the Senate committee of jurisdiction today, 5-4:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT PROVIDING THAT THE TOWN OF BOONE  SHALL NOT EXERCISE THE
POWERS OF EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Town of Boone shall
not exercise any powers of extraterritorial jurisdiction as provided in Article 19 of Chapter
160A of the General Statutes.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective June 30, 2013.

The key difference from the first version is Section 2, the effective date. No study committee established, which is what Mr. Soucek led Boone officials to believe yesterday he was going to recommend, and then today in the committee meeting said he had changed his mind. Proving nothing so much as the old political adage:

You can't out-think a man who ain't thinking.

Putting off implementation a year does not get Boone's elected officials out of their dilemma. If ETJ is to end in June, 2013, then why would they now continue to siphon off their water supply to areas outside their municipal boundaries, especially when all that area is going to revert to no-zoning controls, no regs, no land-use planning?

And how does this satisfy the "I WANT IT NOW!" appetites of Jeff Templeton and his cohorts, who have put Soucek through this excruciating display of puppet-on-a-string floundering? Mr. Templeton was at the Capitol in Raleigh today, though he did not bother to come to the committee meeting. (When you're as powerful as Mr. Templeton, you don't need no stinkin' committee meetings!) Others, particularly residents of Boone's ETJ, did show up and were allowed to testify, but Mr. Templeton stayed out of sight for the most part. Is he pleased with this resulting bill? I wouldn't be if I were him.

Certainly, Nathan Miller's clients (note the sidebar in the right-hand column at the link), who are trying to reactivate a bankrupt cement plant despite multiple code violations, can't be particularly happy either to wait a year to see the burden of zoning regs lifted so they can do as they please.

It's clear that Sen. Soucek blinked. His year's delay solves nothing, settles nothing, and makes him look ... just confused.

The Men Pulling Dan Soucek's Strings

Anna Oakes in yesterday's Watauga Democrat names the men who accompanied Sen. Soucek into town offices last week to lay the groundwork for his bill to remove Boone's right to extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ): "...accompanying the senator were Republican Watauga County Board of Commissioners Chair Nathan Miller; Perry Yates, a Republican county commissioner candidate, contractor and owner of New River Building Supply; Keith Honeycutt, a former Republican county commissioner; Jeff Templeton, a Boone Planning Commission member, owner of Templeton Tours and member of a family of developers; Gary Knight; and Sam Adams."

Why? Because he didn't understand what his own bill would do, and they did? Because he might have lost his nerve, and they wouldn't? Because he lacks the rationale for his own actions until someone else supplies it?

It's clear from Oakes' article that Sen. Soucek doesn't understand the implications of his own bill, has not thought it through, and is perhaps incapable of thinking it through. According to Oakes, Soucek "said he ultimately did not envision the bill eliminating Boone's ETJ altogether," though that's exactly what the language of the bill would accomplish in one fell swoop. Then he falls back on a totally empty cliche: “We don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water,” he said. Which is precisely what his "local bill" would do. Soucek, according to Oakes, followed that brilliant non sequitur about babies and bath water with a piece of grandiosity wherein he imagines he's doing his own thinking and taking his own actions: “One of the good things about this is I have complete control over this bill. I'm not going to let this slide in an irresponsible way.”

Yeah, right. The gentlemen named above are the virtual authors of this bill and obviously have complete control over Sen. Soucek. Not one of them gives a fig for the irresponsible consequences that will flow for some 3,500 citizens living in the ETJ, so long as they and their friends are making money.

"Political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain." Wikipedia.

The Assault on NC Towns

White Laurel landslide, 2004

The new Republican majority in the NC General Assembly are clearly bent on strangling the life out of the state's towns and cities. The Republicans have passed legislation just this week to make annexations much more difficult for cities. If a town can't grow -- which is clearly the end-goal of the Republicans -- then that town begins to die.

Now comes the Templeton/Soucek assault on Boone's extra-territorial jurisdiction, which will benefit a few individual developers while ringing Boone's steep slopes with a potential for unregulated, wide-open (not to mention dangerous) chaos.

The "local act" scheme for depriving Boone of its ability to manage growth on its surrounding steep slopes applies only to Boone, because -- hey! -- some powerful men desire it. (Apparently, the other municipalities in Dan Soucek's district didn't have either the a. steep-slope regs or b. a sufficiently rich developer to get Mr. Soucek's attention.) Another Republican-sponsored bill (drafted but not yet introduced in the General Assembly) seeks to outlaw extra-territorial jurisdiction generally across the state. More precisely, the draft language of the bill would prevent the state's municipalities from extending their ETJs into areas currently zoned by county government. That's an interesting distinction ... "areas currently zoned by county government." Since Watauga County has no zoning, we assume this particular assault on towns would not actually apply to Boone, but a lot of assumptions about our General Assembly get suddenly bumped askew after midnight. Just sayin'.

The Wake County town of Knightdale, at least, ain't waiting to see. Their town council has already passed a resolution opposing the ETJ draft power-grab. And we're glad to see that they (along with other Wake County municipalities) recognize the economic impact of stripping away ETJ laws: “ETJ is a critical tool to entice developers. Many businesses and individuals have purchased property in reliance on existing ETJ framework .... Removing the option to extend ETJ and the assumed zoning and ordinances may threaten the viability of their investments at a time when the economy in our state is just starting to recover.”

Sen. Soucek's Plan To Screw the Suburbs of Boone

Sen. Dan Soucek introduced a "local bill" in the NC Senate today ("local," meaning it would affect only the Town of Boone and no other municipality in the state), which reads in its entirety:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT PROVIDING THAT THE TOWN OF BOONE SHALL NOT EXERCISE THE POWERS OF EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Town of Boone shall not exercise any powers of extraterritorial jurisdiction as provided in Article 19 of Chapter 6 160A of the General Statutes.
SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law.

It's a breathtaking power-grab meant to cripple Boone's ability to control development on its fringes. Most if not all of the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction that Boone now has was requested by residents living there to protect themselves from unwanted and undesirable development, including the Seven Oaks neighborhood off Roby Greene Rd. which requested to be taken in under Boone's zoning regs to protect itself from a Maymead asphalt plant. This bill would simply remove all those protections with a flick of Mr. Soucek's wrist.

The senator requested a meeting with town officials today to inform them of his bill. He brought with him a veritable who's who of power players who've made a crusade in recent years against the city's land-use planning regulations. Chief among them was Jeff Templeton, along with Mr. Templeton's in-law Perry Yates and Keith Honeycutt and Nathan Miller, former county commissioners who've made their grudges against the town a matter of on-going public record.

Jonathan Jordan, we feel confident, is on board to introduce the same bill in the NC House.

According to the UNC School of Government, "By long-standing practice, a legislative 'courtesy' system provides that local bills will almost always win general approval in each house as long as they have the support of the legislators who represent the jurisdiction(s) involved. Occasionally, a local bill that is controversial will face some opposition, but otherwise, the legislators defer to the local delegation on matters of concern to their local government constituents."

So, our representatives, who preach less government when it suits them, intend to trump the residents and Town Council of Boone by ramming through from on high the most draconian change to our terrain. They intend to unleash the developers to do whatever the hell their imaginations can devise. This is "small government" at its most ironic, and it's being done to benefit the few against the wishes of the many.

Knee-Capping the Town of Boone

At their meeting this morning, the Republican majority of the Watauga County Commission made their intent clear, as far as the Town of Boone is concerned: ill will and open warfare.

The Commission has statutory right to appoint Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) members to both the Boone Area Planning Board and the Board of Adjustments (BOA), a quasi-judicial board that rules on certain zoning requests and complaints.

The Commission this morning appointed Jeff Templeton to the Planning Board.

And despite three qualified nominations made by the Town of Boone for a regular and an alternate seat on the Board of Adjustments, the Commission chose to appoint two men who had (1) not applied and (2) whose sole qualifications appear to be their conservative politics and open hostility to the town's land-use planning.

But there's more. The alternate appointment for the ETJ position to the Board of Adjustments is a man who lives in the town of Boone, not in the ETJ. To make that appointment legal, the three Republicans on the Commission had to make a "finding" that there were no qualified applicants in the ETJ, when all three of the people recommended for the positions by the Town of Boone are not only obviously qualified but very qualified, with experience on various planning taskforces or with higher education in that or related fields.

So what disqualified them from appointment to the Board of Adjustment? With regard to Harvard Ayers, nominated to the regular ETJ seat on the BOA, Nathan Miller said, My problem with Ayers is that he agrees with the town's planning ordinances.

Commissioner Vince Gable chimed in that the other two applicants, Robert Goddard (who has previous experience on a planning board, a zoning board, and a board of adjustment) and Cameron Lippard (who has considerable college work in rural and urban development) were disqualified too because they agree with Boone's zoning and development regs.

The men who were appointed (including obviously the alternate ETJ member of the BOA put in place because there were no "qualified" applicants), were chosen for their politics.

(For the record, Commissioner Jim Deal argued that the appointment of a resident of Boone to an ETJ seat violated the spirit of the statute, and he did vote against it. The vote was 3-1, with Futrelle absent.)

There you have it. Boone is to have Tea Party obstructionists appointed to any body that does any land-use planning.

Meanwhile, these same Republican commissioners are angling to get Boone taxpayers to cough up water it doesn't currently have, but may have in the future, in order to do massive development in Deep Gap, which is likely to make a handful of people rich, though not including the general citizens of Boone, who are disdained because they have zoning but whose resources are coveted openly and without embarrassment by men who never pass up an opportunity to sneer at the town and complain about its style of self-government.

Templeton Loses in Court (Again)

Back a year ago, Superior Court Judge Ronald Payne ruled against the Town of Boone and said Phil Templeton could build his medical clinic in the single-family neighborhood of VFW Drive. The Town of Boone appealed that ruling. (Another Templeton lawsuit, challenging Boone's steep slope development ordinance, was thrown out of court earlier this year.)

Yesterday the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Judge Payne erred in substituting his judgment for the Boone Board of Adjustments: "The Superior Court was not free to find facts in place of the Board of Adjustment; its function was to determine whether the Board of Adjustment's findings were supported by competent evidence in the record before it." The Appeals Court noted that Judge Payne at one point declared that he himself planned to visit the proposed construction site (though whether he ever did that is unclear).

The Boone Board of Adjustments erred in not making a formal finding of fact, though the BOA had "substantial evidence" before it opposing the Templeton special use request, and so the case is remanded back to the Boone BOA so that a finding of fact can be made.

Once the BOA does that, it's possible that Templeton could appeal again. However, the Court of Appeal's opinion essentially holds that the record contains sufficient evidence to support denial of the permit, and that would seem to destroy Templeton's procedural arguments. So, assuming that the Board adopts sufficient findings on remand, Templeton should have little ammunition for another appeal.

Templeton Lawsuit Against Town of Boone Dismissed

It happened back on May 25, but the judge didn't sign his order to make it official until today.

The Jeff Templeton lawsuit against the Town of Boone, challenging the constitutionality of the town's steep-slope development regs, was thrown out by Superior Court Judge Joseph N. Crosswhite (who's a Republican, incidentally) for failing to set out "facts or legal claims which showed any potentially valid basis under state law or the constitution."

This was the second lawsuit filed by Boone attorney Charlie Clement on behalf of Templeton to try to strike down the ordinances. The first attempt was voluntarily withdrawn by Clement in December 2006 just before it was to be heard in court, a move sometimes regarded as an admission of "I have no case."