Where Boone Is Headed (Hint: It Ain't Nowhere Good)

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).

The Erosion of Boone's Single-Family Neighborhoods

Last night at its regular meeting, the Boone Town Council voted 2-2 on an ordinance amendment to allow for "planned developments" in every zoning area of Town. Mayor Rennie Brantz broke the tie by voting for the text amendments (about which, more below), siding with Council members Lynne Mason and Quint David and against members Loretta Clawson and Fred Hay.

This was Quint David's last meeting on the council, since he did not seek reelection (neither did Fred Hay). Mason and Clawson recently won reelection to four-year terms and are now well established and also sharply contrasted for differing visions of Boone's future.

Mason has been leading to make Boone friendlier to big developments and to seek a lot more New River water to sell to those developers, both inside and outside the city limits. Clawson has long been a champion of Boone's endangered single-family neighborhoods, but she's about to be even more out-numbered on the Council.

Jen Teague and Charlotte Mizelle, both elected to two-year terms earlier this month, have firmly aligned themselves with Mason and will hold a solid three-person majority. They could and probably will cement that majority when they appoint a new Council member to serve out Rennie Brantz's term (Brantz was elected Mayor, leaving his remaining time on Council to be filled by appointment).

New Rules for "Planned Developments"

The text amendments voted through last night by Mason, David, and Brantz effectively eliminate the requirement that developers follow the Town's minimal zoning standards, like setbacks, buffers, parking, etc., as long as they promise a "Planned Development," a promise that can be as empty as smoke.

The amendments allow for any use to go anywhere in town. A meeting is now required between neighborhoods and the developer to share neighborhood concerns, but the new rules do not allow for any conditions to be placed on the development other than those agreed to by the developer. There's your smoke, and how's that for the future of neighborhoods in the town of Boone?

The amendments greatly increase the power and authority of the planning administrator to approve big developments and greatly reduces a neighborhood's ability to challenge those developments. The Board of Adjustment, which ordinarily provides a judicial process for challenges and for imposing conditions on new developments, is taken out of the process altogether. The Town Council can deny a Planned Development proposal, but only on narrow grounds that do not include taking into consideration neighborhood concerns.

The removal of the Board of Adjustment, with its quasi-judicial process that can be challenged/sustained in court, paves the way for closed-door bargaining, cronyism, and the specter of favoritism.

It's just sad maddening that recently reelected Council members placed "protecting our neighborhoods" at the top of their campaign platforms when it's obvious they didn't mean a word of it. Do they think we're not paying attention?

To the Losers Go the Sour Grapes

Just prior to their disastrous loss in the Boone municipal elections yesterday, the Watauga GOP was trying to disqualify Rennie Brantz from public office (after he’s already served two consecutive terms!) by misreading the University of North Carolina policy manual (see New Guy’s post on wataugarepubs.blogspot.com). Mr. Brantz earns “nominal pay” for his service on the Boone Town Council and is therefore not covered by the requirement of a “petition” filed with his superiors.

Watauga Republican Party leaders discovered the truth of that via a public records request communicated to the university’s general counsel by ... wait for it ... County Commission Chair Nathan Miller, who has been filing other public records requests against individuals who are apparently considered threats to his power.

We have also learned that Watauga GOP Chair Anne Marie Yates is going after Democratic County Commissioner John Welch on the same bogus accusation that was made against Rennie Brantz: that Welch is disqualified from serving on the County Commission because he didn’t file the “petition” mentioned above.

Mr. Welch’s pay for service on the County Commission is also “nominal,” which also exempts him from that “petition” requirement.

The sourness of the Republican loss in the elections yesterday threatens to curdle all the milk in the world.

Boone Election Results

For Mayor

Loretta Clawson 787
Tim Wilson 474
John Mena 237

For Town Council

Jamie Leigh 937
Rennie Brantz 884
Andy Ball 828
Matthew Long 510
Harold Frazier 492
Grant Holder 189
Thomas Wilhite 62

Mayor Clawson is reelected for a 4-year term. Jamie Leigh and Rennie Brantz are both elected for 4-year terms, with Andy Ball taking the 2-year term.