Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
March 29, 2007 issue
Story by Ron Fitzwater
On Monday, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and Watauga County Economic Development Commission hosted a Lunch and Learn program on low-impact development at the Watauga County Agricultural Conference Center.
Guest speaker Duane Jones of North Carolina State University and North Carolina Cooperative Extension addressed ways in which homeowners and businesses can make aesthetically pleasing yet highly functional modifications to their property to reduce contamination of ground water, while decreasing demand for public utility supplies.
Some of Jones’s suggestions included creation of rain gardens, landscaped water runoff and filtration systems; green roofs, a system of installing vegetation in place of conventional roofing material; and permeable pavement, a system of paving stones or tiles that permit rainwater to drain into the ground.
Local citizens, business owners and government officials attended the event and asked questions about cost and feasibility. Questioners asked if studies had been conducted in mountainous regions. Jones explained that some, but not all, were conducted in the High Country. The ongoing study does not focus on any one particular region. In response to the question whether maintenance costs had been factored into the studies along with initial cost, Jones said they had been.
Anyone interested in additional information about low-impact development can contact Jones at Dwane_jones@ncsu.edu or call 252-747-5831.