Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

January 24, 2008 issue


Boone Town Council Passes University
Rezoning, U-1 Changes

Story by Kathleen McFadden

At their January 17 meeting, the Boone Town Council, in votes of 4-1, approved Appalachian State University’s request to rezone property at the corner of Howard and College streets and also approved a number of changes to the Unified Development Ordinance that govern the development of property in the U-1 (university) zoning district.

Council member Janet Pepin cast the opposition votes to the rezoning and the text amendments. Voting in favor were Lynne Mason, Rennie Brantz, Liz Aycock and Stephen Phillips.

The rezoning vote clears the way for Appalachian to develop the property across the street from the university’s parking garage, but the council’s vote was not an approval for any specific plan or building even though in a number of presentations, university representatives have shown proposed plans for a new College of Education building on the site to replace the overcrowded and outdated facilities in Edwin Duncan Hall.

The amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance reflect the consensus of a task force consisting of town and university representatives and address land use intensity, setbacks, building height, parking and streetscaping.

By a narrow vote, the Boone Area Planning Commission recommended approval of the proposed amendments with suggested changes to the setback requirements.

The town council adopted one of those recommendations—increasing the interior setback to 14 feet when university property is adjacent to the R-1 zoning district—but did not adopt the other—reducing the interior setback to zero when university property is adjacent to the B-1 district. Town Attorney Sam Furgiuele said that the setback reduction was a significant change from what had been proposed at the public hearing and would require a new public hearing.

The Planning Commission also narrowly recommended approval of the rezoning request.

Mason read a prepared statement prior to both votes pointing out that the zoning and text amendments were not about the College of Education. “I disagree with how the university went about acquiring the property and planning to build on it,” Mason said. “I call it ‘the perfect storm.’ But not rezoning will not prevent the university from developing the property.”

She pointed out that the amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance are recommendations agreed upon by the town and university task force and said that the town and university had agreed to work together to develop a joint master plan.

She pointed out that Howard Street is prime for redevelopment and although she had struggled with the impact on the Dedmonds—the family that owns a single-family home on Howard Street adjacent to the proposed College of Education site—Mason said she would support the request for the property to be rezoned.

Pepin said that Appalachian’s advertising campaign for the College of Education reflected more of a conditional use permitting process than a rezoning request and that that the town council had no power to request modifications to the building. The council’s vote, Pepin pointed out, did not bind the university to a particular building, but the public perception would be that the council was voting for the College of Education facility.

Pepin then discussed the actual changes in permitted uses between the current zoning of R-3 and the proposed zoning of U-1. “These changes have not been focused on in our deliberation,” she said, “and I feel they must be part of our deliberation.”

After she voted against the amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance, Pepin said, “It’s not because I’m opposed to the change, but because we were not given adequate time to consider these changes. Not all of us were on that [university and town] committee and that’s why I voted no. When they say the town agrees, I don’t consider that I agreed.”