APRIL 9, 2009 ISSUE
Boone Close to Finalizing Land Use Master Plan
The Town of Boone is currently in the final stages of formulating a land use master plan, also called “Boone 2030: The Smart Growth Plan for the Heart of the High Country.” The plan will be a significant—but nonbinding—document that will serve as a guide for development and redevelopment in Boone over the next 20 years.
The land use master plan works together with the town’s Comprehensive Plan and other plans and programs to provide for Boone’s long-range growth, facility and service needs. The plan’s goal is to provide a general pattern for the location, distribution and character of the future land uses within Boone’s growth area.
The town hired the Lawrence Group, a planning and design firm, to facilitate the public input process and help develop the town’s land use master plan. After coordinating a weeklong public planning charrette last fall, the Lawrence Group published a draft of the “Boone 2030” document in March. The plan is approximately 120 pages long.
The draft version of the plan includes a Framework Plan to serve as a development and redevelopment policy map, transportation network enhancements and a multi-modal concept plan, a retrofit plan for key suburban corridors, conceptual planning in three dimensions for key locations in various contexts, an urban design/urban infill plan for downtown and surrounding neighborhoods and strategic initiatives for environmental sustainability, affordable housing, historic preservation and other community priorities.
The plan includes 118 specific implementation recommendations. Examples of implementation recommendations include increasing minimum open space requirements, establishing an energy task force and developing a renewable energy plan, advocating for the preferred alternative to Daniel Boone Parkway through the Bamboo Road area, conducting a parking study for downtown, establishing park-and-ride facilities and promoting infill development in vacant structures downtown, among many others.
The Framework Plan is a major piece of the “Boone 2030” land use master plan. According to the document, the Framework Plan is “a land use policy map intended to provide guidance to Boone’s leaders as they make decisions on where and how the community should grow.” The Framework Plan divides land into six separate classifications or “sectors,” from the most natural to the most urbanized areas. The sectors are O-1, Preserved Open Space; O-2, Reserved/Conservation Lands; G-1, Low Density/Primarily Residential; G-2, Urban Neighborhoods; G-3, Mixed-Use Centers/Corridors; and G-4, Downtown Boone.
For the broader sector classifications, development can be further subdivided based on “transect zones,” or from least to most density. This is a departure from traditional zoning classifications that are based on use, such as Central Business or Residential. The Framework Plan will be implemented through documents called form-based codes, which contain less text than conventional zoning codes and are richly illustrated to depict the desired urban form and spatial relationships desired by the community. Form-based codes focus less on uses in buildings and more on the massing, character and scale of the buildings themselves, as well as the design of adjacent urban spaces.
The land use master plan has been developed according to Smart Growth principles, a planning approach that emphasizes mixed land uses, varied housing opportunities, walkability, open space and natural preservation and a variety of transportation choices, among other qualities. The town conducted a Smart Growth Audit in 2007, which found that the town’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO)—last adopted in 1997—does not accomplish the town’s long-range Smart Growth planning goals. After the land use master plan is adopted, the town plans to rewrite the UDO.
Although the new land use master plan has considerable implications for the town’s future, only one citizen signed up to speak at a public hearing on the plan held April 6. Pam Williamson articulated a list of suggestions and comments to the Boone Town Council and Boone Planning Commission, including suggestions for greater emphasis and incentives for historic preservation and the inclusion of Highway 421 as a specific focus area.
The development of Boone’s land use master plan has coincided with Appalachian State University’s update of its own master plan. ASU Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Greg Lovins said the university hopes to hold an open meeting about the plan by the end of this month, with a final draft of the plan to be presented at the June 2009 Board of Trustees meeting.
After closing the public hearing, the council and planning commission agreed to schedule another meeting for the council to consider comments from town staff and from the planning commission. That meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 21, at 5:00 p.m. at the Town Council Chambers on Blowing Rock Road.
To view a draft of the land use master plan, click to www.townofboone.net and select “Land Use Master Plan Information” or visit the Boone Town Hall, located at 567 West King Street. For more information, call 828-268-6200.
“Boone 2030: The Smart Growth Plan for the Heart of the High Country”
The land use master plan includes the following elements:
• a Framework Plan to serve as a development and redevelopment policy map
• transportation network enhancements and a multi-modal concept plan
• a retrofit plan for key suburban corridors
• conceptual planning in three dimensions for key locations in various contexts
• an urban design/urban infill plan for downtown and surrounding neighborhoods
• strategic initiatives for environmental sustainability, affordable housing, historic preservation and other community priorities
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