APRIL 16, 2009 ISSUE
Blowing Rock Council Agrees To Reconsider Dogs in Parks
After a heated standoff with about a dozen people in attendance at Tuesday’s monthly council meeting, the Blowing Rock Council unanimously agreed to table a proposed ordinance to ban dogs from town parks and to consider possible opportunities for compromise.
As town policy, dogs have not been allowed in municipal parks since 1993, when a Blowing Rock Parks and Recreation regulation prohibiting dogs took effect. Several signs have been installed at the edges of Memorial Park to inform visitors of the policy, but town staff members have expressed concerns that dog owners are not adhering to the rule.
As a result, town staff drafted an ordinance to prohibit dogs in town parks that would make the policy a town law enforceable by the town Police Department and punishable by a $100 fine. The town already has a leash law in place that requires dogs to be restrained by a leash in any public area.
“We’ve had this policy a long, long time, and now we’re going to make it an ordinance,” said Blowing Rock Major J.B. Lawrence. “This will be an ordinance with teeth in it.”
The issue of dogs in Blowing Rock parks has emerged several times in the past. Council members have expressed concerns for the safety of children in the parks and about owners who fail to clean up after their dogs.
The ordinance would prohibit dogs in Memorial Park, Broyhill Park and Davant Field, with one exception. According to the draft ordinance, dogs would be permitted at Davant Field between November 15 and March 15.
But the majority of speakers at the public hearing expressed opposition to the ordinance and the perceived unwillingness to compromise on the part of the council. Most agreed that dogs should not be allowed in children’s play areas in Memorial Park and Davant Field, but they argued that dogs should be permitted along walking trails and in the bench area of Memorial Park that overlooks Main Street.
Patsy Turner said she moved to Blowing Rock about three years ago in part because of the pleasant image of people sitting on the park benches with their dogs. After two of her own children have died, her dog is “my baby—my child. He’s very special to me. We walk every single day downtown.”
Business and motel owners argued that visitors to Blowing Rock want to bring their pets with them. One man said that about 50 percent of his motel customers request pet-friendly accommodations.
Other than town staff, one person—Ginny Stevens—spoke in favor of the ordinance. She said she has two scars from dogs that have bitten her in the past and that she knows many people who don’t want to see dogs in the parks.
Mayor Pro Tem Keith Tester said he would not feel comfortable passing the ordinance after the vast majority of people at the public hearing had expressed opposition to it. He made the motion to table the issue so that the council could take another look at the ordinance and identify areas for compromise.
Council Amends BRAHM CUP To Require Less Parking
Also at the meeting, the council voted 4-1 to amend the conditional use permit (CUP) for the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM). The amendment reduces the size of the proposed two-level parking facility to 58 spaces, six less than the original design for 64 spaces.
BRAHM plans to build a three-story, 23,188-square-foot museum building at the corner of Chestnut and Wallingford streets in downtown Blowing Rock. The project has been planned as a joint public-private venture between the Town of Blowing Rock and BRAHM. The town and museum have agreed in principle to construct adjacent museum and parking facilities simultaneously to save on costs—the museum will pay for the museum facility, and the town will pay for the public parking facility. If the town decides not to build the parking facility, BRAHM can build its own parking lot.
In August 2008, the council voted to approve a conditional use permit (CUP) for the museum but to delay a final decision on the parking deck until BRAHM could present costs and final designs. The council has yet to grant final approval of the parking deck.
The town land use code requires 77 spaces for the museum, but town planning staff researched similar codes in other towns and found that other municipalities require less parking for museums. The town plans to amend the town land use code to reduce the current requirement.
Council member Tommy Klutz cast the dissenting vote against the amendment because he favors a surface parking lot for the museum.
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