Boone hosts multi-family housing drop-in
By Frank Ruggiero

On Nov. 22, the town of Boone will host a public meeting for all citizens to attend and share their ideas on recent trends in multi-family housing development in the Boone area.

Furthermore, the public comment will help shape the town’s Steep Slope and Multi-Family Housing Task Force’s recommendations to the Boone Town Council.

“If they’re interested in the issue, and want input into the process, this will be one of their main opportunities,” said Dempsey Wilcox, town councilman and task force member. “We’re finding that this is a particularly rough issue, in that we need rental housing. The hard decision is where to locate it, and that’s something we’d like more input from the public on.”

According to a town press release, the task force wishes to encourage a “high level of public involvement in the process of evaluating issues and impacts associated with the development of large multi-family housing projects.”

John Spear, director of Boone Development Services, said the meeting will be more of a drop-in session, where people can attend between 5 and 8 p.m. to speak with task force members and share their thoughts.

The release states that the task force is seeking input on five key questions: Where should dense development occur? How might the town best create mixed-used neighborhood districts? How might the town resolve zoning conflicts between disparate uses? How might the town mitigate competition between students, the elderly, single families, low-income residents, and young professionals for access to multi-family housing? How might the town prioritize the creation of green space devoted to town parks, neighborhood commons, and greenway trails?

Spear said hand-outs will be available for attendees to provide written comment, as well as poster boards featuring information on multi-family housing.

“Different people are going to be available there from the task force to answer any questions and get some feedback from the public on what their ideas on recent multi-family housing trends are,” he said.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, Nov. 22, from 5 to 8 p.m.

“Come by at your leisure any time between five and eight, look at what the task force has come up with, and provide your own ideas on it,” Spear said.

Spear said those unable to attend during that time may visit the development services office, located at 1510 Blowing Rock Rd., to obtain copies of the handout material to still provide written comment.

Wilcox specified that this meeting will only address the multi-family housing component of the task force’s mission.

Spear expects a similar meeting on steep slope development to be held after the first of the new year.

The task force, however, must move fast on the multi-family aspect, as the town’s moratorium on large multi-family housing developments expires in February 2006.

The meeting will be held in Council Chambers, located at 1500 Blowing Rock Rd. For more information, call Boone Development Services at 262-4540.

• Frank Ruggiero may be contacted at ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com.