Council postpones steep-slope vote

By Frank Ruggiero

ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

Back to the drawing board.

The Boone Town Council postponed voting on proposed regulations on steep slope development until they can be modified to meet public demand.

The council acted at a special public hearing on Thursday after hearing testimony from residents and property owners for nearly three hours.

Reading from a prepared motion, council member Lynn Mason moved to send the proposed geologic hazard map and view-shed map to the town attorney for modification to be posted on the town’s Web site prior to the Monday, Sept. 18, planning commission meeting.

“The modifications should be less restrictive than those currently proposed,” Mason said, adding they should be based on public input received at the public hearing and throughout the past several weeks.

She recommended the geologic hazard map be eliminated and replaced with criteria to identify properties at risk for instability or danger that would warrant further studies and possible remediation.

In March, the map, which was designed by Trigon Engineering, was estimated not to exceed $25,000.

Mason also suggested the development of a less restrictive view-shed map, which would use major corridors instead of valley floors in determining the view-shed line.

It should only apply to development that can actually be seen from a major corridor, she continued, adding that minimum lot sizes should be eliminated, while the percentage of total land disturbance areas should be increased to support the development of single-family homes on smaller lots. Septic systems would be excluded from the calculation of total land disturbance, she said, and development of single-family homes would be based on existing regulations in the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).

Mason said the new view-shed map should encourage, rather than require, the preservation of foliage and trees, as well as encourage development along ridgelines to minimize the visual impact. The map should also take into consideration the Boone Steep Slope and Multi-Family Task Force’s recommendations related to density on hillsides, which encourage higher density development in the valley, below the view-shed.

Language should also be included to support single-family development as both desirable and allowable, as well as language on the process to appeal a decision, Mason said.

“In addition, the amended text should be sent to (Boone) Development Services, the task force and the Committee for Responsible Environmental Regulation for comments, which will be shared with the planning commission and town council,” Mason said.

The Committee for Responsible Environmental Regulation is an ad-hoc organization of community and business members that opposes the steep slope development regulations.

Council member Dempsey Wilcox said Mason’s motion constituted a major change, rather than a minor revision, to the text, and expressed concern that such an action would be illegal if the town did not advertise for another public hearing on the revisions.

In terms of UDO procedure and advertising cases, cases are advertised to allow changes to be proposed, town attorney Sam Furgiuele said. The purpose of a public hearing is for the town council and planning commission to hear the cases, “so they certainly can make motions that are responsive to the comments made to determine what they’re actually going to consider,” he said.

If everything that is proposed in the motion is less restrictive than what has been published, Furgiuele said there is no question it can be considered by the council.

“My concern is that this is a major revision,” Wilcox said. “[Mason] just read a five minute statement of different options, just changed the maps, and said we’re going to have it all done [Friday] and ready for Monday night.

“You change it that much, it’s virtually a brand new ordinance.”

Greg Reck, chairman of the Boone Area Planning Commission, said it seemed unrealistic that the planning commission could digest the changes effectively by Monday night.

Council member Janet Pepin agreed, saying while she approved of Mason’s proposals, that Monday night was not a good time frame.

Furgiuele reminded the council and commission that, under state law, once the public hearing has closed, the planning commission is required to act on the proposal within 30 days. Once the recommendations are made, the council has 60 days to act on them.

Council member Bunk Spann suggested the planning commission hold its regular meeting Monday and plan to schedule another meeting for further input gathering from the public.

“I think this is a substantial, new ordinance,” Wilcox said. “We have to get the language and sit it out with the public again and let the public comment on it.”

Wilcox’s statement garnered applause from the audience, and Mason said she’d be perfectly comfortable with the planning commission deferring the cases with a continuation and evaluating the new language within 30 days, during which it would schedule a continuation meeting.

She amended her motion to include a stipulation that the planning commission has the option to continue its meeting in order to study the matter and gather public comment within the 30-day limit from the public hearing.

Spann seconded, and the motion carried in a 4-1 vote, with Wilcox casting the dissenting vote.

The planning commission will meet Monday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in Town Council Chambers at 1500 Blowing Rock Rd. in Boone.