Protesting landowners fill Boone public hearing

By Frank Ruggiero

ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

Courtroom One of the Watauga County Courthouse was filled to capacity — and then some — for the town of Boone’s special public hearing on proposed steep slope development regulations.

Knowing the hearing would yield a steep turnout, the Boone Town Council arranged for the hearing to be held in the sizable courtroom, which seats 380. Shortly before the hearing started at 7 p.m., there was already standing room only.

Mayor Loretta Clawson opened the meeting by saying Boone Development Services had received valid protest petitions on the geologic hazard map case, as well as for the view-shed protection map.

Her statement received roaring applause. Clawson told attendees they were allowed two minutes to speak, in order to keep the hearing at a steady pace. She also warned people to hold their applause until the public hearing was closed to expedite the proceedings. The crowd did not heed her latter advice, as more than 90 people signed up to speak.

Boone Steep Slope and Multi-Family Development Task Force chairman Harvard Ayers delivered a brief description on the proposed regulations.  Among the regulations are a geologic hazard map that would color-code the town and its extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) based on slope steepness and underlying geologic factors, and a similar view-shed map that would indicate properties located 100 feet above major valley floors, both imposing regulations.

Charles Ulery, who owns land in Boone, was one of the first to speak.

“There’s something real wrong with this,” he said, before saying the town inadequately upholds its current regulations. “Why do we need more protection when you can’t tend to anything you’ve got?”

Resident Jay Vincent said the town’s proposed regulations are a knee-jerk reaction to the Village at Meadowview multi-family complex, “and knee-jerk reactions are seldom smart or good business.” He added the regulations would negate any opportunity for affordable housing.

Building contractor Russell Beach said he’s worked in Boone since 1960. “A local builder here knows what he’s doing, and, thanks to our planning and inspection department ... if you don’t follow the straight and narrow way, they don’t do it,” he said.

Keith Honeycutt, Watauga County commissioner, opposed the regulations saying, “If a person purchases property because it has a great view, that does not mean they own the view. The vast majority of the green view-shed map is outside the city limits in the ETJ, which is in Watauga County.”

He said protecting the view-shed will not protect the health and safety of Watauga County citizens. “What happens when the property you intend to build on cannot be used for residential or commercial instruction?” he asked, and then answered that the value would plummet.

Resident Daisy Adams, wife of late businessman Alfred Adams, politely asked the council to not impose “any inappropriate and unnecessary restrictions” that would lower the value of her property. Adams told how she grew up on a farm on Winkler’s Creek Road, and her father willed the land to three of his children. Adams told how she now has “just a few acres, which I want to freely and proudly give to my sons and their families.”

Mac Forehand, director of the Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke as a citizen and homeowner, saying, “I believe this proposal is a poster-child for the law of unintended consequences.”

Forehand continued, “I’m concerned, for instance, that if my house burns down, I can’t rebuild it after this,” since his house constitutes 15 percent of his lot. “Also, I’m concerned about my home being labeled as a moderate geologic hazard. I don’t want to particularly trust an insurance adjustor from miles away to decide that a moderate geologic hazard doesn’t matter.”

Forehand added that the proposed regulations would adversely affect the economic vitality of Boone.

Resident Wade Evans said he lives in the ETJ in a moderate hazard zone, and that he’s lived there for more than 30 years. “My house hasn’t moved one inch since I’ve lived there,” he said.

Evans could think of only two reasons to pass the regulations — to curb development in the town of Boone and ETJ and “to protect us from our own stupidity.”

“If we buy property and it’s bad property, then we assume the risk of what goes with that property, he said. “It shouldn’t be your job to tell me I’m assuming too much risk in there. If stupidity were against the law, then we wouldn’t even be having this meeting today.”

Evans’ statement received some cheers and “amens” from the crowd.

Resident Laura Hardee, who manages Blue Ridge Pediatrics, said the area’s high land prices already deter physicians from coming to work in the High Country, and the regulations would make the purchase of property near the hospital “virtually impossible.”

Resident Carolyn Eggers urged the council and commission to “consider the human toll your actions have already taken.” She told the story of a couple that invested all their money in a lot, which was considerably steep and all they could afford. After hearing of the proposed regulations, the couple was frightened for their future, Eggers said.

She then spoke of potential land devaluation, saying, “If you devalue a person’s land without justification, you have taken government to its lowest level; the trust is gone. This cannot be about justifying the time and money already spent. This cannot be about vengeance or saving face ... this should be your honest decision made with integrity and wisdom.”

Eggers’ comments drew thunderous applause.