Park service takes comment on Parkway School expansion

By Scott Nicholson

nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

The final stage of the approval process for an expansion at Parkway Elementary School is being paved.

The National Park Service is taking comments on an Environmental Assessment for granting a right-of-way permit for the Watauga County Board of Education.

The assessment is required because of potential impacts of the project on the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway. The EA has a proposal for two actions: no action, or to allow the school board to develop a parking lot and entrance across Old U.S. 421 from the parkway in the Deep Gap area.

The school board has been pursuing the project for about a decade, seeking use of a former rest area operated by the state that neighbors the school. The rest area was closed after the completion of the Doc and Merle Watson Highway, a four-lane upgrade of U.S. 421.

The development of the property would create an additional entrance for the elementary school, which currently has a single, narrow entrance. It would also allow for 72 more parking spaces, sidewalks and landscaped areas.

The property belongs to the National Park Service and lies within the Blue Ridge Parkway boundary. The park service would presumably transfer the deed granted the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the rest area to the Watauga school board, which would then seek an estimated $250,000 from the county to grade and pave the lot and entrance.

Public comment will be taken through Nov. 1 via the park service’s planning site at www.parkplanning.nps.gov — search for “Blue Ridge Parkway” and “Plans/Documents Open For Comment.” Comments can also be made in writing to Suzett Molling, Blue Ridge Parkway, 199 Hemphill Knob Road, Asheville, NC 28803.

Comments are treated as a matter of public record and made available for public review, though no hearings or meetings are currently scheduled. Comments will be used in the final decision on the deed transfer and land use, or to find if further revisions or an impact analysis is necessary. According to the park service’s planning site, if no other information is provided, then a finding of “No Significant Impact” would be made and sent to the park service’s regional office.

The EA says the school board is seeking a 10-year right of way. The DOT has said it will relinquish the rights to the roadside rest area when the permit is issued to the school board. The school, which has been at the location for over 50 years, would need to seek renewal of the permit after 10 years.

The school system documented that the current 20-foot entrance deed reserved by the parkway is often clogged with traffic and a second entrance would allow safer access. The school also gets water from a well on federal land and will need permission to continue using the well. The parkway earlier rejected a trade for three acres of private land for use of the rest area property, according to the EA. Instead, the parkway agreed to transfer property rights instead of the property itself.

According to the EA, parkway visitors would have their experience affected during construction through noise, aesthetic, and traffic-related effects. After construction, visitors would be affected by the change in the landscape. Under the proposed agreement, native plants would be used in landscaping and existing forest would only be cleared in the parking and paved areas. Should the school no longer be in use, the school board would be responsible for restoring the property to a natural area.