Town council launches November public hearing
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

The public can expect appearance standards, affordable housing, rain harvesting systems and more at this Thursday’s town of Boone quarterly public hearing.

Sykes rezoning
The first item on the agenda is a rezoning request from Joseph Sykes Jr., requesting to rezone property at 351 Hilltop Drive from residential/agricultural (RA) to multi-family residential (R-3).

According to the Boone Development Services staff report, Sykes requested the rezoning to allow the construction of a second single-family home, which would be permitted in an R-3 zone.

“The requested R-3 zoning classification would allow construction of a second single-family home on the applicant’s lot,” the report reads. “This lot provides additional residential land use that is consistent with the density of adjacent residential construction, which has taken place over the past few years.”

The report also mentions that the request affords an opportunity for affordable housing, “as no additional land costs are involved.”

Coleman tobacco
The second item is also a request for rezoning, with Joseph E. Coleman Jr. requesting to rezone the old tobacco warehouse on West King Street from light industrial (M-1) to central business (B-1).

The property consists of 2.2 acres and is located between West King Street and Poplar Grove Road, a Boone Development Services report reads, adding that the site is bisected by Boone (Kraut) Creek but is outside of the special flood hazard area.

Of the request, development services staff writes, “A zoning change to B-1 provides incentives for private downtown revitalization efforts.”

The district would allow a variety of activities, including retail, office, dining, government, entertainment and housing.

Appearance standards
The third item involves a request from the Boone Community Appearance Commission (CAC) to amend various sections of the Commercial Development Appearance Standards to improve said standards and also cover parking structures.

The community appearance standards went into effect on Jan. 1, 2006, and several projects have since been built accordingly, the development services report reads. “…the [CAC]is now seeing how effective the standards have been.”

However, commission members identified areas needing revision, as well as areas in need of coverage by the standards, such as newly constructed parking structures.

“The commission feels parking structures will be more of a staple in the community as land becomes less available,” the report reads. “This newly proposed section for parking structures will address aesthetics through architectural features and also landscape screening.”

For instance, the suggested text would require ground-level parking facing the street to be sufficiently screened to a height of 42 inches above the finished floor through walls, landscaping or a continuous façade, which would also prevent headlights from projecting beyond the buffer.

Landscaping for such screening would be required to provide a 10-foot buffer of large evergreen trees in accordance with the regulations’ approved plant list. The regulations would require upper floors to be designed with a continuous façade, incorporating “window-like openings,” the sills of which must be a minimum of 42 inches above the finished floor.

Exterior ramps would be subject to review by the CAC “to minimize the appearance of tilted ramps,” and elevator and stair shafts would be required to feature gabled roofs or architectural features “and be so oriented that lobbies are visible from the street at each level.”

The requirements would also ensure lighting is uniform throughout the structure, “so that dark hiding places are not created.”

Accessory housing
The next item sees a text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance from the Boone Affordable Housing Task Force to facilitate privately-developed accessory housing.

The 2006 Comprehensive Plan notes that “accessory housing is a term used to describe a variety of housing forms, all of which are secondary to a primary residence but share the same site or structure,” such as garage apartments or mother-in-law apartments.

“This form of housing is typically convenient to existing urban services, and thus places little additional burden on the area’s public infrastructure and road system,” the plan reads.

Accessory housing would also address a potential transportation problem involving “large numbers of retirees in outlying residential communities,” when elderly residents reach the age when they can no longer drive.

Accessory housing, on the other hand, could offer such retirees affordable options close to existing urban services.

The plan notes that accessory housing offers social and economic advantages, as well, such as, “the healthy mixing of young and old,” while making the utilization of public transit more feasible and the option of building less costly because of existing infrastructure.

According to the development services report, the amendment would provide expanded housing opportunities and choices and pedestrian and mass-transit oriented lifestyles, while promoting more efficient use of land and provision of public services.

Rainwater harvesting
The last item is another request from the CAC, this one for an amendment to require the screening of rain harvesting systems on commercially zoned properties.

The commission was not concerned with the impact of residential rainwater harvesting systems, the staff report reads, but rather with the potential impact from commercial systems.

“The commission felt that given this year’s drought situation and the possibility of increased system installations, they wanted to take a proactive approach and require screening of above ground systems,” the report reads, also noting that staff finds the request reasonable and in the public interest “because aesthetic quality and consistent design standards are vital to the town’s economic future.”

When and where
The 2007 Fall Quarter Public Hearing will be held Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. in Boone Town Council Chambers, located at 1500 Blowing Rock Road.

After being heard, the cases will be reviewed by the Boone Area Planning Commission at its regular meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 13.