Public hearing: Creating an accessory to affordable housing
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

Talking about affordable housing is one thing; accessorizing it is another.

The Boone Town Council may take action on accessory housing after reviewing the matter at last Thursday’s quarterly public hearing.

The topic was raised with a requested text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance from the Boone Affordable Housing Task Force to facilitate privately-developed accessory housing.

According to the 2006 Comprehensive Plan, “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.

Accessory housing should be located near existing urban services to lighten the burden on the area’s infrastructure.

Accessory housing can offer economic advantages, as well, the comprehensive plan reads, because using public transit becomes more feasible and the option of building becomes less costly because of existing infrastructure.

“Many residential lots in Boone’s suburban neighborhood average 10,000 or more square feet per lot,” the comprehensive plan reads. “Provided the topography allows, the size of many of these lots affords good opportunity for attractively designed garage apartments or detached granny flats.

“Small accessory apartments can also be built within the walls of the main house. Regardless of the approach used, such units are highly affordable to build, because there are no additional land costs.”

According to a report from Boone Development Services, the text amendment would also provide expanded housing opportunities and pedestrian and mass-transit oriented lifestyles, while promoting more efficient use of land and provision of public services.

John Spear, director of Boone Development Services, said an attached accessory apartment can’t be more than 50 percent of the square footage of the associated single-family residence and can never exceed 800 square feet in maximum size.

A detached apartment, such as a free-standing cottage, could not have a floor area larger than 600 square feet, Spear said.

“If someone has an accessory apartment, it may make purchasing a housing unit more affordable, because they could generate some income,” mayor pro tem Lynne Mason said. “It could also provide some benefit for some people that have little or fixed income.”

Sykes rezoning
The boards also heard from Joseph Sykes Jr., who requested to rezone property at 351 Hilltop Drive from residential/agricultural (RA) to multi-family residential (R-3).

According to the 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 report also mentions that the request provides an opportunity for affordable housing, “as no additional land costs are involved.” Spear noted, however, that his office had received a protest petition from one of Sykes’ neighbors.

Planning commissioner Gayle Turner asked why the property couldn’t be subdivided into two R-1 lots, and Spear said Sykes had originally requested that, but the property did not contain adequate lot width and street frontage.

Council member Janet Pepin observed that were the council to grant Sykes’ request, the property would remain R-3 even if Sykes sold it. “It opens up to lots of different uses in R-3 than what he’s proposing in his plan,” Pepin said.

Spear noted that there are other residential uses and professional office-type uses that could proceed on R-3 property. Sykes’ property, he said, is different than the surrounding tracts, in that his was annexed into the town but retained its rural RA zoning classification.

Brantz asked if the requested zoning designation would permit multi-family housing, and Spear said it would, though the size of Sykes’ property would “severely limit what you could put there.”

“I’m hearing we want to protect people’s abilities to have single-family houses for a lot that’s clearly to me big enough to have another single-family house,” Turner said, “but what we’re recommending instead is multi-family, essentially.”

Rainwater harvesting
The council and commission also heard a request from the Boone Community Appearance Commission, involving an amendment to require the screening of rain harvesting systems on commercially zoned properties.

“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 development services staff report reads.

Next up
These items will next appear before the Boone Area Planning Commission at its regular meeting Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in council chambers at 1500 Blowing Rock Road.

The commission will make recommendations and the Boone Town Council will take action at its meeting Thursday, Nov. 15, at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers on Blowing Rock Road.