Signs top Boone public

hearing agenda Thursday
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

The town of Boone will host its quarterly public hearing for spring on Thursday, May 8.

The first case could get hairy, as the Boone Town Council and Boone Area Planning Commission will discuss adding the annual Woolly Worm Festival as a council-recognized community event in the town’s temporary sign regulations.

According to Section 338 of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), community events may display no more than 12 off-premise signs that do not exceed four square feet in area and four feet in height.

Only one sign per lot is allowed with the property owner’s or registered agent’s permission, and one off-premise banner and one at the event site are allowed, though each banner may not exceed 24 square feet.

The UDO says community event signs are permitted for public and nonprofit agencies, schools, churches and civic organizations, as well as commercial events when approved by the council.

Events not held in Watauga County may still be designated as community events with the council’s approval, contingent upon economic impact and reflection of local heritage.

The council recognizes the following as community events: the Highland Games, the Blowing Rock Celtic Festival, Trade Days, Watauga High School Project Graduation, Boone Bluegrass Festival, Gospel Singing Jubilee, and the Music Fest ’n Sugar Grove.

The second case of the evening deals with a town-initiated map amendment, following the filing of an annexation petition for Riverstone Condominiums.

The town is zoning the balance of the property being voluntarily annexed by the owner, Smith Property/MV2 LLC, and Boone Development Services recommends the property is zoned R-3 (multi-family residential).

According to Boone Development Services, the annexation petition was required following the council’s approval of a utility service request last November. The parcel in question is vacant, consisting of 9.5 acres, and is intended to be used for multi-family housing, the development services staff report reads.

The land is located north of Mountaineer Village apartments.

The third case is a request from Naomi and Randy Johnson to change zoning classification of 169 Rogers Drive from CD-R-3 (conditional district multi-family residential) to R-1 (single-family residential).

According to the staff report, the parcel is one acre in size and sits 400 feet west of Meadowview Drive in a small, residential neighborhood with about 12 homes. The report notes that Rogers Drive is a dead-end road.
Planning commission members may all wish to be on hand for the fourth case, which concerns board attendance.

The town initiated a UDO text amendment to revise the standards for member attendance on town-appointed boards and commissions.

Regarding the planning commission, tree board, advisory committees, the Boone Community Appearance Commission and the Boone Board of Adjustment, the new language states that members will be automatically removed from the commission for failure to attend three consecutive meetings or 50 percent of meetings within a 12-month period without an excused absence – unless the council takes specific action to excuse such absences and reappoint the member.

The last case will see the council and planning commission discuss accessory apartment standards. The town initiated text amendments to the UDO to remove owner-occupancy provisions and prohibit use of such housing in R-1 and R-1A zoning districts, as a direct result of a recent ruling by the N.C. Court of Appeals in the case of City of Wilmington v. Broadus E. Hill.

In November 2007, the council adopted a text amendment to the UDO, recommended by the Boone Affordable Housing Task Force, to permit accessory housing, defined in the town’s 2006 Comprehensive Plan as “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.

The council adopted the amendment to provide expanded housing opportunities and encourage pedestrian and mass-transit oriented lifestyles, while promoting more efficient use of land and provision of public services.

In the Court of Appeals case, the court ruled that Wilmington’s zoning ordinance impermissibly regulates the ownership – rather than the use – of the defendant’s property.

“In other words, the court held that it is beyond the power of the city to regulate the manner of property ownership,” the staff report reads.

“The town’s legal counsel has therefore advised the town that we may no longer mandate owner occupancy for the single-family residence with accessory apartment land use.

“Additionally, because owner occupancy was felt by the town council to be paramount to the protection of neighborhoods in the R-1 and R-1A zoning districts when accessory apartments were allowed, the town is revising the Table of Permissible Uses to prohibit accessory apartment land uses within [those] districts.”

The text proposed to be struck states that in R-1 and R-1A zones, the owner of the lot shall reside in the single-family residence or accessory apartment at least 90 percent of the year.

The remainder of the regulations in Article XI, Section 181 will remain the same.

The quarterly public hearing will be held Thursday, May 8, at 7 p.m. in Town Council Chambers, located at 1500 Blowing Rock Road.