Commissioners plan second public hearing for subdivision ordinance | News

BOONE — The Watauga County Board of Commissioners is hosting a second public hearing on the proposed amendments to the ordinance that governs subdivisions and multi-unit structures on Sept. 19.

The ordinance changes originally went before a public hearing in May but the commissioners asked planning and inspections to review the ordinance again after some questions were raised.

The department was asked to review the ordinance by the commissioners in January, when Boone’s former area of extraterritorial jurisdiction was returned to county authority. The idea was to clarify some language and add things that reflect statutory changes, said Director Joe Furman back in May.

As previously defined in the ordinance, a multi-unit structure is a building containing three or more separate and independent dwellings, offices or commercial establishments (excluding hotels/motels).

Ric Mattar, with planning and inspections, addressed the commissioners at their Aug. 15 meeting. Mattar said planning and inspections met in June and July to go back over the ordinance to clarify ordinance language and make additional changes.

One of the main concerns the commissioners and community members had was with the 33 percent specified amount of green space required by developers when planning a multi-unit structure.

Mattar explained that he thinks people were confused by the 33 percent green space change, thinking that it applied to a single family subdivision, when it does not. This specified amount of green space is applied to planned unit development provisions, which includes cluster housing, according to Mattar.

Green space is defined as “total land (that) must be totally dedicated as any combination of common space, open space or green space,” according to Mattar.

In addition to help clear up the confusion on the 33 percent green space rule, Furman researched the common percentage of green space for subdivisions in the county.

The Cottages of Boone have 84 percent in common space. Other examples are Forest at Crestwood at 75 percent open space, Howards Creek Apartments with 58 percent open space and SweetGrass in Blowing Rock with 92.5 percent green space, according to Mattar.

“The 33 percent we put on there because previously it just said substantial and that’s not well defined,” Mattar said. “Substantial arguably is 50 percent, so 33 percent gives us a much easier number to work with from a development point of view.”

Another part of the ordinance the commissioners had questions about pertained to the graded cut and fill slopes maximums, which would need to be two to one slopes. Mattar again said the ordinance needed a clearly defined number as the ordinance language before was unclear.

The language in the ordinance before stated, “The angle for graded slopes and fills shall be no greater than the angle which can be retained by vegetative cover or other adequate erosion control devices or structures.”

Mattar explained that the maximum percentage slope for a road in Watauga County that’s approved by the county planning board as a county standard is 18 percent. This amounts to roughly a five to one slope. A two to one slope is roughly 50 percent, Mattar said.

The commissioners will vote on the ordinance changes at its Oct. 3 meeting.

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