Boone Chamber of Commerce hosts town council candidate forum

Reporting by Chamian Cruz and Sammy Hanf

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The Boone Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum on Tuesday at the Boone Golf Club for town council candidates to address local policy issues.

Omer Tomlinson, government relations chair for the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, moderated the event and questions mainly focused on how to continue to develop Boone without losing its small-town atmosphere. Members of the audience were allowed to write in questions and candidates all had the same amount of time to answer.

The candidates in attendance were Sam Furgiuele, Connie Ulmer, Quint David, Marshall Ashcraft and Jeannine Underdown Collins. Mayor Rennie Brantz was also present even though he is running unopposed. Charlotte Mizelle, a town council candidate, was not present.

Looming large over the forum was The Standard, a recently constructed apartment complex that caters to students. An audience member asked, “How on earth did the travesty of The Standard happen? How will that be prevented in the future.”

Quint David said the building met town requirements at the time it was approved, but that since then the town has reconsidered whether it wants buildings like that on its roads.

Sam Furgiuele said The Standard was granted several code variances and that the town council had two chances to vote on the project and approved it with little fanfare.

“If you look in the 2030 plan, there is a picture of The Standard,” Furgiuele said. “We can’t build according to pictures that are drawn by engineers and architects out of Davison, Davison is not Boone. They don’t live here we don’t need them to make our decisions for us.”

Candidates were also asked to weigh in on flood infrastructure since a storm flooded the town just the day before.

Furgiuele said the town needs new maps that show flood zones, because the severity of storms is only increasing and Boone needs a comprehensive plan to address the problem.

David expressed concern that most of the flood-prone areas are on private land, wondering whether public money should be spent to fix the ills of a few private businesses.

Marshall Ashcraft pointed to other towns that have created special storm water utility districts where property owners are charged a fee per linear foot of the property to put in a stormwater system.

Other than flooding, the candidates also spoke on how to increase local business.

Mayor Rennie Brantz said Boone needs to actively recruit businesses through incentives and other programs if it wants to keep growing.

Connie Ulmer agreed the price of doing business in Boone is too high and that the town should step in to lighten that load.

Furgiuele said the biggest problem for businesses in Boone is turnover and that the town should perform a study to determine why so many businesses are leaving.

Ulmer also expressed concern about building new roads, wondering whether the town needs more cars and where the money for new roads would come from.

Ashcraft suggested the town could take other steps to alleviate problems with traffic by decreasing the number of people who have to commute. He said making the town more walkable and staggering work shifts could make congestion more manageable.

Kit Fisher, a retired guidance counselor, said she was encouraged by some of what she heard the candidates discuss but that the town council needs to do much more to ensure that Boone grows into a place that will be desirable to live in and that she is concerned by the big development happening in the area.

David Jackson, president of the Boone Chamber of Commerce, said it’s important for the business community and local government to work together to create growth and he was glad to see the candidates take the time to address these issues.

“It’s our role to continue to bring people together where we can,” Jackson said. “Whether it’s an event like this, whether it’s committee work that gets people in the room and once they do get in the room I think they have good conversations and good things can come.”

Early voting has already begun and students looking to vote can cast their ballot in the Plemmons Student Union on campus ahead of the Nov. 7 election day.

Cruisin’ Committee works for new skatepark, policies

Reporting by Chamian Cruz and Sammy Hanf

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Starting Wednesday the Town of Boone will be holding meetings to find an acceptable location for a new skatepark after the one at the old Watauga High School property was demolished.

The meetings will be attended by officials from the town and county, along with Appalachian students and the owner of Recess, a local skate shop.

Councilmember Jeannine Collins said she had been looking at the issue of skateboarding since members of a skateboarding club at Appalachian gave a presentation to the town a year or so ago but it flared up again after ASU bought the old Watauga High School property.

“I felt like there needed to be a proactive committee to get together representing the county, the town, the university and the private sector to talk about these two issues,” Collins said.

Megan Hayes, Director of Communications at Appalachian, said while there are no plans to allow for skateboarding since it is prohibited by university policy Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Paul Forte will be representing Appalachian at the first meeting of the committee.

J.P. Pardy, owner of popular local skate shop Recess, said while he is disappointed that they weren’t able to keep skating at the old high school he is thankful to the town and county for working with them.

Pardy said the committee will be looking to identify potential sites that are owned by the town but unused where they could set up a new skate park — much like the DIY one at the old high school — with much of the funding expected to come through Kickstarter or other crowdfunding venues.

“At the end of the day, all the funding came from local fundraising, really most of the guys were just coming out with a few bucks and building something that day,” Pardy said.

Pardy said he is glad to have the support he has from the town of Boone and feels optimistic that action will happen by next year.

Collins said she would like to have a presentation be given to all relevant parties by December of this year, a quick turnaround, but she is confident that it can get done.

“I think with the use of social media and emails and those kinds of things, we can get it done. It’s important, it is important,” Collins said.

Collins said she also hopes to have conversations about what legal skateboarding would look like in the town of Boone, citing proposals like prohibiting it on King Street but allowing it in the rest of town as possible solutions.

She said she wants to look at how Asheville has handled the issue, since the town has similar hilly terrain.

Pardy said he is not sure where the park will be, but he’s hoping to have it in town so students have easy access.

Collins said she sees skateboarding as similar to biking, both carry safety risks but with proper protection and regulation can be a safe mode of transportation.

“I think if we can mesh and look at different regulations, it will be successful,” Collins said.

Pardy said skateboarding provides an important outlet for exercise and expression for people who aren’t into team sports.

Collins said she thinks the town is heading the right direction on the issue of skateboarding.

“I think we have it now,” Collins said. “I think by the formation of this committee and some people being sympathetic to it and seeing that there is a push for it that we do need to come to some resolution.”

The first meeting will be held Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 10 a.m. at the Jones House.