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In the October
9th Boone municipal elections, voters will choose a Mayor and three
Council members - NOT by political party, but by what we want Boone
to look like, in the near future and for many years down the road.
For the last
few years, our town council members have been working hard to make
sure Boone remains a livable town - a place where people actually
want to live and work and raise their children, a town that
retains its mountain character. These council members have worked
to improve downtown Boone and promote small businesses. They have
increased buffer requirements for some developments in an attempt
to address storm runoff issues, and they are wrestling with one
of the most important issues Boone has ever faced - a serious water
shortage.
A political
action committee has formed to oppose their efforts. The committee
calls itself "Citizens for Change" and has spent thousands
of dollars in the newspapers and on the radio attacking incumbent
Council members (with the exception of one incumbent whom they support).
Primarily, Citizens
for Change opposes the Steep Slope and View-shed ordinances, opposes
the town’s efforts to monitor water availability, claims that
retailers like Target and Best Buy cannot build in town, and accuses
the town of not getting along with ASU.
Let’s look
at each of these issues.
The town passed
the steep-slope and view-shed ordinances in an effort to prevent
more developments like the one above Wal-Mart. There are those who
didn’t like the process, and others who oppose any regulation
of high-density development on steep slopes at all. Citizens for
Change says that, given the opportunity, developers will do the
right thing....History does not support that contention. A Winston-Salem
Journal editorial put it best: "It would have been easy
for the Boone Town Council to bow to loud and angry opposition from
property owners and reject measures to regulate development on steep
slopes. Instead, the council voted 4-1 for regulation - a gutsy
move that was in the best interest of both the environment and business."
("A Council's Courage", 10/5/06, Winston-Salem Journal)
As for water,
a 2004 independent engineering study revealed that Boone is now
running at 76%-86% of its water capacity. As a result, the town
formed a water committee which suggested that the Town closely monitor
the little reserve it had left and provide water for new large developments
on a case-by-case basis until a new water source could be found.
(All new single-family residences within the town receive water
"by right".) Citizens for Change and its candidates, on
the other hand, suggest that in spite of what the experts found
there’s plenty of water, enough in fact to sell to "appropriate"
projects outside the Town limits.
Citizens for
Change also claims that the current council has kept big box retailers
like Target and Best Buy out of Boone. Even Dempsey Wilcox, a PAC-endorsed
candidate, says this isn’t true. He, like all the others on
the Council, voted to limit the size of such retailers to no more
than 150,000 square feet (about the size of our current Lowe’s
Hardware). The Council’s feeling was that since stores like
Target and Best Buy are much smaller than that, they are welcome
here, but that stores larger than 150,000 square feet did not fit
into the mountain character of Boone. Many other towns have passed
more restrictive size regulations in order to protect their quality
of life.
Finally, there’s
the issue of ASU and Town of Boone relationships. Citizens for Change
and its candidates say ASU is such a large employer, and such an
important economic engine for the area, they should get to do whatever
they want to do, no questions asked. While the current town council
recognizes ASU needs to grow, they want to sit down with the university
and work out a master plan for growth BEFORE more problems crop
up. The current council in fact lobbied in Raleigh for funds for
the College of Education; but they are charged with addressing the
needs of ALL the citizens of Boone, and they believe everyone
should be treated the same, regardless of who they are. This is
the responsibility of any Boone elected official, and we have the
right to expect nothing less.
We also applaud
the current council for taking steps toward "smart growth"
policies. Mr. Templeton of Citizens for Change says we do not need
"smart growth," we need "intelligent growth."
We don’t know what he means by this, but we do know that Smart
Growth practices recognize that Boone is a unique town on a unique
part of God’s earth. Smart Growth practices find ways to conserve
our natural resources and cut down on traffic, while promoting developments
that benefit the entire community.
Town of Boone
voters will decide on October 9th whether they want to go backward
to the days when a few special interests made all the decisions,
or forward - exploring proactive ways to make the Town of Boone
a better place for everyone. Just as important, voters will decide
whether to reward the scorched-earth tactics of Citizens for Change,
or reward the people who have worked so positively to represent
the best interests of all the people of Boone, no matter who they
are.
Jeanie and
Tim Futrelle live, work, attend ASU and vote in Boone. Tim is also
vice-chair of Boone 1 precinct.
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