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Town, university clash over new education building |
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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 |
 Active Image | Source: John Spear, director of development services for the Town of Boone
Proposed College of Education building
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by JULIA MERCHANT
Intern News Reporter
Plans have been abruptly put on hold for the proposed College of Education building while Appalachian State University and the Town of Boone struggle to reach an agreement on the location of the site.
The
Watauga Democrat reported Feb. 6 that the university had already
purchased some of the nine apartment buildings located in the vicinity
of Howard and College streets. Alison D. Kemp-Sullivan, assistant
director of design and construction, said contracts are in the works
toward purchase of several others.
 Active Image | Source: Google Earth
The new education building is planned to be built on the corner of Howard and College streets.
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The university purchased one piece of property, but it plans to buy out
a total of 50 units in the area and demolish them to make way for the
new College of Education building.
However, a major problem stands in the way of the proposal – the land
the university wishes to purchase is zoned R-3, or multi-family
residential.
The university met with town planners in January, Kemp-Sullivan said.
At the planner’s advice, the university was scheduled to petition the
town to change the zoning of the property to CDU-1, or conditional
district university, at the quarterly public hearing, which was held
Thursday.
At the beginning of the meeting, however, it was announced that
university officials would not be petitioning for a change of zoning,
signaling an abrupt change in the course of action the university was
pursuing.
The day the Watauga Democrat’s article appeared, university attorney
Dayton T. Cole received a seven-page memo from John Spear, director of
development services for the Town of Boone. The memo was a copy of the
recommendation Spear planned to make to the Town Council to deny the
university’s request.
“We were kind of taken aback,” Kemp-Sullivan said. “One of the
comments said that [our request] represented the need for the
university and the town to plan together, but we had already met with
them.”
Specifically, the memo from Spear stated the university’s application
“underscores the absolute necessity for greater levels of advanced
planning and increased coordination between the town and the
university.”
 Active Image | | Source: John Spear, director of development services for the Town of Boone |
Kemp-Sullivan said two members of the Town Council had already signed
the memo against the petition, and if the petition is made to the town
and the request is denied, the petition cannot be submitted for another
year.
“We felt the deck was stacked against us,” Kemp-Sullivan said. “We wanted to postpone going before the council.”
In the memo, Spear also cited his objections to the size specifications
of the proposed College of Education building, which exceeded
regulations set by the town.
Currently, according to Spear’s memo, university plans for the
structure exceed the maximum floor area by more than 100,000 square
feet, exceed the maximum height by 47 feet, is deficient in required
open space by more than 15,000 square feet, and encroaches 97 feet into
the required 110 foot building setback.
“We knew we were beyond the height requirements but that’s why we knew it would be rezoned,” Kemp-Sullivan said.
As for now, the process of building the College of Education has been
halted. Kemp-Sullivan believes Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock is
scheduled to meet with town officials sometime in the next week.
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