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Town council amends education building zoning |
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
 | Deal
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by JILLIAN SWORDS
News Reporter
The Boone Town Council passed two amendments to the zoning of the property between Howard Street and Hamby Alley.
Previously an R-3 (multi-family residential) zoning, the property is now U-1 (university district).
The university has every intention of building the new Reich College of Education building at this site, Chairperson of the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees Jim M. Deal said.
University Attorney Dayton T. Cole said the university must wait until the land title is transferred to the
state of North Carolina before deconstruction of the apartment building can begin.
 A rendering of the new education building. Source: http://ced.appstate.edu/newbuilding/
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This process will hopefully be underway by later this spring, Cole said.
The amendments established building specifications to the Unified Development Ordinance for the U-1
district and other textual changes that will make it easier for the university to make changes, Cole said.
Concerns were raised by members of the council and community regarding this location for the
education building at a special public meeting held Jan. 10 between the council and the Boone Area
Planning Commission.
Planning Commission Vice Chairperson Mary Ruth McRae took issue with the increased traffic that will
inevitably occur along the already crowded Howard Street.
Cole said the Board of Trustees has proposed the university and town join together on a traffic study
for the entire community to assess this.
“No one has done a traffic study [yet],” he said. “The university plans to emphasize the use of the
AppalCART and the parking deck; [traffic is] an issue all around campus - Rivers Street, Hardin Street,
wherever.”
Others, including Deal, pointed out that the university has always improved the street and surrounding
area of buildings it constructs in the past, which will be an asset for the town.
John E. Cooper, co-owner of eight Mast General Store locations, including the one on King Street, said
having the education building in such a location could increase the value of commercial property
downtown and keep business booming.
“The College of Education is such a prominent component to the mission of [Appalachian],” Cooper
said. “Downtown has always benefited from having the [university] right there, and having the most
prominent college within the university…at a walkable distance [for visitors] will enhance, not detract,
from the town.”
Eris Dedmond owns the single-family house adjacent to the property. Retired from the Reich College of
Education, she has lived on Howard Street since 1970 and spoke at the public meeting.
Dedmond presented an architectural rendering of the education building that shows her yard completely
landscaped.
She and her husband were approached by the university to sell their property and told that a much
smaller building than the one now being considered would be built.
“They were acting as if they own this property already,” Dedmond said. “I call that architectural fiction.”
She also pointed out that once the education building is in place, the new parking deck will be overrun
with related traffic, even though it was built for general-purpose use.
Cole said changes cannot be made to the Dedmonds’ yard without their consent.
“We intend to be good neighbors,” he said.
More specific architect plans detailing size are in the works and will have to be approved by the
council.
The current College of Education building was constructed in 1965. Despite numerous renovations,
size is a major issue in one of the university’s largest colleges.
Amanda L. Klinger, a sophomore middle grades education major, said she didn’t know of any other
convenient location where the building could fit.
“I feel like anything is an improvement over this building,” she said. “It’s one of the oldest ones on
campus, and we have one of the biggest number of students in the College of Education.”
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