 Boone Town Council approved stricter regulations including parking stickers for residents in the Queen Street neighborhood. Photo by James Fay
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by EMILY MELTON
News Reporter
Queen Street neighborhood will soon become a neighborhood conservation district March 15.
Last month, the Boone Town Council approved a Unified Development Ordinance amendment in response to the complaints from homeowners in the area.
After the amendment is in effect, rental property owners and renters in the area must comply with stricter regulations.
The
amendment will require all rental property owners to inform renters of
the regulations of the neighborhood, and it will require all renters to
place a sticker on their cars, designating their residency.
Late
last year, the town council received complaints from families in the
neighborhood, many of whom spoke up about the failure of compliance
from renters.
“The
families were concerned about the amount of traffic, some of the
speeding that was going on and there were lots of small children living
in the area, so they were worried about the safety of their children,”
Rennie W. Brantz, history professor at Appalachian State University and
town council member said.
Because the neighborhood is in an R-1 district, no more than two unrelated persons can live in a rental place.
“Several
people spoke up against the amendment because they were owners of
rental properties and felt that they were being discriminated against,”
Brantz said. “But I didn’t see the merit of that argument because they
should have been aware, or the realtors should have informed them of
the zoning of the neighborhood and its restrictions, but apparently
they were not.”
Some of the residents stated non-traditional families and student renters were being discriminated against, he said.
“However,
as I understood it from testimonies, there were more violations in that
area than almost any other neighborhood in town, and [there] were
repeated problems over a period of about three years,” Brantz said.
John E. Spear, director of Boone Development Services, said many of the
homeowners have grown increasingly concerned with the quality of life
in the area.
“When I
was in college, I would have had no idea if there were any occupancy
restrictions on the property I was owning,” Spear said. “If you’re
looking for a place to live off campus and you’re a student, it’s
important to be aware of that information. Oftentimes tenants of rental
property are victims and are not aware.”
Spear
said tenants can be penalized for occupancy violations, owners can be
responsible and in some cases, both can be responsible.
For
occupancy violations, the town can impose a $200 fine per day after a
reasonable amount of time has been given to correct the violation.
However, Spear said there are usually no penalties, and the goal is to achieve compliance and not to impose repercussions.
Because
of the recent attention brought to the area, Zach L. Grier, Student
Government Association director of Civic Engagement has encouraged SGA
Senators to inform their constituents of the recent amendment.
“There’s
been a lot of complaints about noise levels and parties and other
illegal activity,” he said. “The town believes the best way to control
that is to have greater enforcement of the occupancy restrictions. And
they have every right to do that, to enforce that.”
Grier believes the amendment will help better the relations between students and townspeople.
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