Commissioners Approve Blowing Rock Commons
Multi-use development will include 2 restaurants, 72-room hotel and 36 condos

By Jeff Eason

Eight months after requesting a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) from the Town of Blowing Rock, Chetola Severn Partners were finally granted permission from the town’s Board of Commissioners Tuesday night to begin a multi-use project known as Blowing Rock Commons.

In a unanimous vote, the five-member board approved three separate motions that would allow the CUP to move forward. When completed, Blowing Rock Commons would sit on 7.28 acres of now vacant land on Main Street in Blowing Rock. It would feature a 72-room hotel, two restaurants, 36 condominium units, 21,000 square feet of retail space and 16,000 square feet of office space. The project would also provide an additional 385 parking spaces to the downtown area.

Blowing Rock Commons will sit across Main Street from the Boxwood Lodge, bordering Chetola Resort on one side and Hill Street on the other side.

Chetola Severn Partners altered several aspects of the proposed development to gain approval from the Board, including adding 10 extra feet of buffer area between Main Street and the buildings closest to the street. They also made provisions for additional trees and shrubbery on the Main Street side of the project.

Blowing Rock Commissioner Keith Tester asked Chetola Severn if it would provide the board with a phase schedule for the project so the town would have a better idea of what construction would be going on in the downtown area and Kent Tarbutton stated that a working document will soon be provided to the town.

Tarbutton, owner and operator of Chetola Resort, also included a provision in the CUP that would make the acreage between Shoppes on the Parkway and the entrance to Chetola a permanent easement, not to be developed in any manner. The Town of Blowing Rock will also receive parking spaces in Blowing Rock Commons for emergency vehicles, improvements to the existing water and sewer system in that part of town and other amenities.

The three motions that allow Chetola Severn Partners to begin construction on Blowing Rock Commons include a motion to approve a land use ordinance for a project that exceeds the normal water density allowance; a motion to approve the new CUP; and a motion to allow the applicants to put an entrance to Blowing Rock Commons that is less than 400 feet from the entrance to Chetola Resort. All motions passed unanimously.

Other Blowing Rock News

The Blowing Rock Board of Commissioners also discussed a proposed noise ordinance for the downtown area. The proposed ordinance would limit construction on Sundays but allow homeowners to run chainsaws, leaf blowers and weed-eaters. The proposed restrictions were based on a study of several other similar-sized cities with active noise ordinances. After coming to an impasse on how to restrict professional construction crews without intruding on the rights of homeowners to effectively carry out the same noisy tasks, the Board tabled the matter and planned a work session to study the matter further.

The Board heard from Pam Bines of the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce requested that the Town of Blowing Rock allow Art in the Park events to be moved from the parking lot behind Blowing Rock Memorial Park into the park itself for 2009. Art in the Park is a monthly gathering of about 120 artists and craftspeople that takes place between May and October. The events regularly attract between 2,500 to 3,000 visitors to the downtown area.

The move to the park would negate an initial decision by the Board to move Art in the Park to the new parking deck located behind Blowing Rock Memorial Park. The new proposal met a deeply divided Board with some members saying that Art in the Park belonged in the park and others stating that its increased foot traffic would ruin the park.

“We need to make sure that we design the art show to fit the park and not try to design the park to fit the art show,” said Commissioner Keith Tester. “If that means we can only have 75 booths instead of 100 booths, then that’s what you’ll have to do.”

Tester was also concerned that the joint project between the town and the Chamber of Commerce had resulted in only a one-page proposal on the matter.

“The town staff and the Chamber need to get together to make a comprehensive plan and make sure that Art in the Park fits in the park and can accommodate the number of people that the event attracts,” said Tester. “There are safety issues to look at and we want to make sure that any damage to the park gets repaired immediately.”

According to Commissioner Barbara Ball, the town removed Art in the Park from Memorial Park around 15 years ago because of the damage the events caused to the grass, tree roots and other park facilities.

The issue was tabled so that the Blowing Rock town staff and Chamber staff could meet and come up with a more comprehensive plan for Art in the Park.

The Board also approved a motion for the town to reject four recent bids for the demolition of the existing swimming pool and associated structures and for the construction of the new Robbins Memorial Swimming Pool. Town Manager Scott Hildebrand cited the fluctuating economy as one of the reasons why construction bids were coming in over budget for the project. The project will take an estimated six months to complete once it is started.

The Board also approved a resolution to adopt an Identity Theft Policy as required by federal guidelines. The new policy would help protect utility customers in the town. Blowing Rock and other communities had until November 1 to comply with the new federal regulations.