By Frank Ruggiero
A $5,000 commitment from the town of Boone will help float
the restoration of Kraut Creek.
George Santucci, executive
director of the National Committee for the New River,
requests funding from the Boone Town Council at last Thursday’s
regular meeting. Photo
by Frank Ruggiero |
The Boone Town Council approved the funding after a request by
George Santucci, executive director of the National Committee
for the New River, at the council’s Jan. 15 regular meeting.
The committee is targeting a portion of the creek near the Boone
Mall for restoration. Since the mall is situated on a flood plain,
its parking lot is regularly subjected to flooding. “It’s
a struggle,” Santucci admitted, adding that the committee
had conversations with the mall’s owners about the restoration
project.
“What we know could happen is if we put enough properties
together, we can alleviate some of the storm-water problems in
this section of Boone,” he said.
Kraut Creek crosses near the mall and flows toward Boondocks Street,
where flooding has caused about 4-feet of stream bank to collapse
near Hampton’s Body Shop, Santucci said, and a culvert by
Precision Printing is about half blocked by tree stumps and other
debris. “That culvert, itself, is not doing very well and
structurally is not sound and will likely fail at some point in
the future,” Santucci said.
By converting some property into greenspace, a flood plain could
be restored to a creek with no flood plain other than smaller
restorations near Howard Street, Santucci said, with restoration
to also focus on areas near Jimmy Smith Park and the parking lot
adjacent to Café Portofino on Rivers Street.
“It’s one more in a series of restorations along Kraut
Creek to try to alleviate some of the storm-water challenges …
the town is facing,” Santucci said.
He said the committee will submit a planning grant application
Feb. 1 to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and, as such,
is requesting a matching commitment from the town of Boone for
$5,000. The grant will likely fit the sum of $40,000, to be used
to hire engineers and commence restoration work.
Council member Rennie Brantz moved to approve the commitment,
council member Liz Aycock seconded, and the motion carried unanimously.
The council also allocated $2,267 to WAMY Community Action to
assist in property tax aid.
WAMY, which stands for Watauga, Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties,
is a nonprofit organization targeting poverty. The organization
recently moved into the new Family Resource Center near Deerfield
Road, which formerly housed Blue Ridge Pediatrics, with fellow
nonprofit agency OASIS (Opposing Abuse with Service, Information
and Shelter), an organization dedicated to ending domestic violence.
Melissa Soto, representing WAMY, told council members that the
nonprofits have to pay some of the pediatrics’ offices remaining
property tax, a one-time occurrence from 2008.
Aycock moved to allocate the funding, and Brantz seconded. Mayor
pro tem Lynne Mason asked if any other nonprofits occupied the
building, and whether for-profit ventures had opened there. Soto
said there are five or six offices the organizations are trying
to rent to either nonprofit or for-profit entities, one of which
is rented to a massage therapist, who would be assessed taxes.
Soto said the nonprofits would be taxed for their tenants, the
amount of which would be included in the tenant’s rent.
The motion carried unanimously.
Other Matters
The council scheduled its upcoming retreats, both of which
will be held in council chambers to save money, a notion suggested
by council member Stephen Phillips.
The planning retreat will be held Monday, Feb. 9, from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m., while the council retreat will take place Friday,
Feb. 20, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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