Town considers Queen Street conservation district

By Frank Ruggiero

An amendment to Boone’s Unified Development Ordinance could mean stricter regulation of rental property in the Queen Street area.

The Boone Town Council and Boone Area Planning Commission were treated to a neighborhood meeting of sorts at Monday’s quarterly public hearing, as language was presented to add the Queen Street neighborhood to the town’s list of neighborhood conservation districts.

Neighborhood conservation districts are overlay districts, in which tenants of rental property must file a residential parking form with the town, including personal identification, vehicle registration and proof of residency, to be issued a parking sticker to be displayed in the neighborhood.

The districts mean no more than two unrelated people per dwelling are allowed such stickers, and owners of rental property who live more than 50 miles from Boone must appoint a local managing agent to handle matters concerning property occupancy. Further, owners or agents must notify tenants of the requirements.

John Spear, director of Boone Development Services, told how residents of the Queen Street neighborhood approached the town council last November with a petition to designate the Queen Street, Gladys Street and Charles Street area as a neighborhood conservation district.

Gladys Street resident Chris Rider spoke first, saying the problem lies with absentee property owners, the properties themselves and their tenants. “Most of the problems occur from the tenants and their misbehavior, and their blatant disregard for the laws of the town of Boone,” he said.

Rider said crime has increased tremendously in the neighborhood because of tenants and that neighbors now fear to let their children play outside out of fear for intoxicated driving. “We have repeated violations of larceny in our neighborhood now,” he said. “We can’t leave our doors unlocked, we’re afraid of people coming in, we have people who are publicly consuming alcohol, cursing, carrying on at parties at any time of the day… we have cars coming and going, and drug trafficking going on.

He said real estate agents have blatantly ignored zoning regulations, representing property as high occupancy. The conservation district would allow residents to monitor registered tenants and determine whether or not a violation is occurring.

And were the neighborhood designated a conservation district, Rider said, real estate agents would have to notify potential buyers about occupancy requirements.

Gail York, a resident of Foscoe and full-time student, owns property on Charles Street. She told council and commission members how she rents apartments to professionals from Appalachian State University who cannot afford to purchase a home. She said she has plenty of parking for those who live in the house and that a parking registration form seemed discriminatory against people who rent.

“I’ve seen homeowners who don’t have adequate parking, so why are the tenants being punished and asked to get these forms, when I see homeowners park on the side of the road when they have company?” York said, telling how she sees some families with three cars but no parking.

“I feel like its discrimination to ask tenants to get parking permits, but not homeowners.”

York said there are many professionals who need but cannot afford housing, many of which who would rather live in a neighborhood than apartment complex.

“Why punish homeowners that are being responsible?” she asked. “I think there’s another route than just getting control groups.”

Charles Street resident Janice Koppenhaver supported the measure, particularly the provision about a local managing agent.

She agreed with Rider that the occupancy violations often spur coarse language that she does not want to hear.

“All the problems Chris has cited I think have happened, in a large part, due to occupancy violations,” she said, noting that while she understands the concerns of those who rent houses, “I own a house, I live there, and I want to protect the neighborhood.”

Gladys Street residents Maran and Keva Sigmon also favored the overlay district, telling how some absentee landlords also signed the petition.

Gladys Street resident Tom Gooly said the measure seems like outright discrimination against renters. As for crime and parking violations, he said there are laws to handle such offenses, but, “To require renters to have parking stickers in a neighborhood and not others, I just don’t see the sense in it.”

Gooly said the language also poses questions, such as, “What are violations? Parking overnight? What happens if you’re an owner visiting and you don’t have a sticker … can you get a ticket because someone calls you in?”

Charles Street resident Jon Kwiatkowski said the conservation district would be a good clarifying tool to help prospective buyers know what rules apply, since in many cases absentee property owners are simply unaware of the regulations.

The district would make it more obvious for them, while making monitoring easier for homeowners.

“We can’t expect planning personnel to be out in our neighborhood on a daily basis, keeping track on whether or not someone’s in violation,” Kwiatkowski said. “This gives us a tool to help us let the planning staff know whether or not there’s an issue that needs to be addressed.”

If there’s a concern about parking stickers, Kwiatkowski said he doubted that a single homeowner would object to placing one on their vehicle, as well. “We don’t want to discriminate, but we do want to have tools to help us remove ambiguity … and help us spot people who are violating what the rules are.”

Hunting Hills Lane resident Jean Borhman spoke against the district, questioning the constitutionality of enacting an ordinance “that appears to infringe on the rights of property owners.”

“I understand the need for local government to enact ordinances and statutes regarding private property as it relates to the health, welfare and safety of others, but cannot reconcile that need and right of the local government with the imposition of required city parking permits for private driveways located on private property and the requirement that those parking permits be purchased,” Borhman said.

She said the ordinance cannot possibly cover all scenarios of tenant occupation, such as a family with two unmarried adults with two unrelated teenage drivers, all with designated cars, could only obtain two of the four needed permits, while a husband and wife with two teenage children would have no trouble.

She said the ordinance is possibly open to abuse, such as a resident targeting a specific property or family and consistently reporting perceived violations.

“We should exercise great caution that we do not enact regulations that favor conventional families who occupy the homes they have purchased and infringe over the rights of property owners who have decided to rent their properties, unconventional families or people who cannot afford to buy their home and must rent.”

Council member Liz Aycock asked Spear how many violations had recently occurred in the Queen Street neighborhood, and Spear said there had been four in four different properties in the past eight months.

Town attorney Sam Furgiuele stressed that the measure is not a parking ordinance, but rather a tool to help planning staff determine occupancy violations.

The planning commission will discuss this amendment and others at its regular meeting Monday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. in council chambers, located at 1500 Blowing Rock Road.