Boone Town Council voted for a public hearing Oct.16 for proposed changes in the Unified Development Ordinance allowing a new height for B-1, downtown, buildings on Thursday’s Boone Town Council Meeting.

The proposed primary height is 40 feet.

Planning Commission will meet before the public hearing to discuss on the proposed changes.
Bill Bailey, director of Planning & Inspection Department, asked council on Thursday night to extend the maximum height limit.

Council members Allan Scherlen, Rennie Brantz and Andy Ball supported the motion, but Mayor Pro-Tem Jamie Leigh did not agree with the 40-foot height.

Ball said his goal was to make sure council allows three-story building most of the time.

Ball proposed a “friendly amendment” to 40-feet.

“I’m not feeling friendly right now,” Leigh said. “I think 40 is wrong and I would have rather that council could have come together and compromised since it’s just two feet.”

According to the current Unified Development Ordinance, “Central Business District is intended to provide for the development of the commercial and service center for the town while maintaining its character, and to encourage appropriate residential uses in the central area of town, normally as part of mixed-use developments.”

Bailey said property owners who planned on renovating buildings in the B-1 zone, were concerned with exceeding the maximum height limit, which is why he asked council to reconsider the limit.

Bailey said roughly 37.5 to 38 feet is the average size of a three-story building.

The department of Planning & Inspection is working on a more in-depth study to re-do the current UDO code, which is in “poor shape,” Bailey said, from emergency changes, which have created inconsistencies. The code is about 20 years old.

A draft will be released in November.

Story: KELLI STRAKA, News Editor