The town staff of Boone, North Carolina sent more than 17,000 letters this week to residents seeking support for mediation with Watauga County commissioners regarding changes that have been recently implemented regarding multi-family housing standards.  Also at issue is a property that was once a high school in the town. 

According to the letter that was sent, in addition to the above-listed issues, the county has implemented changes that could end taking approximately $2 million out of the town’s budget due to alterations in the way sales tax revenues are distributed.  Boone hopes that mediation will assuage these issues and show the county commissioners that the residents do not want the changes to continue. 

Loretta Clawson, the Mayor of Boone, wrote in a letter, "While all of us on the Council would like to work with the county commissioners to find a mutually beneficial solution (to the high school property), we're disappointed that bullying tactics have been used.  As elected officials with our citizens' best interests in mind, we are requesting mediation with the commissioners for the sole purpose of exploring how we can reach some agreement."

The problems related to the changes in multi-family housing units stem from a recommendation from Boone’s Affordable Housing Task Force.  The recommendation was given as a way to encourage the construction of family housing units for moderate-income families in the area.  However, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners believed that the ordinance would limit the development of the property that was once the high school—a property for which they received $18.9 million from Templeton Properties.