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Tuesday, 14 November 2006 15:16 |
By JIM GENARO
BLACK MOUNTAIN ÇƒÓ Residents got their first look this past Monday night at a plan for a proposed development that, if approved, will radically alter the face of downtown Black Mountain.
The townës Board of Aldermen heard a presentation from Tim Crawford and Amy Merritt, representatives of Citiline/Resortline, a development and construction firm that proposed the project, which would renovate a prominent square block downtown between Montreat Road and West Street along State Street ÇƒÓ and provide new facilities for Black Mountainës police, fire and town government offices. The meeting was attended by nearly a hundred people, who spilled out into the hallës lobby.
The
site of the proposed development includes the townës current town
administration building and fire department, as well as an adjoining
gas station.
"If we recycle
what land we have thatës already been developed, we end up preserving"
wilderness elsewhere, Crawford, Citilineës co-founder, said.
In addition to
the town facilities, the new development will also encompass about
18,000 square feet of retail space, more than 60 condominiums and a
clock tower, he noted.
Furthermore, 10
percent of the condominiums would be priced at what Crawford termed
"workforce level," meaning that they would be accessible to "teachers,
policemen and firefighters" working within the town.
"Thatës something that we very much believe in and would like to see it be a part of this project," he added.
To address
concerns about parking, Crawford said, the developers would incorporate
a parking lot intended to suffice for the needs of both the residents
and retail customers.
After presenting
the proposal ÇƒÓ which Town Manager Tony Caudle noted was only in the
preliminary planning phases ÇƒÓ Crawford and Merritt answered questions
from citizens.
"What is the height of the building and does it meet the current code requirements?" a man asked.
Crawford replied
that the townës codes prohibit buildings taller than 40 feet and that
all of the buildings would adhere to this standard. However, the clock
tower would be taller, as certain architectural features ÇƒÓ such as
church steeples ÇƒÓ are allowed to be exempt from height requirements.
One woman raised
concerns about the workforce level housing, saying that regardless of
what a property sells for initially, when it is resold, it could easily
move out of the range of affordable housing.
In response,
Crawford said that the propertyës resale value could be kept in check
through a 10-year deed restriction that would set a fixed resale value.
A more
contentious issue raised was parking. Ann Lotts asked how many parking
spaces the developers were proposing, to which Merritt answered that
the main lot would have 140 and an adjoining lot could accommodate
another 30 to 35 spaces.
The number of
planned spaces, she added, is based on a national standard that
recommends 1.5 spaces for each residential dwelling.
In reply, several speakers expressed concerns that this figure did not provide enough parking.
Among them was Joe Tyson, owner of Tyson Furniture, which is located across the street from the proposed development.
"I think we already have a problem in Black Mountain with parking," Tyson said.
He noted that
while his business has sufficient parking space, this is mostly due to
the large size of the store. If the same space was divided among the
kind of small retailers the developers envision, "weëd have a problem,"
he said.
"Parking is one
of those double-edged swords," Merritt responded. If a development has
insufficient parking, people complain, she said, but if it has too
much, it results in large, empty spaces that detract from the scenic
beauty of the area.
One way to
mitigate this disparity is through shared parking, she added. Based on
the idea that different drivers need to park at different times ǃÓ
customers of a bank and residents of a condominium complex, for
instance ÇƒÓ shared parking allows developers to build fewer spaces.
In their
planning for the developmentës parking needs, her firm determined that
they needed 191 spots, Merritt said. However, based on the assumption
that 20 of those spaces could be shared, they planned for only 170
spots.
At that point,
Tyson noted that the plan only includes spaces for 40 cars outside the
town hall facilities. "I counted over 60 cars outside this meeting
tonight," he added.
David Greenspan asked if they had considered building parking decks to allow for more spaces.
Crawford replied
that decks are expensive ÇƒÓ up to $20,000 per space ÇƒÓ and require
massive amounts of materials. "Thatës just not whatës called for here,"
he said.
Another topic that generated much debate and commentary was the question of how the project would be financed.
The current
proposal is to finance the construction through the use of Tax
Increment Financing, Crawford said. TIF is a means by which
municipalities may pay for capital improvements by borrowing on
increased tax revenue generated by the projects.
North Carolina voters approved a measure allowing TIF projects last year, he noted.
"This is a way to accomplish a lot of the goals without burdening the tax payers," Crawford told the board.
Because the town owns much of the land that would be incorporated, "some sort of land swap would transpire," he added.
"The town would
pay nothing for the building itself, in exchange for no taxes for a
period," Caudle explained. Specifically, the increased tax revenues
generated by the project would be used to pay off a bond to fund the
construction.
A woman objected to this plan, noting that "the town has to still provide services, so itës not a win-win situation."
However, Merritt
said that the arrangement wouldnët require the town to forego 100
percent of the increased revenues ÇƒÓ a percentage would go to fund the
increased demand for services.
After the public
got to ask questions of Merritt and Crawford, the aldermen questioned
them and gave their opinions on the matter.
Alderman Joan
Brown noted that with this proposal, the board has a chance to have a
say in the future of the area surrounding the townës public facilities.
Otherwise, she said, developers could buy the privately owned adjacent
tracks and build whatever they wanted.
"We would have no control of what would be on the corner," Brown added.
Alderman Mary
Leonard White noted that TIF "is a new thing and itës kind of
complicated." She then asked Caudle to summarize how the financing
system works.
"The spirit of
Will Kennedy lives on in this room," Caudle joked, referring to the
former mayor, who died of renal amyloidosis, a severe kidney disease
Oct. 12 after having resigned his post due to the illness in September.
Kennedy was known for his thoroughness in summarizing complex matters
for the board and the public.
In explanation,
Caudle said that TIF would allow the town to take out bonds for 15 to
30 years that would be paid out of the increased tax revenue. He
stressed that this did not include the tax revenue that Black Mountain
would have generated based on the propertiesë values prior to the
construction ÇƒÓ only the increased revenue would be used to pay off the
bonds.
He also noted that while TIF is relatively new in North Carolina, it is common in most other states.
Mayor pro tem C.
Michael Sobol noted that the proposal is only in its preliminary phase.
However, he said, the board moved forward on it Oct. 13 by sending a
letter to Citiline expressing the intention of going ahead with the
plan ÇƒÓ but without legally committing to doing so.
In other action,
the board unanimously decided to appoint Carl Bartlett to fill
Kennedyës role as mayor until an election can be held in Nov. 2007. The
person elected then will serve until 2009, when Kennedyës term would
have expired.
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