By Jeff Eason

In the classic comic strip Peanuts, football season is celebrated by Lucy holding a football for Charlie Brown, only to pull it away at the last second before he can kick it through the goalposts. Such must have been the feeling of the Chetola Severn Partners as the development group once again had its application for a Conditional Use Permit put on hold by the Blowing Rock Board of Commissioners Tuesday evening.

Tom Griffin, a representative of Chetola Severn Partners, LLC, makes his closing comments to the Blowing Rock Town Council on Tuesday night. Photo by Jeff Eason

Since January 2008, Chetola Severn Partners have attempted to get approval for a multi-use development now called Blowing Rock Commons planned for a 7.28-acre vacant parcel of land on Main Street across from the Boxwood Lodge. The proposed development would consist of a multi-use, multi-phase project that includes a 72-room hotel, two restaurants, 21,000 square feet of retail space mixed with 16,000 square feet of office space and 36 condominium units.

The project would also include two levels of underground parking and surface parking to serve the hotel, restaurant, retail and office units. The condominiums would have their own parking facilities on the first floor of each unit.

During the August meeting of the Blowing Rock Town of Commissioners, one of the major roadblocks to gaining approval for the project was the proximity of the restaurant and retail buildings to Main Street and the lack of sufficient trees and green space between the road and the buildings. During Tuesday’s meeting, representatives of Chetola Severn unveiled a new design that would move those buildings back more than five-and-a-half feet from their previous planned locations. The new design also moved a proposed sidewalk from along Main Street to the other side of the restaurant and retail units.

At the start of the meeting, a number of people in favor of the project spoke to the Town Council about their desire to have such a development in their town.

“I’ve lived in Blowing Rock since 1948 and I was on the planning board when we oversaw the development of the Food Lion shopping center and Shoppes on the Parkway,” said Dr. Charles “Bunky” Davant III.

“A lot of people didn’t want to see that growth. We went through that with those projects, but they turned out all right. The Blowing Rock Commons will be beautifully done and will add to our town’s tax base. I would hate to see that stretch of property parceled out and subdivided. This project will have a lot less visual impact than anything else that could go there. It is evident that something is going to go in there. We could end up with something a lot less desirable.”

Added longtime resident Bill Mauldin, “Blowing Rock is going to continue to grow. This project’s unique blend of residential and commercial properties is going to be helpful to the city. We might as well try to make it as nice as we possibly can.”

“My concern is that this is going to be lost if it is not approved,” said Lee Dunston. “I think this is a good addition to the town. 36 town-homes are going to give us 36 families who have bought high-priced residences in the heart of our commercial district.”

Cobb Milner, owner of Gideon Ridge Inn and Dick Goosman, owner of Meadowbrook Inn, stated that the addition of an upscale hotel and restaurants would bring more individuals and groups into Blowing Rock, providing more business than competition to area merchants.

Charles Hardin, executive director of the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, stated that he estimated the project would provide $132,000 in property tax, $160,000 in occupancy tax, and additional sales tax to the town each year. He stated that the project would also provide professional and management level jobs to citizens of Blowing Rock and the surrounding areas.

After proponents of the proposed development spoke at the Town Council meeting, opponents were given the opportunity to voice their concerns. Unlike previous meetings on the subject, no one spoke out in opposition to Blowing Rock Commons.

Some members of the board seem to be pleased with the redesigned project and the changes that had been made since the August meeting.

“You could say that us pushing against it has resulted in a better project,” said councilman Albert Yount. “So you could say we’ve been vindicated.”

After one presenter praised the project as extending the downtown village of Blowing Rock, councilman Keith Tester stated, “My opinion is just the opposite. This does not extend the village. I want a project that compliments the village, not extends it. This doesn’t preserve Blowing Rock, this is the future of Blowing Rock.”

Tester then quoted a magazine article about the New England town of Nantucket that said, “This community is considering its future while it is clinging to its past.”

“That’s what we’re doing today,” said Tester. He also expressed a wish for more shrubbery in the design plans between the buildings and Main Street.

“I would like to be assured that there is a good number of trees there that do not lose their leaves in the winter,” added councilwoman Barbara Ball.

After two-and-a-half hours of discussion and presentations, councilman Tommy Klutz made a motion to approve the Conditional Use Permit with the condition that the engineers move several of the buildings back an additional five feet from Main Street. When that motion failed to carry, a motion was approved to return to the matter at the next meeting of the town council on October 14th.