By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — There was little fanfare but notes of appreciation aplenty on Aug.11 during the regular monthly meeting of Blowing Rock’s town council. A couple of major developments emerged.
ADDRESSING GREEN HILL ROAD
First, the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to formalize the lower Green Hill Road speed limit with an ordinance, then doubled down on the Green Hill Road problem by passing an ordinance forbidding commercial vehicles without a real purpose and trucks with more than two axles.
PROPERTY EXCHANGE AND SALE TO FACILITATE ENHANCED EMS TRANSPORT SERVICES
Second, the Board of Commissioners (reduced to three members with Commissioner Wayne Miller reportedly on business in the western U.S. and Commissioner David Harwood recusing himself) unanimously voted to approve a property exchange involving the Town’s parcel across Valley Boulevard from the Food Lion shopping center and a slightly larger parcel owned by Blowing Rock Brewing at the intersection of U.S. 321 with Edmisten Road. To make it a fair value exchange, the Town will also pay Blowing Rock Brewing the cash sum of $240,000.
That transaction was Step 1. The follow-on transaction was for the Town to sell the newly acquired Edmisten Road/U.S. 321 property to Watauga County, so that they may build and outfit an EMS/ambulance base at that location. This is a landmark milestone some 40 years in the making, because as Mayor Charlie Sellers and Commissioner Doug Matheson noted it has been that long the citizens and government officials of Blowing Rock over the years have petitioned the county for EMS transport in or closer to Blowing Rock. This development was enabled when the county opted to acquire the EMS concession and operate those services with a county-owned service. Since that transaction, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners have purposely expanded EMS services from its former Boone-centric model, making ambulance transport much more accessible to all of the county residents and visitors, including Blowing Rock.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other meeting business, the Council members:
- Passed the Consent Agenda
- Heard a presentation from representatives of the North Carolina Department of Transportation on the upcoming Watauga County Comprehensive Transportation Plan
- Rejected all of the bids received for the USDA Water/Sewer Improvement Project as unaffordable, enabling the staff to work with the Commissioners on re-evaluating the various aspects of the project, creating priorities
- Filled a vacancy on the ABC Board and publicly thanked Susie Greene and Sylvia Tarleton for their many years of service on the board
- In official reports, Town Manager Alice Derian reported on a new software rollout to consolidate several town applications; reported on the rollout of enhanced cell phone service by Verizon in conjunction with Blue Ridge Energy; and recognized the challenging work of the Public Works staff in dealing with an estimated 10 inches of rain and the attendant flooding over just a couple of days, recently.
The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. and concluded at 6:57 p.m.
