By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — A large number of Blowing Rock citizens showed up at the August 12 meeting of Town Council, anxious to know the long-term vision for the proposed Shoppes on the Parkway shopping center’s redevelopment. Whether they left the meeting disappointed depended on the individual.
Originally developed in the 1980s by Tanger under a special use permit, Shoppes on the Parkway was purchased by Oak Hill Management of Raleigh in 2022, which formed Shoppes on the Parkway LLC to include investors in the redevelopment project. The LLC, for which Jay Harrill of Foscoe Companies is a local leader on the development team, is requesting a Conditional Rezoning of the 17-acre property from General Business (GB), to Conditional Zoning-General Business (CZ-GB). They are looking to redevelop the property from a single-level retail center to a mixed-use development with retail, restaurants and residential components.
At the March 11 meeting of Town Council, the development team brought their vision for the redevelopment to the board, asking for the conditional rezoning and approval for what they called “Phase 1” of the redevelopment. While they presented what amounted to outlines or “sketches” of what Phase 2 and 3 might look like, their detail focused on the Phase 1 residential component.
Pretty much in unison at the March meeting, the board of commissioners did not like what amounted to a three-story, 400-foot long building with a total of 34, two- and three-bedroom condominiums. The board liked neither the density nor the “monstrosity” of the look. They tabled any decision on the rezoning until the developers could come back with modifications to their Phase 1 plan.
For the August meeting, the developers came back with detailed plan modifications for Phase 1, including three smaller buildings instead of one big one, reduced density, and more greenspace. While they had provided for 61 parking spaces rather than the 64 that strict adherence to the Land Use Code requires, in the end they were able to accommodate the other three spaces. By a 4-1 vote, the commissioners approved the conditional rezoning and plans for Phase 1, with Commissioner Pete Gherini representing the lone dissenting vote.
It was not that simple, however, because early on some council members insisted on knowing more about the long term vision for Phase 2 and Phase 3.
Their insistence required an increasingly frustrated development team attorney Chelsea Garrett to simplify what should have been obvious: the Aug. 12 request was for the conditional rezoning and approval of Phase 1’s modifications. The decision had nothing to do with Phase 2 and Phase 3 and any details that might be forthcoming, she said.
Apologizing at one point for “getting a little testy,” Garrett reminded the commissioners that whenever Phase 2 and Phase 3 came up in the future, the Town Council will have the right to approve, ask for modifications, or deny the applications.
“It’s that simple,” she said, suggesting that they didn’t need to know the details of Phase 2 and Phase 3 in order to approve or deny the plans for Phase 1 and the overall conditional rezoning.
While that didn’t satisfy Gherini, the others understood and voted to approve Commissioner David Harwood’s motion to approve as presented, but with 64 parking spaces instead of 61. When questioned and after consulting with the development team, Garrett indicated they could accommodate the 64-space modification.
Other Business
Before going into closed session, the Board of Commissioners:
- Delayed any decision about approving Food Trucks, defined in the Town Code as “itinerant merchants,” until the Planning Board, with suggested assistance from the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, could make a recommendation after collecting extensive data on wait times and patronage of the town’s restaurants.
- Approved a $709,000 installment loan for the purchase of a number of capital items that were included in the 2025-26 fiscal year budget’s adoption for various departments, including finance software, police vehicle, chipper truck, dump truck, two snow plows, a “Gator” utility vehicle, mini-truck, backhoe, leak detection system and water valve. The Board unanimously approved the winning bid for the $709,000 loan at 3.45 percent to be repaid over four years from First National Bank.
The Town Council went into closed session a little after 8 p.m., with no decisions expected in coming out of closed session.
