The Mayor and Board of Commissioners for the Town of Blowing Rock met in special session on Thursday, July 10, 2003 at 8:00 a.m. Present were Mayor J. B. Lawrence, and Commissioners Terry Lentz, Rita Wiseman and David Wray. Also present were Town Manager Scott Hildebran and Town Clerk Barbara Beach. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the proposed widening project of US Highway 321 with representatives of the NC Department of Transportation. Following are the minutes of the meeting as taken by Tonya Caddle.

J.B. Lawrence, Town of Blowing Rock - Mayor

David Wray, Town of Blowing Rock – Town Board

Rita Wiseman, Town of Blowing Rock – Town Board

Terry Lentz, Town of Blowing Rock - Town Board

Scott Hildebran, Town of Blowing Rock - Manager

Phillip Trew, High Country RPO

Kevin Rothrock, Town of Blowing Rock - Planner

Derrick Weaver, NCDOT - PDEA

Missy Dickens, NCDOT - PDEA

Bob Kopetsky, NCDOT – Landscape Design and Development

Greg Brew, NCDOT – Roadway Design Unit

Carl McCann, NCDOT – Division 11

Trent Beaver, NCDOT – Division 11

Tonya Caddle, Parsons Brinckerhoff

John Page, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Mayor J.B. Lawrence opened the meeting and then recognized Missy Dickens, NCDOT Project Manager, who facilitated the mitigation discussion. Missy invited everyone to review the previous meeting’s minutes and stated that she would like to update a few items from the last meeting.

• The NCDOT signing branch is working on a preliminary signing plan.
• Lighting
• The town provided coach light specifications to NCDOT. NCDOT is currently evaluating the lighting to determine how they may be integrated into the US 321 design.
• Clarification of emergency signal request. During the previous meeting there was discussion of placement of an emergency signal at the proposed location of a future Fire/EMS station along US 321, south of Sunset Drive. Carl McCann noted that Division 11 does not allow emergency signals as they create the potential for accidents. The Town indicated that they envisioned a yellow flashing light instead of a traffic signal. Carl McCann stated that a flashing warning light, and not a traffic signal, probably would not be a problem however it would not be very attractive. The Board indicated that in this circumstance they were more concerned about safety than aesthetics.

• The Town would like the signals to be coordinated at the Food Lion and beyond. NCDOT will coordinate all signals along the corridor.
• Since the last meeting, NCDOT staff further discussed the idea of having the Board of Transportation formally adopt the Memorandum of Understanding being developed with the Town. As a result of these discussions, NCDOT intends to submit the MOU, once agreed to by the Town and NCDOT, to the BOT for adoption. The town provided NCDOT a list of utility improvements planned for the future (see attached).
• Goforth Road
• The Country Club, The Green Park Inn, some of the Town Board and NCDOT seemed to like the idea of closing Goforth Road. NCDOT noted that the Green Park Inn doesn’t own their overflow parking lot (on the west side of US 321) and will lose the spaces as a result of construction. During last month’s Section 106 meetings, the suggestion was made to narrow the footprint of the US 321 in front of the Inn; without the parking on the west side of US 321, the median could be removed and the cross-section narrowed. Missy asked PB to evaluate parking for the Green Park Inn along the section of Goforth Road to be closed.
• If approved, Goforth could be abandoned from US 321 to Galax Lane.
• The Town requested a utility easement if Goforth Rd. is abandoned.
• The Town indicated that Galax Lane is very congested on Sundays because the Catholic Church uses the road for parking.
• Traffic Calming (particularly with landscaping)

• Maple trees are a safety hazard if they are placed on the recovery area of the highway.
• Remnants of property that have land beyond the recovery area can have larger trees in the landscaping. There will be other plants besides the maple trees that can be planted closer to the travelway, although salt and snowplowing can hurt the plants’ chance of survival.
• Bob Kopestsky explained that there will need to be one feet of space between the road and where the vegetation begins; consequently, there is no room for planting between the sidewalk and curb if only one foot separates the two. It may be the opinion of some that plantings between the sidewalk and curve provide a stark unattractive look.
• The Town again expressed the concern about salt damaging plants close to the road.
• The Town also said that it is important that roadside plantings not obstruct the business signs. .
• ACTION ITEM: After much discussion, the decision was made for NCDOT to provide to the Town landscape drawings that show sidewalk locations, guard rail locations, berm widths, and plantings. The Town will evaluate and annotate the plan with suggestions. NCDOT did point out that the plan needed to be flexible to allow for any changes the challenges of burying utilities provides at a future date.
• ACTION ITEM: The Town suggested looking at the Outback Restaurant as an example of how the Town wants things to look in terms of obscuring views of parking but not of the business’ building.
• Many possible cross-sections were discussed, including guardrails between the sidewalk and the road and sidewalks situated at the back of the berm. It was agreed that the most productive course of action is for NCDOT to provide to the Town the landscaped designs for comments.
• It was noted that trade-offs will have to be made throughout the project. The NCDOT is aware the Town does wants guardrail only where required, as much open space as possible, and sidewalks on both sides of the road north of US 321 Business/US 321 Bypass.
• A sidewalk only on one side within the historic district might be acceptable if it would help minimize the footprint and/or allow for more landscaping.
• There will be no abandoned structures left along the corridor. On full takes, NCDOT will remove the houses.
• Medians could be landscaped or hard (decorative concrete).
• The Town is concerned about maintenance of the medians and landscaping. The Town suggests they mow the grass medians and NCDOT take responsibility for maintenance of plants.
• Wood guard rails where guardrail is required, generally adjacent to slopes that are 2:1 or steeper if the fill is 5 feet or higher..
• NCDOT can place guard rail on the face of the curb or 12 feet from the face of the curb. If wood guardrail is used, it may have to be placed 12 feet behind the face of curb; wood guardrail may not be appropriate immediately behind the face of the curb.
• The posts for the guard rail will be termite-resistant material, perhaps a composite material that looks like wood.
• Stone walls will not be used as a barrier instead of guard rails; it will be used only for decorative purposes.

• NCDOT recommends eliminating the crossover at the Community Arts Center and providing a restrictive crossover at the Food Lion (leftover). (Vehicles could turn right into, right out of, and left into the Food Lion.)
• ACTION ITEM: NCDOT will provide pavement width for U-turns at the US 321/ Sunset intersection.
• The issue of police officers directing traffic during events was not considered realistic because of cost (the Arts Center will be open year round).
• The light at Sunset and US 321 can be smart enough to extend the time for U-turns when the Arts Center has an event. Tractor-trailers won’t be able to make these U-turns. They will have to plan their routes accordingly.
• Food Lion has not been consulted on the proposed restrictive crossover..
• ACTION ITEM: The Arts Center will give Missy their five year plan with growth projections to help project traffic numbers for that area.

It was determined that the next meeting would be August 14, 2003. The meeting was adjourned.