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DBDA signs up for a nicer downtown
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com
Welcome to Boone.
The Downtown Boone Development Association wishes to convey this message to all those entering town and the Boone Town Council will help make it happen.
The DBDA will request funding to enhance and maintain an area near the Poplar Grove Extension intended to be a gateway for the downtown district and featuring public green space and art.
Tuesdae Rice, director of the DBDA, appeared before the council at February’s regular meeting. She said the association completed the finishing touches on a master community art plan for downtown Boone, a component of which is gateways and green space.
To accomplish this, Rice has been in talks with Watauga County about possibly leasing a small area of land on the Poplar Grove Extension, near U.S. 421 and in front of the Health Department.
The item has been added to the county commissioners’ March retreat agenda. Rice said she’ll ask if the county would lease the property to either the DBDA or the DBDA in partnership with the town to utilize as a gateway.
She told the council the finished product would include a welcome sign and pedestrian-friendly seats or benches, among other amenities.
“There are not a lot of areas friendly for sitting, as far as green space goes in our downtown area, so I think it’d be a great improvement,” Rice said.
As for funding, the DBDA will apply for a grant from the N.C. Arts Council. Rice said she wasn’t seeking a commitment of funds from the council at this point, but that she would in the future.
“I’d say the town is committed to designating funds for green space,” council member Lynne Mason said.
“We’re also working on the development of a master plan in downtown, so I think you’ll have our cooperation in trying to plan for that space and making the downtown area more attractive.”
Council member Janet Pepin asked Rice if the DBDA would seek an in-kind or cash match for funding provided by the town, and Rice said the DBDA would prefer in-kind through Boone Public Works.
The N.C. Arts Council grant requires a cash match, but Rice said the DBDA would probably get no more than $5,000 in those funds, which the DBDA could match on its own.
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