Boone Council to address lack of exemptions for emergency relief housing

The Town of Boone is updating its development ordinance to better accommodate relief housing during emergencies after some issues emerged during the response to Helene.

Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives asked town officials about their policy on relief housing in the aftermath of the storm. The agency was inquiring about things like temporary shelter for Helene victims and the volunteers helping them.

It turns out the Boone ordinance that guides land use and buildings did not have an exemption for temporary structures for relief efforts. So town officials last week came together to propose changes to those guidelines.

Mayor Tim Futrelle says the town wants to make sure that there’s no hindrance to helping people.

“We do want to get this done as quickly as possible," he says. "And we do want to provide for as many opportunities as we can, because there are still a lot of folks in need, and there are a lot of folks that still want to provide really good help for that.”

The Boone Council will vote on the proposed changes at its regular meeting next week.