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APPENDIX D: HOWARD KNOB PARK COMMUNITY RESIDENTS’ LETTER ON NOV. 19, 2018, HOWARD KNOB PARK AREA RESIDENTS SENT A LETTER TO WATAUGA COUNTY AND TOWN OF BOONE LEADERSHIP REGARDING SECURITY AND OTHER CONCERNS ABOUT THE PARK. Greetings all, The Howards Knob residents (‘Residents’) hope to openly, transparently, and collaboratively engage Watauga County Commissioners and the Town of Boone leadership to bring about meaningful, actionable, accountable, and timely reform to Howards Knob County Park (Park). Our goal is to first make known the ongoing private and public liabilities not currently being addressed by the management of the Park. Second, we hope that such discussions will bring about short-term and long-term action plans with clearly identified accountabilities to implement changes that benefit the public’s right to use the limited acreage that is the Park while concurrently protecting and enforcing surrounding landowners’ rights to private landownership. The Residents appreciate the willingness of local leadership and public servants to engage our community regarding the Park. The subsequent paragraphs summarize some details for all recipients, especially those that are unfamiliar with the issues related to the Park and extending to privately owned properties. As you will read, there is an urgent need for a cross-functional collaboration between varying departments and branches of local government. The ongoing issues are not new. If you find this letter too long to read – then it is exactly this apathy and attitude that this letter seeks to address. Please read on. Howards Knob Mountain has long been a fixture of Boone and Watauga County. The park has been under the ownership and responsibility of Watauga County for many years. During such time, Howards Knob County Park has been a central theme and point of discussion for its value of marketing and recreational tourism for the Town of Boone and Watauga County. The latter strongly implies there is mutual interest by the Boone Town Council and Watauga County Commissions to manage the Park as a local resource, but in reality, it seems that there is misalignment of efforts between numerous stakeholders many of whom are included in this correspondence. Over the decades, the Park and surrounding land has morphed from a popular hang-gliding jump point and scenic vista, a bouldering play land for climbers, location of one of the first turbine windmills in the US, the “home” of the “red dot” house, and most recently, a community “county” park and communication tower waypoint. One constant of Howards Knob Mountain is the Park offers an accessible, isolated, opportunity for the public and property owners to enjoy nature along with high-elevation views of Boone. Howards Knob County Park may be unlike any other park in Watauga County in that it is mostly used as a loitering hotspot – when open and when closed including all hours of the day and night, year-round. It is possibly the only park completely surrounded by private property that does not have complete fencing or park boundary signage. The closest comparator is Junaluska City Park that has both fencing and a large amount of through traffic i.e., no dead end. Over the years, the properties on Howards Knob have changed ownership with opportunities for the public and the private sector to secure plots of land. Currently, the ~5-acre plot of land making up the Park is surrounded by private land which does not convey any right of use by the public except for the right to drive up Howards Knob Road to enter the Park. When the Park is closed, the small signs hung atypically high on a tree trunk to the left of the gate that states, “No Parking When Park is Closed” is completely ignored. Not only is that sign or multiple “No Trespassing” signs ignored, the small parking lot, roadway, and private property is used for parking and sightseeing regardless of the signage. It is absolutely stunning to witness the law-breaking 6 0 H OWA R D K N OB PARK M ASTE R P LAN