No New CO’s Issued For The Cottages of Boone on Tuesday, ‘Hopefully’ More To Be Issued Wednesday

FIXE_0027
More than 200 students moved into The Cottages of Boone on Sunday.

By Jesse Wood

Aug. 20, 2013. As of Tuesday afternoon, Watauga County Planning & Inspections department has issued no more certificates of occupancy for The Cottages of Boone, according to WCP&I Director Joe Furman, adding that hopefully some would be issued on Wednesday.

On Sunday, more than 200 tenants moved into the student-housing development located off of Poplar Grove Road South in the county. As of Monday morning, Furman said his department had issued certificates of occupancy for 28 buildings, representing 249 beds in 51 units. No certificates of occupancy were issued on Monday.

This leaves 80 buildings in the 894-bed, 61-acre housing development without certificates of occupancy.

During the past few weeks, The Cottages of Boone Facebook page has been a live one with folks offering positive and negative commentary on the development that has experienced numerous delays, causing students to be holed up two-to-a-room in local hotels with a $15 per diem, all paid for by The Cottages of Boone, and others without a place to stay while their residence is completed.

One parent who visited The Cottages of Boone development on Sunday said he was impressed with what he had seen so far, even though his child was staying in a hotel room.   

“For what it’s worth, today was a pleasant surprise,” Vance Tiller wrote on The Cottages of Boone Facebook page Sunday night. “Even though my son will be in a hotel for a short while, the experience today was better than expected.”

Others have been less forthcoming with praise – such as Shay Lyn Dow on Monday.

“While I appreciate Mr. Tiller’s positivity, I have to admit that I’m a little incredulous. My son is in a hotel for what is rumored to be upwards of 60 days and today he is hearing it may be 90. I’m sorry, as a professional project manager, I know for a fact that a delay in construction for this long is a result of incredibly poor planning and most likely greed too boot. To not hire sufficient construction staff to offset weather delays for a period upwards of a full semester is beyond comprehension,” Dow posted on Facebook. “We’re not even sure my son’s home has it’s foundation yet – Making 90 days seem still improbable.” 

See aerial photos of the development that were taken one month ago.