Boone (North Carolina)
Watauga County
37-07080
Boone is a city in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of North Carolina with 13,472 inhabitants ( 2000 census ).
To town and location
It is the county seat of administration ( County Seat) of Watauga County, which adjoins directly to the state of Tennessee. Is named the city after the U.S. pioneer and alleged founder of the city, Daniel Boone.
Boone is located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains at an altitude of about 1100 m. The largest single employer is the Appalachian State University, at which about 14,000 students are enrolled, with the result that nearly doubled the population of Boone in the lecture periods.
In the winter months the place is a popular recreation area because of the good skiing. In summer it attracts numerous residents of the nearby U.S. states of Florida, South Carolina and Georgia, to entertain holiday homes here or in the vicinity, because of the pleasantly mild climate to Boone.
The Boone effect
In 1980, the then newest and largest wind power plant in the USA in the small town of Boone 's designers a headache: it was within several kilometers rattle windows and the dishes in the cabinets. As presented by the residents addition produced the 60 meter long rotor blades, the noise should be below the threshold of human hearing, an indefinable whistling and buzzing. Engineers of the manufacturing company General Electric and the U.S. Department of Energy identified the annoying swish - swish as part of the infrasound generated by the rotors. In certain weather conditions and wind directions, the vibrations were reinforced and triggered in the vicinity of 2000 kilowatt wind power plant, the noise from. To solve the problem, the rotor speed was reduced or the steel rotor blades against wings of glass fibers replaced. These unforeseen disturbances were often referred to in the 1980s and 1990s in professional circles as Boone effect.
Urban Development
The industrial, commercial and residential development in the city Boone is a controversial topic due to its location in the mountains of Appalachia. On 16 October 2009, the city council decided the Boone 2030 Land Use plan. This development plan is not a binding legal norm, however, is to serve the City Council and the relevant committees as a guide for decision making to appropriate regional development.
In 2009, the North Carolina Department of Transportation ( NCDOT ) began broadening the national road US421 ( King Street ) from a four -to a six-lane highway over a length of 1.6 km at a cost of around 16 million U.S. dollars. With this extension, 25 businesses and 63 residences are cut off east of the historic downtown King Street. Completion of the project is scheduled for 31 December 2011.