Council sets April 7 public hearings for rezoning of Page and Lincoln school parcels; Capstone plans apartments

The Boone City Council set public hearings for April 7, 2025, to consider requested zoning changes for two former school properties — Page School and Lincoln Elementary — that a developer, Capstone, wants to convert into apartments.

Planning staff described the proposals: the Page School parcel, currently zoned R1 (single-family residential), would be rezoned to R3 (multi-family) to permit a planned renovation into roughly 28 units within the building footprint and the construction of a 57-space parking lot. The Lincoln School parcel, in R2 (single-family and duplex residential), would be rezoned to C3 to allow conversion to roughly 24 units and about 53 parking stalls in the existing playground area. Staff said Capstone chose C3 for Lincoln to preserve flexibility for potential small commercial uses in the future, even though the current plan is for apartments.

Planning staff said the projects are intended as market-rate, upscale apartment conversions and not low-income housing. At prior planning and zoning meetings some neighborhood residents raised concerns about using an alternate exit to the street rather than the alley, additional traffic, and preserving the existing bus stop; staff said the bus stop will remain and that Capstone plans a curb cut and a fence between alley and parking to reduce alley traffic impacts.

The council did not act on the rezoning requests at the meeting; public hearings and formal votes will occur on April 7.

Planning staff said they and the developer toured other Capstone projects and that final design and public comments will be considered at the public hearing.