Residents were so intent Tuesday on telling Tryon Town Council members how the town should change regulations for commercial development that no one even flinched when a tornado siren was activated during the public hearing.

Town council held the public hearing to gain input on how residents think the town should regulate commercial development in the town’s central business district (CBD) and general business district (GBD). The areas of concern are downtown (CBD) and along U.S. 176 (GBD) to the S.C. state line.

The town has also gathered input through a survey available on its website, with 53 responses as of this week. The survey remains on the towns website at www.tryon-nc.com. A number of town officials said they are very pleased with the response so far.

Some residents said the town should enforce and strengthen its landscaping requirements, and it should create an architectural review board.

Other residents talked about changes they said are needed to keep small businesses healthy, such as enforcing parking ordinances and lessening sign restrictions.

Paula Jordan began comments by talking about how special Tryon is, partly because it does not have big footprint buildings.

Tryon is a very special place, said Paula Jordan. Id like to keep it that way because small town flavor is going to evaporate.

She suggested the town develop and adopt a design plan that the community agrees with and include penalties for violations. She was one of many who said the town’s landscaping requirements should be increased.

Katharine Smith said shes afraid the town is losing its land to pavement, which means groundwater is unable to recharge. She said there needs to be more landscaping.

Otherwise, were going to pave our own paradise to put up a parking lot, said Smith.

John Gargiulo and others said the town needs to revisit its sign ordinance to make it more business friendly.

Pete Terwilliger said he sees the issue of establishing better controls over commercial development as urgent and encouraged the town to act quickly.

Terwilliger said a contractor could come through now and see a building such as the Dollar General, say they want a similar building and put one up quickly before the town can make changes.

Tryon Mayor Alan Peoples said hes been saying the town needs an architectural review committee or overlay districts for nine years, but nothing has ever gone anywhere.

I do know there are some things in my town that I dont like, Peoples said.

Others said the entrance into town from South Carolina is an eyesore. Polk County Appearance Commission members saying they have a plan to plant trees at the entrance, but need funding.

Mark Byington spoke of protecting local businesses and said that architectural guidelines are needed, but those dont stop big chain businesses from coming here. He also said Tryon is hurt by having lots of service businesses in prime retail spots.

Bill Crowell expressed a different opinion regarding design requirements, saying that architectural review boards are too controlling. Tryons biggest concern, he said, should be getting rid of kudzu and dealing with parking problems downtown. He mentioned one new business in town that takes up five spaces every day.

Mary Prioleau agreed about the parking problem and said its not just one business. She said between just three businesses on one block, 11 spaces are taken up by employees every day.

The parking problem is not new to Tryon officials, as complaints are made at least a couple times a year. The town has signs indicating a two-hour parking limit is in force, but the regulation is not enforced regularly.

Officials say the perpetrators are downtown employees who see the officers coming to mark tires and simply move their cars. Crowell suggested that the town enforce the ordinance another way besides marking tires.

Town officials said Tuesday they will look into parking enforcement once again.

Some at the meeting also discussed the Tryon Downtown Development Associations (TDDA) streetscape plan that could add plantings that residents suggested.

Nancy Holmes said the streetscape plan does include trees and she thinks many people in this area would donate trees, as people donated streetlights and benches in recent years.

The streetscape plan was approved around 2001 and has not yet been implemented. Tryon Town Manager Justin Hembree mentioned on Tuesday that the town recently received a grant from the Polk County Community Foundation for $15,000 for the first phase of the streetscape plan. The town also allocated about $12,000 for the plan this year.

Town officials said they were very pleased with the turnout and with the suggestions given.

In an email to area businesses on Wednesday, town manager Justin Hembree invited business owners to a business roundtable to be held on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Tryon Fire Department.

“Based on comments made during last evenings hearing and feedback received from individual business owners, it has occurred to me that I have done a poor job in terms of establishing a formal and open line of communication between the town and our local businesses,” Hembree said in the email. “The purpose of [the business roundtable on Dec. 15] will be to discuss some specific issues facing the town, listen to your suggestions and concerns, and, most importantly, decide upon a platform that will allow for continued communication.”