City of Asheville Staff Emails: Occupy Asheville

From: Jeff Richardson

Subject: RE: Media Contact: Occupy Asheville Permit Costs

Date: 2011-10-19 07:34:45

To:

Council member Manheimer,



Once staff learned that the group would be approaching city council on
October 25 for all fees waived, staff clearly explained to the organized
group, the cost for the meter fees per day, and that the city would
accrue those fees until Oct 25, and that based on council’s action
regarding the request for fee waiver, the group may or may not owe the
city back fees for the approximate two week period.



Staff will continue to work on this issue and accumulate data to provide
city council with as much relevant information as possible by the staff
report deadline. In addition, because this issue continues to evolve on
a daily basis, I am sure we will need additional time for some questions
and may not be ready to provide that information until October 25.



Thanks.



________________________________

From: Gary Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:07 PM
To: Esther Manheimer - Email
Cc: Dawa Hitch; councilgroup; Jeff Richardson; Robert Griffin
Subject: Re: Media Contact: Occupy Asheville Permit Costs



Good questions, I trust the staff report we prepare for next Tuesday's
meeting will answer. Gary

Sent from my iPhone


On Oct 18, 2011, at 2:20 PM, "Esther Manheimer"
wrote:

Just to clarify, and maybe this goes to Jeff, are they asking us
to waive the parking meter fees? And the barricade fees? Which, by the
way, look pretty enormous. If this is to be considered at the next
Council meeting, I hope we have some context information, such as
whether any kind of fee waiver like this has been granted before, other
than what we’re already familiar with. Of course we’ve considered the
issue of fee waivers or partial fee waivers for certain reoccurring
events. And, we’ve talked about discounts for parking rates in the
decks for certain groups. But, I don’t recall the complete waiver of
fees associated with an entire parking lot. I don’t quite understand
the barricade fee, but the meter fees make sense to me since it
represents an actual revenue stream we are not realizing due to OA. Do
we have any idea what that lot normally produces in terms of revenue so
we can calculate an actual loss to the City? I’m not terribly
interested in waiving any actual loss, but might be willing to consider
revenues we wouldn’t otherwise realize, such as a barricade fee.



Also, I am concerned that the fees will continue to accrue
before our next meeting and if we don’t waive the fees, someone, whoever
has signed the application for the permit of the parking lot site, will
be on the hook for the costs. I hope that’s been explained to him or
her since that amount of money could be significant, especially since so
many others are using the site. I’m concerned this may not be a
sustainable situation.



From: Dawa Hitch [mailto:DHitch@ashevillenc.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 4:07 PM
To: councilgroup
Cc: Gary Jackson; Jeff Richardson; Robert Griffin
Subject: Media Contact: Occupy Asheville Permit Costs



Mayor Bellamy and Council Members,



WLOS contacted me about permitting fees associated with the
Occupy Asheville group. I replied with the following:



The permit application received by staff today is for a 6 month
period. Based on the needs defined by the group, the associated fees
are:



Meters - $15/space/day * 15 spaces * 180 days ($45,000)

Barricades - $24/day * 30 barricades * 180 days ($135,000)

Fire Department Inspection - (approx. $52)

Temporary Use Permit - (approx. $175)



For a six month period a very rough estimate would be around
$180,000.



It is staff's understanding that the group is planning on
approaching Council to ask for fee waivers.





Dawa Hitch

Public Information Officer

City of Asheville

Office: 828.259.5981

Fax: 828.259.5499

dhitch@ashevillenc.gov













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