If the agenda for tonight’s Asheville City Council meeting is any indicator, things could move along quickly at City Hall.
Council is expected to take up a conditional zoning request for a portion of a lot containing Trinity United Methodist Church at 587 Haywood Road in West Asheville. Trinity is requesting that Council approve rezoning the property from Community Business II (CB II) and Residential Multi-Family Medium Density (RM-8) to Conditional Zoning. That would allow the church to use its existing education building for a K-8 school. As part of the request, Trinity will add to an existing privacy fence and plant additional buffer trees on the eastern boarder of the property, which sits adjacent to three homes.
Also on the tonight’s agenda is a resolution supporting the city being a co-applicant with the Asheville Housing Authority for a Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant (formerly called HOPE VI grants). The grant provides funding for a variety of community revitalization projects, with many aimed at creating mixed income housing and stimulating homeownership among lower income residents.
The Housing Authority has said that Lee-Walker Heights, and Pisgah View Apartments are both candidates for Choice Neighborhoods funding. Lee-Walker is the oldest public housing development in the city, and Pisgah View is the second oldest. The city has already committed itself to the application process, approving $40,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding for the planning and application process.
This evening’s Asheville City Council meeting also promises to be a consent-tastic one, with 19 items on the consent agenda ranging from the standard approval of the last meeting’s minutes to a budget amendment that would allow the city to spend $120,000 to purchase a street milling machine. The city has traditionally contracted out milling services, but staff expects the city to be able to save around $900,000 over the next five years by purchasing the machine.
The meeting starts at 5 p.m. today at Asheville City Hall. Click here to read the full agenda.
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