Press release:
The Asheville Downtown Association today announced that its board of directors has endorsed a public input process, led by the Asheville Design Center, regarding the city-owned parcels near 76 Haywood Street and 39 Page Avenue.
The Asheville Downtown Association committed the initial $5,000 toward moving forward with this input process. Several other donors have come forward with funding as well including Friends of St. Lawrence Green, Downtown Asheville Residential Neighbors (DARN) and local architect Michael McDonough. The city-appointed Downtown Commission has also officially endorsed this process.
In September of 2012, the Asheville Design Center was engaged by Asheville City Council to develop possible opportunities for this space. Over two years, the Asheville Design Center met with dozens of stakeholders, city staff, surrounding property owners and interested parties to discuss alternatives.
“Given the Asheville Design Center’s history, knowledge and experience with this space, we feel they are best suited to lead an independent process that allows all citizens to weigh in on all possible options for the site,” said Byron Greiner, issues committee chair for the Asheville Downtown Association. “We want to ensure that there is a true public input process where all potential outcomes are on the table, as well as discussion of how each would be funded initially and on an ongoing basis.”
On Tuesday, March 8, the Asheville Design Center will go before Asheville City Council with a proposed scope of work and budget to implement this community-driven visioning process.
Project for Public Spaces, a national nonprofit leading the placemaking movement, has agreed to be part of the process as well. The group would host an educational program on placemaking, what makes good public space, how community members can be involved in the vision, and key elements to to public space implementation and management.
The Asheville Downtown Association encourages members of the community to contact Asheville City Council to share their support of a community-led visioning process for this integral parcel in downtown Asheville. Council members can be reached at AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov.
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