Asheville City Council to consider Pack Place leases, APD plans

Posted on by Jake Frankel
Pack Place (photo by Jake Frankel)

After months of debate, Asheville City Council is preparing to decide the fate of who will manage Pack Place on July 22.

The city owns the building at 2 South Pack Square in the heart of downtown Asheville. The nonprofit of the same name manages the property. But council is considering leasing space in the building directly to its three tenants – Asheville Art Museum, Colburn Earth Museum and Diana Wortham Theatre – sidestepping the nonprofit and ending its management reign.

Amid the uncertainty, the Colburn Earth Museum is already looking for a new site. Meanwhile, it’s unclear how any changes would effect funding from Buncombe County, which has traditionally provided hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to the nonprofit to pay for the building’s utility costs.

In other business, Council will consider the Asheville Police Department’s new Strategic Operations Plan. In recent years the APD has been embroiled in a long list of controversies, most prominently the evidence-room scandal. The new plan aims to restore confidence in the department by restructuring patrols, investing in new technologies and expanding its public outreach efforts.

The city will also consider revising its development policy to allow gated roads restricting access to single parcels of private property. The city’s current ban on new gated communities would remain in place.

City Council meets Tuesday, July 22, at 5 p.m on the second floor of City Hall. The current agenda can be found here.

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About Jake Frankel
Jake Frankel is an award-winning journalist who enjoys covering a wide range of topics, from politics and government to business, education and entertainment.
View all posts by Jake Frankel →

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2 thoughts on “Asheville City Council to consider Pack Place leases, APD plans”

  1. nehtaeh

    How does the (false) rumor that the City owns the Pack Place building spread throughout mainstream media so effortlessly? The City contributed 3M of taxpayer money through a bond referendum, the State contributed 3M, and the remainder of what it took to build the cultural center & refurbish the old library (dontaed through the City) was privately raised funds.

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