Asheville City Council highlights: May 15 meeting

Asheville City Council agreed at its May 15 session to begin the process of annexing three areas abutting city limits.

With Mayor Terry Bellamy absent, Council decided in three separate 5-1 votes (with Council member Carl Mumpower dissenting), to a proscribed process that would annex a portion of Biltmore Lake, the Sardis Road area and Schenck Gateway. The areas, situated just south and west of city limits, comprise approximately 854 acres. City staff had pegged the areas as annexation targets because of their urban nature and proximity to city limits, noted city urban planner Julia Cogburn.

The annexations are by no means a done deal. The Council’s votes merely set the stage for them and follow a schedule set out under state law. However, if the Council agrees to proceed with annexation, all three areas could be part of the city by the end of the year. First, said Cogburn, the Council would have to adopt a services plan for the areas at its May 22 meeting. That would be followed by a public-information meeting scheduled for July 2. Following that, a public hearing on the annexations would need to held July 24. If Council decides to follow through, it would have to adopt the ordinances on Aug. 14. If passed, the effective dates of the annexations would be Dec. 31.

While the Council sets it sights on annexing part of Biltmore Lake, it also approved a conditional-use permit for the next phase of the development — development that would not be part of the currently proposed annexation.

In a unanimous vote, the Council signed off on a 103-unit, single-family home development at Biltmore Lake, located off Enka Lake Road and Orvis Stone Circle within the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Council members lauded the fact that the planned development would preserve several acres of open space, including an uninterrupted riparian buffer along the shores of Enka Lake. Based on the planned development, developer Biltmore Farms would be required to retain 1.18 acres as open space. However, plans call for the development to retain 12.39 acres.

While Enka Lake may not be opened for public use, the Council took another step toward the creation of Overlook Park, a planned 30-acre park on Beaucatcher Mountain near downtown.

In a 5-1 vote (with Mumpower against), Council agreed to undertake a lease-purchase agreement with the Trust for Public Land, which had originally said it would assemble the funds to buy the land and then convey it to the city. While the Trust waits for partial funding from the state and private donors to buy the land, City Attorney Bob Oast mentioned that the agreement would make the city liable for any funding that doesn’t come through.

However, Oast and Council member Robin Cape noted that the total $2.6 million needed to buy the land could pretty much be counted on. And Oast added that even in a worst-case scenario, the city would still be buying a prime piece of land at a considerable discount.

Finally, in a budget session held before the Council’s formal meeting, a majority of Council members signaled their intent to increase the Asheville Police Department’s funding by more than $1 million next fiscal year to $17.9 million, mainly to help combat drugs. The increase is a compromise from on a recent $2 million request from Chief William Hogan.

The move didn’t sit well with Mumpower, who has signaled he might want more money to battle drugs. Moreover, he argued that any budget increase must include benchmarks to measure the success of any new drug-eradication efforts. The mood turned even more sour when Mumpower was told by Vice Mayor Holly Jones that his comment period was over. Feeling he was being censored and given short shrift, Mumpower walked out of Council chambers in protest.

In an e-mail sent to the Council and the media on May 16, Mumpower railed against the treatment he received and said that the Council seemed to be abdicating a commitment it had made in January to eliminate open-air drug markets.

For a full Council report, watch this blog, or check out the May 23 issue of Xpress.

— Hal L. Millard, staff writer