Council approves zoning for McCormick Field improvements

At its Oct. 24 meeting, Asheville City Council unanimously approved a zoning change required to upgrade McCormick Field. The modifications to the site’s zoning requirements at 30 Buchanan Place include allowances for the project to exceed height restrictions and bypass parking space requirements.

The improvements to McCormick Field, which were approved at the March 14 City Council meeting, will include a new clubhouse, an enhanced outdoor seating area and an expanded concourse and entrance area.

The zoning request, presented by Will Palmquist, City of Asheville principal planner, would rezone the 8.25 acres from Institutional to Institutional-Conditional Zone. This change would give the project’s development more flexibility, removing the 40-foot height restriction and reducing the number of required on-site parking spaces from 1,000 to 34.

After the presentation, Council member Antanette Mosley said she had received emails from residents in the area concerned about parking and traffic. Historically, the surrounding neighborhoods, including East End and Oakhurst, have struggled with sports fans parking on residential streets during games.

City Attorney Brad Branham said most concerns that city staff had received about parking stem from events at the nearby Mountainside Park. As such, Branham said it would be “legally inappropriate” for the city to place conditions on McCormick Field to address complaints regarding a separate property.

“We had a lot of conversations with the community around parking, and I think we have taken that to heart,” said City Manager Debra Campbell. “Even though [Mountainside Park] is separate from this particular site …we do have a plan.”

Palmquist said a new traffic control and parking strategy is designed to lessen negative impacts from events at the 4,200-seat stadium on nearby neighborhoods.

For example, on event days, general admission parking will not be allowed at Mountainside Park parking lots. These lots will be reserved for staff and teams who can be held responsible for any issues. Additionally, special-event parking will be prohibited on several residential streets in the vicinity.

The parking plan incorporates three existing public parking areas near the stadium: the front McCormick Field parking area with 51 spaces, the Buchanan Avenue parking area with 25 spaces (including seven spots accessible to those with disabilities) and the front Memorial Stadium parking area with 78 spaces.

The plan indicates that, within a 10-minute walk from the front gate, are 914 structured parking spaces, 1,067 surface parking spaces and 372 street parking spaces, totaling 2,353.

Mandy Broderick, a resident of Hunt Hill Place directly behind Mountainside Park, as well as a member of the park committee for East End/Valley Street, thanked the city staff for establishing a formal parking plan but urged the city to address ongoing issues at the park, even though it fell outside the scope of the conditional zoning request.

“Thank you to staff for all of the community meetings and surveys to gather input on the parking plan as part of the CZ,” Broderick said. “I do want to urge the Council to follow through to address the issues in regard to Mountainside Park. …We understand it’s a complex situation, but the city owns all of the parcels around, so we know that we can come up with a solution that is serving the residents, mitigating impact of usage and providing space for the facility as well.”

In other news

The City Council also voted to delay adoption of the South Slope Vision Plan. Council member Kim Roney said the city needed to engage more with the Southside neighborhood to address concerns about stormwater mitigation, support for small businesses, tree canopy repair and buffers between developments and the neighborhoods.

“I went back and reviewed my notes from 2018 when I was serving on the Multimodal Transportation Commission, and back then we were having the same concerns about how the Southside neighborhood was being engaged around the vision plan for South Slope. It still feels to me that we are still putting the cart before the horse,” Roney said.

South Slope: A Southside Neighborhood Vision Plan is a 92-page document that grew out of the Downtown Master Plan and has been six years in the making. The plan aims to channel the growth and development of the area south of the downtown core and its surrounding neighborhoods, including South French Broad, East End Valley Street and Oakhurst.

The plan’s executive summary outlines how to use existing infrastructure and regulations to create a unified design and improved connectivity between neighborhoods and commercial areas, such as a gateway to connect McCormick Field and Memorial Stadium with downtown, public art installations and commemoration of the neighborhood’s African American history. The plan does not include funding commitments for capital projects or investments.