An experienced neighborhood advocate like Chris in City Council can ensure that our neighborhoods needs and concerns are heard!
When residents and homeowners have to react to each issue in their neighborhood — inappropriate development, wrong residual zoning, digital billboards, stalled developments with issues of storm runoffs, no sidewalks, etc. — we expect that our elected officials in City Council will listen to all sides of an issue, then make a vote for the greater good of the community. The right vote for our community has not happened in the case of an inappropriate development in Kenilworth.
Recently, city staff proposed a zoning change from institutional back to residential that would have saved Kenilworth from that development.
Chris Pelly visited the Kenilworth site along with members of the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods. On this visit, they saw how the large development, planned on a steep slope, did not fit into the scale of the neighborhood. The new development's hundreds of extra car trips on steep roads with blind curves would be dangerous for residents as well.
Why didn't City Council rezone the site as city staff, residents of Kenilworth, CAN and Chris Pelly had requested? Because several Council members, who had voted unanimously against the original project, as it did not meet four of the seven UDO standards, decided that the rights of one person, the developer, superseded the rights and safety of hundreds of our neighbors. Chris Pelly would have voted in City Council for that rezoning!
Neighborhoods can trust that, in Chris, we have a candidate who is pro smart growth for the city and is aware that each neighborhood's concerns need to be weighed seriously. Pelly will vote for what is right for our community!
— Valerie Hoh
Asheville
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