On Aug. 26, Asheville City Council will consider providing a roughly $764,000 incentive package to developers of the RAD Lofts, a mixed use development planned for the intersection of Roberts Street and Clingman Extension. In exchange, owners would provide 198 units of workforce housing and 11 units of affordable housing. The project would also encompass […]
Asheville has constructed about 18 miles of new sidewalks since 2006, but that’s a far cry from what advocates say is needed to improve pedestrian safety in the city’s neighborhoods. A new report released by city government shows that it’s fallen well short of its goal of building 108 miles of sidewalk. A 5-year $132 […]
The city of Asheville is soliciting applications to serve on a pair of its most powerful volunteer agencies.
If a human being were forced into a physical contest with a lion, a tiger, or a bear (oh my), the result would be unlikely to favor the human. Nevertheless, in a world of lions and tigers and bears, human beings sit atop the food chain. Why? Because humans adapt. The human species owes its […]
Asheville’s new initiative to clean up graffiti seems to be making headway. Starting July 1, the city began offering property owners up to $500 in assistance toward the cost of removing the illicit markings from their buildings. And as of today, July 16, 67 property owners have requested support and 9 locations have been cleaned […]
The blogosphere is abuzz these days with romantic visions of picturesque miniature dwellings. And a growing number of local advocates say the “tiny home movement” could help achieve a wealth of positive outcomes, from environmental efficiencies to enhanced affordability. Amid the swelling interest, however, many hurdles remain.
District Attorney Ron Moore released a 2011 audit of the Asheville Police Department Evidence Room June 19, revealing more details about missing drugs, guns and money that caused a major scandal. In 2012, several media outlets, including Mountain Xpress, filed an unsuccessful joint lawsuit to press Moore and the city of Asheville to release the […]
Asheville City Council will consider an ordinance next week aimed at attacking the city’s problem with graffiti. The Council will consider tougher penalties for the perpetrators while making property owners responsible for cleanup. The ordinance calls for a three-way approach to dealing with the issue: education, enforcement and rapid removal. A city staff recommendation would […]
The first group of students in Lenoir-Rhyne University’s new sustainability studies program may be small, but the fruits of their research might eventually have a big local impact. Based at the Asheville campus, the new master’s degree program requires students to complete a “capstone” project combining graduate-level research with real-world conditions and needs. This spring, […]
While Asheville City Council’s meeting next Tuesday, April 8, doesn’t include any hot-button public hearings, it does include projects meant to tackle the lack of housing, especially for the chronically homeless, and improve economic development by bringing in a tech sector “fellow.”
After months of preparation, city of Asheville staff will present a new “form-based” zoning plan for the Haywood Road corridor at a meeting tomorrow night, Thursday, March 27. The new plan is a very different approach from the city’s previous development rules, and could provide a model for overhauling other neighborhoods’ zoning as well.
Burton Street community leaders are asserting that the neighborhood’s needs are being overlooked in a growing push to move forward with the Interstate 26 connector. They worry their neighborhood, already heavily impacted by interstate construction, will be further damaged.
The concept that is driving the Buncombe Cultural Alliance’s mission is collective impact. The leadership team hosted a three-hour focus group at the 2014 Creative Sector Summit to share their progress and solicit feedback on a strategy draft.
For the first time in 16 years, Asheville has a new city attorney: this past week City Council appointed Robin Currin, a Raleigh attorney with particular expertise in land use and zoning law, to the job. The role is one of the most powerful positions in city government, especially in an era of frequent court battles.
As a renewed push to move the Interstate 26 connector forward continues, Asheville City Council gets its turn on Tuesday, March 25, to consider a joint resolution seeking to make the long-delayed highway overhaul a reality, even as a number of community groups vocally oppose the plan. Council will also consider what to do with vacant property on Haywood Street across from the Basilica of St. Lawrence, another contentious issue.
After being off the radar for years, both the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and Asheville City Council are voting to push the Asheville section of Interstate 26 connector forward. This new push is in part the result of a small group of local officials and leaders who have met to draft a new resolution and make some sort of I-26 overhaul a reality.
Report shines light on Asheville’s housing problems, possible solutions.
As local leaders wrestle with different ideas about which route is best for an Interstate 26 connector through downtown Asheville, the N.C. Department of Transportation has put together a series of maps and charts to help inform the public about the options.
Last year, relations between the North Carolina General Assembly and the city of Asheville were marked by hostility, public wars of words and even a lawsuit. At a special meeting yesterday, March 18, however, multiple Asheville City Council members expressed a desire to improve things this year, even though looming legislation could cost the city further revenue. They also signed off on efforts to better coordinate the city’s own lobbying efforts in Raleigh.
Today Asheville City Council appointed Robin Currin as the new city attorney, formally swearing her in at a special meeting. Currin, a Raleigh-based attorney with experience in local government, land and zoning law, will take office on May 1. Photo by Alicia Funderburk.
About 100 people gathered tonight for a forum updating locals on the dispute over the fate of the city’s water system from local government and activists. Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said the public has given city leaders a clear mandate to continue its lawsuit and fight to preserve local control of the water system against state legislation seeking to seize it and turn it over to a regional authority.
