The past few years have been busy ones for the Buncombe County Planning Board, as the county’s seen the advent of zoning, record growth and more than one controversial development-related issue. During that time, four board members simply stayed on after their three-year terms had ended, despite not being formally reappointed (members can serve up […]
Tag: development
Showing 274-294 of 300 results
Going up?
The Haywood Park project is big: On that, everyone agrees. Developer Tony Fraga‘s proposed megaproject would fill up much of the block between Page Avenue and Haywood Street in downtown Asheville, including a 100-unit, high-rise condominium tower; a 200-room, 23-story hotel; 42,000 square feet of office space; 80,000 square feet of retail space; and 506 […]
Broadway doubles down
Wearing a hard hat and shades, Kevin Kerr taps a column of pinkish stone in the soon-to-be-completed Pioneer Building on Broadway just behind Greenlife Grocery in Asheville. The new neighborhood: A postcard showing the Five Points Village plan and surrounding structures that are planned for Broadway. According to the developers, the Pioneer Building will be […]
Big Ridge development in Jackson County spotlighted by investigative journalist
Jackson County has long held allure for Floridians as a retreat and an investment mecca. One new development there, helmed by a Miami developer, is scrutinized in a new St. Petersburg Times investigative report.
The Gospel According to Jerry
An expert is a person from more than 50 miles away with a briefcase. Recently the city of Asheville hired a group of experts called Goody Clancy all the way from Boston, Mass., to tell us what we should do with our downtown in order to appease our no-growth activists. It seems like we go […]
Buncombe Commissioners
Commissioners ponder $317 million budget Residents decry proposed land-disturbance rules Buncombe County’s economy remains in better shape than those of many other areas, County Manager Wanda Greene reported at the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners at their May 20 meeting. But rising costs, unemployment, foreclosures and a contracting housing market will create some challenges—about $6.9 […]
The writing on the wall
The man came to me, explaining with unassailable logic why, in the face of a tax revaluation that threatened to tear the communities of Jackson County apart, his quiet community by the river would be safe from the proposed 4,000-acre development of golf courses and mountain mansions. “Two percent of the people in this country […]
Asheville City Council
Asheville City Council member Robin Cape says she wasn’t trying to pour gasoline on the fire when she asked for a Council discussion on the idea of a moratorium on downtown development. She just wanted to hear options from the city attorney and perhaps gauge where her fellow Council members stood on the matter. But […]
Buncombe County Commissioners
The item wasn’t even on the agenda, but at their March 25 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners got an earful from residents of the Mills Gap Road area, adjacent to the contaminated CTS industrial site. The residents had come out in force to oppose a proposed rezoning of land near the site, but […]
Shock ‘n’ awful
According to Asheville’s Building Safety Department, City Council last year authorized almost double—double—the already astronomical dollar value of development that occurred in 2006! Our progressive Council has left a carbon footprint on our beautiful mountains that would make Halliburton blush with environmental embarrassment. How many oxygen-making trees have been permanently displaced by inert impermeables? Thousands? […]
Clean clear through
When elected officials conduct their business in the sunshine of public scrutiny, their constituents can have full faith and trust that the decisions made are aboveboard, well-considered and in the best interest of the general public. At the local level, maximizing the public’s access to government empowers communities and builds leaders. Over the last couple […]
What if they had a conference and no speakers came?
Ah, Asheville. Add another feather to her urban-mecca cap: a two-day national convocation on Urban Environmental Design for Community Sustainability, coming to the Asheville Civic Center on March 19 and 20. The conference will be carried out using the nontraditional “Open Space Technology” method of individual participation, with self-organizing groups and fast-paced, consensus-based solutions—doing away […]
Asheville wants to pick your brain
Asheville City Council has invited residents to a public information open house on Thursday, Sept. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the City Public Works Building. On the agenda: a chance to provide input about the sites listed in the city-owned property initiative, including desired outcomes for each site.
Ellington gets thumbs up from P&Z
The Ellington Hotel, a 23-story “boutique” hotel proposed for a site fronting on Biltmore Avenue, Aston Place and South Lexington Avenue, received unanimous approval from the city of Asheville’s Planning and Zoning Commission at its meeting Wednesday night.
Vibrant city or “bumpy Charlotte?”
Predictions: • A larger, denser downtown with taller buildings • Outlying urban “clusters” in Woodfin, Biltmore Park, Waynesville and other areas • Viable mass transit—or huge traffic problems It’s hard to live in Asheville without confronting development. In one form or another, it seems to be a concern to folks across the political spectrum as […]
“Village of Penland” real-estate scheme examined by Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal has highlighted the ill fate of a plan by a Spruce Pine real-estate developer.
Deal Buick property plans reviewed, debated
The third in a series of community meetings called by developers concerning the eight-acre parcel on Merrimon Avenue formerly occupied by Deal Buick property was held July 12. Despite a prior pledge to go back to the drawing board, new drawings presented at the gathering appeared to include no changes to previous plans.
Two high-rise buildings slated for Deal Buick property
Developer Chris Peterson has revealed architect’s plans for two 12-to-13-story buildings on the property formerly occupied by Deal Buick on Merrimon Avenue in Asheville.
Biltmore Lake developer buys Haywood Park Hotel
Tony Fraga, developer of Main Street at Biltmore Lake, has purchased the Haywood Park Hotel, the Starnes Building, the Haywood Atrium and the associated parking deck from Joe Kimmel for $18.5 million. Fraga said that the Haywood Park properties would be the geographic and figurative centerpiece of his development efforts in Asheville.
Jackson County moves forward with development regulations
In the fourth month of its five-month subdivision moratorium, Jackson County has begun public hearings on its newly drafted proposals for subdivision regulation.
An airport runs through it
Robert Branberg, of Anderson, S.C., recently discovered that he is part-owner of a jetport in Madison County, or rather, he owns part of a jetport. Specifically, he appears to hold title to a hundred feet or so of the middle of a runway.