Friday marks the end of the three-week public-comment period for the Downtown Master Plan.
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Friday marks the end of the three-week public-comment period for the Downtown Master Plan.
The draft downtown master plan continues to make appearances and gather input around Asheville on its way to a March appearance before City Council. On Jan. 22, Project Manager Sasha Vrtunski presented the draft to the Planning and Zoning Commission, one of two bodies whose responsibilities would increase if the plan were adopted as is. […]
Last week, development activist Steve Rasmussen released a report blasting the proposed Downtown Master Plan. Now Goody Clancy, the consultants behind the master plan, have fired back with their own report, asserting that the plan provides more public input, promotes smarter, greener growth and has substantial “teeth” to control development.
Here’s the group known as the Master Plan Advisory Committee that, beginning last fall, worked closely with consultants Goody Clancy to shape Asheville’s draft Downtown Master Plan.
A Jan. 15 forum attended by 200 people was intended to be the unveiling of the long-awaited Asheville Downtown Master Plan draft. But with that document made public 10 days earlier and objections already being raised in the community, the plan’s designers found themselves defending rather than introducing their recommendations.
With tonight’s forum, the city of Asheville kicks off a three-week public-comment period on the Downtown Master Plan draft. Share your thoughts on this controversial blueprint for the future of downtown.
Asheville activist Steve Rasmussen has released a report critiquing the Downtown Master Plan draft, asserting that its enforcement powers on development issues are weak and that much control would be turned over to unelected boards to the benefit of developers.
The draft document of the Downtown Master Plan has been public since last week, but Thursday, Jan. 15, is the official rollout date, when Asheville residents can hear—and comment on—details addressed in the draft, such as building-height and new compliance guidelines and the already-controversial Asheville Design District, a proposed new downtown-management entity. (View the document […]
The recently-released draft of the Downtown Master plan, if approved, would drastically reduce Asheville City Council’s authority over the development process, with only the most massive projects coming up for a vote before Council.
In the future, Asheville’s downtown might be managed by a powerful independent board, with different types of development for each neighborhood “core,” better support for the arts, more green building, a shuttle system and police cameras on street corners. Those are some of the many initiatives presented in the draft of the long-awaited Downtown Master Plan. The city will hold a Jan. 15 forum on the plan.
The draft of Asheville’s Downtown Master Plan is now available in The Xpress Files.
The Downtown Master Plan currently being drawn up by consulting firm Goody-Clancy with the help of a committee of Asheville residents may seek to shift the approval of development details away from City Council and to the Downtown Commission. In a Dec. 12 meeting, members of the Master Plan Advisory Committee said the change would […]
A rough draft of the Downtown Master Plan drawn up by consultants Goody-Clancy won’t be presented to the public on Sept. 18, as was originally planned.
A draft vision and goals for the Asheville Downtown Master Plan is complete, and those behind the effort want your feedback
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 […]
Goody Clancy, the Boston-based architectural and planning firm hired to create a downtown master plan for Asheville, has collected its fair share of awards in recent years. But David Dixon, who’s in charge of planning and urban design at the company, says none of those successes would have been possible without extensive public input. Sharing […]
“A lot of things got continued without looking ahead—that’s why we’re here tonight,” Mayor Terry Bellamy observed during the Asheville City Council’s April 22 formal session. And though her comment came late in a long meeting as part of a request that Council not let agendas get so jammed up in the future, it certainly […]
Asheville will hold a series of public meetings to familiarize people with the Downtown Master Plan, starting with a kick-off event on Thursday, May 8, at 6 p.m. at the Asheville Civic Center Banquet Hall. Attendees can expect to hear about the Downtown Master Plan process, meet the consultant team and break up into groups […]
“We do work with cities all over the country, and we have to think of every community as very distinct, and at the same time shaped by shared sets of opportunities and challenges,” says David Dixon, leader of the team picked to create a new Downtown Master Plan for “growth and sustainability” over the next […]
Inking a contract with an outside firm to develop a Downtown Master Plan, a report on regional economic development initiatives, and a Council discussion in preparation for a March 19 public hearing on city annexation, are among the highlights on City Council’s Feb. 19 meeting agenda.
The search for a consultant team to give form to a new Downtown Master Plan, kicked off by Asheville’s Office of Economic Development last fall, has ended with the selection of the Boston-based firm Goody Clancy.