Buncombe Commission­ers

CTS contamination spreads New storm-water rules approved The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners sold a piece of parkland to developer Stewart Coleman; now they want it back. But they’re asking the city of Asheville to make it happen. At their June 24 meeting, the commissioners unanimously approved a resolution encouraging the city to agree to […]

Buncombe Commission­ers

The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners sold a piece of parkland to developer Stewart Coleman; now they want it back. But they’re asking the city of Asheville to make it happen. At their June 24 meeting, the commissioners unanimously approved a resolution encouraging the city to agree to a land swap so that Coleman’s controversial Parkside condominium project would not intrude into the adjacent Pack Square Park.

Buncombe Commission­ers

Affidavit becomes latest Parkside flash point County approves 2008-09 budget New storm-water rules provoke debate Auto parts company gets $1 million incentive deal Normally, it would have been no big deal—a routine piece of red tape needed for a proposed development bordering county property to advance to the city’s Technical Review Committee. But this was […]

Poisoned fruit

Developer Stewart Coleman apparently thinks to use a legal loophole to do an end run around public and City Council opposition to his proposed Parkside condos adjacent to City Hall. Here’s what’s wrong with this picture: Aside from the litany of serious problems with his plans, citizen scrutiny of Parkside this past year has exposed […]

What now?

Two weeks before his Parkside project was due to come before City Council in what promised to be a contentious public hearing, developer Stewart Coleman lopped two stories off the design. Beneath the bar: Originally planned as an 11-story condominium building (above), the developer now proposes a nine-story design (below) — a move that reduces […]

Anatomy of a land deal

The controversy surrounding the Parkside proposal and the land involved has been brewing for years. Here’s a look at some of the key dates in the project’s history, culled from numerous news stories and hundreds of pages of documents obtained under state open-records law by Mountain Xpress and People Advocating Real Conservancy, a local watchdog […]

Taking sides over Parkside

When the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners sold a small piece of land to developer Stewart Coleman‘s Black Dog Realty back in November 2006, the transaction attracted little notice. Originally packaged with a slew of other items on the consent agenda, it was pulled, briefly discussed—and then unanimously approved. By any means: Candidate Cecil Bothwell […]

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 […]

Who’s afraid of the big, bad Witch?

Ever since we led a protest rite against Buncombe County officials’ sale of public parkland graced by a pair of magestic old magnolia trees to developer Stewart Coleman, the über-Republican Carolina Stompers have aimed religiously bigoted attacks at our Coven Oldenwilde—first through a video ridiculing City Council candidate Elaine Lite for participating in the protest, […]