A plan for everything

Late last month, Asheville City Council passed the Haywood Road Vision Plan, a years-long effort by community members and city staff to outline the future of the corridor. It’s not a one-time event either: Such plans for different areas of the city are a main way city leaders hope to shape the Asheville of tomorrow, and it’s a plan they want to extend to more neighborhoods. Sometimes, however, these plans can also prove controversial.

City will bring forward hotel offer on Haywood St. properties in March

The city of Asheville will examine an offer from McKibbon hotel group for property near the Basilica of St. Lawrence, city staff said at a meeting of City Council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee today, and bring forward more information in March. However, Council members are far from set on the hotel plans: one called the city’s approach “testing the waters.” Photo by Bill Rhodes.

On retainers

Buncombe County Board of Commissioners June 21, 2001 meeting $303 million budget approved Emma Elementary gets sidewalk New rules triggered by the “Great Wall of Reynolds” aim to improve the safety and appearance of large retaining walls. The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted the rules at their June 21 meeting. The changes had […]

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 […]

Want to buy a landslide?

Building on steep slopes is a pretty slippery topic in the mountains these days. Accordingly, the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has scheduled a regional hearing for Thursday, Jan. 10, to solicit public input on the state Legislature’s Safe Artificial Slope Construction Act (H1756). Three primary sponsors—all from Western North Carolina—introduced the bill […]