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1 | Asheville City Council October 26, 2021 Email Comments | |
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3 | 10/24/2021 4:31:00 PM | To the city council: I live at 33 Jefferson Dr. I oppose the new building and the necessary adjustments to the current zoning mainly because it is completely out of scale for our neighborhood. The footprint is way oversized compared to the size of the site, and the additional traffic generated by over 40 new households will be way too much for our streets. I am not opposed to more affordable housing in our area. If the size of the project were cut in half I would have no problem with it. My understanding is that such a project would also be compatible with existing zoning. If the project is not economically feasible at that scale then let’s replace it with one that is. The business interests of the private investors in the project are really not relevant to the question of what should or should not go on the property. Thank you David Gasner Sent from my iPhone |
4 | 10/24/2021 5:28:00 PM | Dear Council members, I urge you to VOTE NO to the increased funding for the Haywood Street Community Development (HSCD) project proposed for 343-347 W Haywood Street. As a taxpayer of an affordable home in the WECAN neighborhood, I object to the additional funding requested by HSCD for the expanded due diligence costs. I am one of a group of residents who have grave concerns about this project as it relates to: -DENSITY and scale in our urban infill neighborhood. This project exceeds the current zoning requirements for footprint, height, and number of units allowed. WECAN is a historically African American neighborhood and is currently economically diverse. We have affordable housing- The MHO’s Prospect Terrace award winning condominiums, MHO cottages on Jefferson Drive,many older homes with long term residents, as well as higher end new construction green built infill homes. Additionally WECAN will be impacted by the new 360 Hilliard apts, The Patton apts, The proposed Patton 2 apts, the proposed micro housing apts on Hilliard. -TRAFFIC and safety concerns of a building this large in a small residential neighborhood of dead end streets. The proposed site IS NOT A COMMERCIAL TRACT. The only in/egress to the neighborhood being West Haywood street to Hilliard/Clingman, or West Haywood Street to Roberts St. This proposes a safety risk to residents for access of emergency vehicles as well as general traffic and the ability to access our homes. -INFRASTRUCTURE and the burden this project will place on our already strained sewer and stormwater systems. -INTEGRITY and ability of HSCD to not simply wrap this project into their current campus ministry, and a neighborhood that is largely opposed. WECAN residents have long borne the burden of the ripple effect of Haywood Street Congregation (HSC) lack of stewardship of their campus and the effects on the neighboring residents (ie:open drug usage and paraphernalia, human excrement, garbage, vagrancy, crime,prostitutioin, etc). This is too dangerous an experiment in our neighborhood. WECAN welcomes affordable housing, and the current economic diversity we have from affordable MHO cottages to homes that have recently sold $720K,$850K, and up. We have a unique opportunity to create a solution in keeping with the WECAN /asheville city 2010 development plan, and help to support affordability in our small historic enclave. Couldn’t the $7-10 million price tag and keeping within the current zoning guidelines be better invested in a pathway to affordable home ownership? Thank You, Leslie Myers 63 Jefferson Drive Asheville, NC 28801 |
5 | 10/24/2021 11:47:00 PM | I am speaking in opposition to the HSCD proposal for W. Haywood Street in the West End Clingman Avenue Neighborhood (WECAN) as it is currently proposed. My husband and I are 30+ years residents at our home on Park Avenue N in WECAN. I am one of the founding members and past president of the WECAN neighborhood association. I participated in numerous meetings, charrettes, and planning groups that culminated in the City-approved and adopted Asheville City Plan 2010 - West End/ Clingman Avenue Neighborhood Plan for WECAN. Now WECAN is being blind-sided by a City-backed plan that takes no consideration of the blueprint for the neighborhood or the impact this project will have on this small, vibrant,diverse neighborhood. My primary concern is the size and density of this project: 1. Asheville City Plan 2010 - West End/ Clingman Avenue Neighborhood Plan. Recommended zoning for 343-347 W. Haywood Street is Neighborhood Business. 12 units/acre and most of the rest of WECAN is zoned RM8 (8 units/ acre). 2. 2018. Developer requested (and City approved) a rezoning from Neighborhood Business to Commercial Business I (with opposition from the WECAN Board) which increased the density to 20 units/acre or 40 units/acre with 20% being affordable. 3. 2021. HSCD wants conditional use zoning because “the building footprint and total square footage exceeds allowances” (as does the units per acre). 45 units/.87 acre = 51 units/acre. This is almost FOUR TIMES LARGER than what WECAN envisioned in the WECAN Citizens Master Plan (2000) and the City adopted Asheville City Plan 2010 - West End/ Clingman Avenue Neighborhood Plan. This project as currently being pushed onto our community does not meet several goals established in the neighborhood plan which I will gladly share if anyone is interested. I am disappointed that current City staff are not being stronger advocates for the vision that the earlier WECAN Board and residents, the City of Asheville, and other stakeholders invested so much time, money, and energy creating. I hope you take my concerns seriously and give them careful consideration for the issues a project of this size will have on WECAN. Thank you for your consideration of this matter. Luella Heetderks |
6 | 10/25/2021 3:28:00 PM | To whom it may concern, My name is Leah Graham Stewart. I live in the WECAN neighborhood, we chose to build here and continued to build our family here for the past five years. I am writing this letter to express my professional and personal concerns with the Haywood Street Community Development proposal of approximately 42 affordable apartments ( per ACT that has moved to 70, though not confirmed) with the potential for 5550 sq. ft. in community space on a .83 acres on a parcel located at 343 & 357 West Haywood Street. It is my understanding that the proposal was intended for another site on City owned land on Asheland Avenue. However, “after significant input from the community, it was determined that the Asheland property was not an appropriate site for this development”. (1). ” It's my professional opinion that this site is also inappropriate for the proposed development. This parcel is within the West End/Clingman Avenue Neighborhood, Inc. (WECAN). “The WECAN 2010 Neighborhood Plan was adopted by the City Council in January 1996. One goal under Neighborhood Enhancement was to ‘Promote the involvement of residents and property owners in decisions regarding the future of the neighborhood.’ (2 )”. REZONE FROM NB to CBI The parcel in question was rezoned on June 19, 2018 from Neighborhood Business (NB) to Community Business I District (CBI). A majority of the neighborhood was NOT in support of the rezone due to the potential impact of the permitted uses allowed in that zoning district. In the Staff report from the Planning department for 99999 & 339 West Haywood Street Rezoning Request it was mentioned that the request was made “for the purpose of developing single family lots and potentially some commercial development. While there has been no specific proposal submitted for the site, this zoning change would give the owners more flexibility for future development, and would increase the allowed density from 12 to 20 units/acre. “The applicant has stated that he is not looking for an increase in density, but rather the ability to develop single family lots which are not allowed under Neighborhood Business”. Neighborhood Business development standards only permit residential uses on the second floor of a commercial building.” (3) . My background is urban planning and design. I worked as a long range planner for several years. This is what we would call a speculative rezone - no plan proposed, just a desire for a different use. It's my understanding that Neighbrohood Business was limiting - perhaps a review of that designation was warranted and not a rezone into a more intense zoning district. One of the considerations that the Planning Staff cited was that “building size and site constraints will likely limit the ultimate density of any housing built on the site.” (3) This proposal in its current form exemplifies the concerns that the neighborhood expressed during the rezone process 3 years ago. The HSCD is requesting to exceed the allowed density in CB1 (20 units/ AC) and are proposing 42/70 units on 0.84 Acres; NB allowed (12/ AC). Furthermore I think it's important to denote the history of our neighborhood and what it has endured from bureaucracy making decisions on the neighborhoods behalf and how it has reshaped the fabric of the neighborhood. What are the contributing factors to pushing into the west and south areas of downtown when northern borders are density rich only on corridors ? HISTORY OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD, NO VOICE “One of Asheville’s oldest neighborhoods, next to downtown, The West End/ Clingman Avenue Neighborhood (WECAN) is bordered on the north by I240 and Patton Avenue, on the south by Lyman Street, on the east by the Clingman Forest and on the west by the French Broad River. The neighborhoods were developed between 1900 and 1920 and still have some narrow curving streets, smaller houses and small lots” (2). “By the 1920’s the street and its tributaries were settled by ‘negro’ families whose children could not attend the Park Avenue School. They had a grocery store, a bakery, a drug store, a hospital, two churches and their own school on Hill Street. While early on there were a few white families, by the 1920’s it was almost completely segregated” (2). “The West Asheville Bridge was first built in the 1920s and in the late 1960’s it was replaced by the Haywood Road Connector that ran from Clingman Avenue taking out dozens of houses and dividing Park Avenue and Jefferson Drive in the process. The area was prosperous through the 1930’s and 1940’”(2). “The first span of the Smoky Park Bridge was built in 1948 and cut through the Chicken Hill neighborhood taking several houses and small businesses. The Cotton Mill closed in 1949 putting many people out of work. Mill properties and railroad properties were sold off and no new houses were built for over fifty years. In the late 1960’s and 1970s major transportation projects like the second span of the Smoky Park Bridge, the Cross Town Expressway and the Open Cut were built. Hilliard Avenue had ploughed west through to the Queen Carson School site in 1968.”(2). “Asheville Transit’s bus garage was built there and part of the road was four lanes wide with no sidewalks. In the 1970’s, WECAN neighbor, Matthew Bacoate was the general manager of AFRAM, the ‘largest black-owned business in Asheville’s history’, which occupied 115-129 Roberts Street, now The Wedge Studios. So, the West End and Clingman Avenue developed as two physically and culturally separated neighborhoods. For the next 25 years there was some gradual loss of housing stock on both sides, some vacant lots appeared, and the area enjoyed benign neglect ” (2). “Then in 1994 the City Council asked the Planners to create a plan for the area to be called West End/Clingman Avenue identifying it as an important connection between downtown and The French Broad Riverfront. They also anticipated commercial development pressure on residential areas and the need for rehabilitation of infrastructure ” (2). For so many years the residents didn’t have a say in the physical form of the neighborhood. Roads were built, community and cultural threads were frayed. So the City Council recommended the creation of the WECAN organization. Visioning charrette occured, public meetings were held and a vision was formed. ANOTHER REZONE- THE SUBSTATION Although empowered by its creation, history repeated itself and another development (rezone) occurred on the edge of our neighborhood in 2019: the Duke Energy substation. This substation was originally sited for a parcel in the Montford neighborhood but due to Montford neighborhood opposition it was placed in the WECAN neighborhood. Again, a historical reminder. The proposed design which has not been constructed yet, is proposed to be a “community-supported design.”(4). However our fellow neighbors on Knoxville Place have a view of a 12’ wall and a grassy knoll from their front porch. Their view was once of fellow neighbors' front porches (those homes are now gone). DEVELOPMENT PRESSURE, DENSITY WHERE APPROPRIATE The commercial/ housing pressures as the City growth have manifested themselves in the creation of the Merritt Park Condos, Clingman Lofts and Prospect Terrace along Clingman Avenue corridor in the 2000s and now with the Patton, The Hillard and the Patton II. Professionally and personally I feel that density along a commercial corridor that is on the periphery of the WECAN neighborhood is good planning. The infrastructure (street, buslines, sidewalks) is in place to support these types of developments. However the site of the proposed HSCD is a dead end. This portion of W. Haywood Street was once a neighborhood commercial hub but due to the creation of the interstate it was divided. W. Haywood Street is not a commercial corridor. ISOLATION, LIMITED CONNECTIVITY & THE EXISTING FORM The WECAN neighborhood is an isolated neighborhood that has a series of dead end streets. The original gridded street system no longer exists and a series of curved streets, topography and lack of sidewalk infrastructure create a hazardous pedestrian, bicycling and vehicular situation when you crest the top of Chicken Hill at the discombobulated four-way stop at W. Haywood, Club Street (One-Way), Park Ave N (Dead End) and W. Haywood. When you enter the WECAN neighborhood via the intersection of Hillard Avenue and Clingman Avenue you are met with tree lined boulevard and sidewalks with a grassy verge. The built environment changes significantly from that of the wider sidewalks and street trees along Hillard Avenue and towards downtown. These changes in the form of the sidewalks and the placement of our WECAN neighborhood sign help signal to the eye that you have arrived in a different place- you are not downtown, you are in a neighborhood. Buildings no longer abut the street; there are front yards and the height of the buildings and their relationship to the street has changed. The neighborhood forms are presently, “smaller houses and small lots (2).” This proposed density and design is not reflective of the existing fabric of the neighborhoods. It is more reflective of a building that you can find Downtown or on Asheland Avenue. The form is wrong. The City of Asheville is embracing form based code - which embraces the importance of the form of a building and its relationship to the context rather than the use of the building. This parcel is within the WECAN neighborhood boundaries- this proposed form is similar to that which can be found on Clingman Avenue, in the Warehouses on Roberts Street and in the Artist Studios in the River Arts. WE THE PEOPLE As a neighborhood we understand the need for affordable housing - our neighborhood plan, the comprehensive plan all mention it. There is no denying the need. My neighborhood is currently a true mix of races, ages, and incomes. We have retirees, singles, families and children. We are artists, cyclists, urban farmers, urban planners, entrepreneurs, bee keepers, pet lovers, new-comers and long-time residents. We have affordable housing peppered throughout the neighborhood- but you can’t tell where or who because it matches the form of the existing neighborhood. That's the premise behind conscious inclusion. You don’t know who or where, the neighbors in all their differences and complexities create community. LEARNING FROM THE PAST Putting low income housing in a dense, tall tower is a lesson for the mid-20th century that was a massive failure. The Urban Land Institute champions low income housing in attractive, lower-density, mixed-income communities; in these communities, where most residents cannot tell the difference between the market-rate units and the affordable ones. BEING A GOOD NEIGHBOR NOT AN EXPERIMENT The Urban Land Institute also talks about the importance of trust when building affordable housing. Haywood Street Community Church helps people who have nowhere else to turn. They are an asset to the community- this is easy to see and understand especially when you are a community member that is NOT a neighbor to the church. As a neighbor to the church we are subject to the ripple effect created but the church and its patrons. The ripple effect reverberats through our neighborhood and downtown - encampments, needles, trash, prostitution, pan handleing and theft. The walks in the neighborhood, to the parks, work, schools and library are drastically different than they used to be- personal safety, time of day and potential hazards for children must be considered. The church is a hub and the HSCC has stated that they can’t really control the ripple effect. So as a neighbor to the church, I am a bit weary to trust that this new hub slated to be across the interstate and inside a WECAN neighborhood will be different. There are so many nonprofits that have experience and a proven track record with low income housing- they have already learned lessons and have a proven system that works (this can be reflective of existing projects in our community). The only history that we have with the church is what we experience daily as a neighboring community. WHEN DO WE GET A VOICE The changing of color on a zoning map, or the power of a pen that draws the line for a road to be built & split a neighborhood in half, have weight. When does the neighborhood get a say in these changes that might appear to have a small impact but have a massive effect on those that live, work and play here. In its current form (the design and density) I do not support this development nor do I think that the City of Asheville should be funding and supporting a development of this nature. Especially, exceeding the density allowed by a rezone that the neighborhood did not support, inside a neighborhood that has historically been the recipient of a pat on the head and a “ we are doing it anyway”. Be the change and interrupt the pattern. Your decisions today affect the children, the families and our collective movement toward conscious planning and development. Do not let this neighborhood weather another blow because this is the path of least resistance.. again. 1. Subject: Haywood Street Community Development Due Diligence Grant Agreement - 2. 2016 WECAN Plan on a Page 3. 99999 & 339 West Haywood Street Rezoning Request Staff Report 4. https://www.ashevillenc.gov/news/asheville-city-council-rezones-patton-avenue-property-for-new-type-of-duke-energy-substion/ -- Leah Graham Stewart, LEED AP Asheville, North Carolina 803-427-3834 |
7 | 10/25/2021 4:01:00 PM | Please see attached for 10/26/21 meeting agenda. Thank you, Bruce Sales 63 Jefferson Dr Asheville, NC 28801-3114 917-647-9642 (cell) bs10025@gmail.com |
8 | 10/25/2021 9:02:00 PM | Dear Mayor Manheimer, Vice Mayor Smith, and Councilmembers Kilgore, Mosley, Roney, Turner & Wisler, I am writing to you as a 4-year resident of the Chicken Hill/WECAN neighborhood to adamantly voice my opposition to the 343/357 West Haywood Street development proposed by the Haywood Street Community Development (HSCD). As you’re no doubt aware, ours is a small community largely made up of narrow streets (some without pedestrian sidewalks) — many of which are dead ends, cul-de-scas, or one ways. The neighborhood simply CANNOT handle the dramatic increase in vehicular traffic such a large complex would no doubt create. Neither can our existing water/sewage systems. Further, the WECAN community master plan caps density at 35 units/acre — a fact which some of the more vocal members of the WECAN board have ignored. I hope you’ll take the voices of individual neighborhood residents who do NOT share the same views as some of the more vocal members of our WECAN neighborhood board — and decline to support the HSCD development proposal as it stands. Yours respectfully, Willis “Ranse” Ransone 11 Park Ave N Asheville, NC 28801 828-747-6613 ranseransone@gmail.com <mailto:ranseransone@gmail.com> |
9 | 10/25/2021 9:35:00 PM | Dear Asheville City Council members, We, as members of the WECAN neighborhood who live in close proximity to the proposed project, are writing in support of the HSCD project - as one type of a variety of needed housing options. Recognizing that housing costs have risen much faster than incomes, we support housing options that allow lower income members of our community the opportunity to live, work and prosper downtown. The socioeconomic diversity and eclectic nature of this neighborhood is what attracted us, so we feel obligated to support efforts that help the neighborhood continue to be a vibrant community of artists, teachers, musicians and other creatives. Quite simply, we don’t want the folks who make this city a great place to live to be priced out of Asheville. We appreciate that HSCD has engaged WECAN, invited representation on their Board and look forward to ongoing collaboration to ensure that neighbors’ concerns are heard and addressed with mutually agreed upon solutions where possible. We also hope the City will have some flexibility in working with HSCD so the project can be as low impact as possible to our neighborhood since it is not actually a commercial corridor. As an example, it would be nice if the building could be set back a little further from the curb to take advantage of the slope so it looms less large and we don’t lose our boulevard of trees rather than rigidly requiring the building to abut the curb. As a child who lived in subsidized housing, I benefitted firsthand from affordable and stable housing, a core social determinant of personal health, well-being, and educational attainment. As an adult with decades of experience in health and human services (social worker/therapist/administrator), I have also seen the psychological distress and trauma of poverty and unstable housing. As such, we are professionally and personally supportive of this project. Sincerely, Lesa & Richard Peterson 15 Girdwood St. Asheville, NC 28801 Lesa Peterson Principal 239-849-1145 LPeterson@FQHC.org <mailto:LPeterson@FQHC.org> |
10 | 10/25/2021 11:01:00 PM | Dear Asheville City Council Members: I’m writing in advance of tomorrow’s meeting to express my strong support for the proposed Haywood Street Community Development proposal for deeply affordable housing to be built on West Haywood St. When we bought our house in 2013, the process of urban infill had just begun in that neighborhood. In the years since, it has become and even more dynamic and community-oriented neighborhood than it was before, not least because of the greater density of residents. (During the Covid-19 lockdown, we had back-porch happy hours where we could chat with our neighbors from the safety of our own decks.) The city’s reforms to short-term rental regulations continued this trajectory, as people who had bought as short-term rental investments either sold to full-time residents or leased to long-term renters. Our one misgiving about the changes that have taken place since we bought in the neighborhood is that the cost of housing has become prohibitive for many people who live and work in Asheville. The HSCD proposal would bring more full-time residents to the neighborhood, which would be wonderful, and would address the urgent issue of providing affordable housing to the many people who make enrich lives in so many ways but who themselves often cannot meet the escalating rents. (The other solution, of course, would be substantial, across-the-board wage increases, but that would create inflationary pressures for residents and visitors alike and probably would not be affordable for most local businesses.) I would, however, urge the city council to consider three accommodations that would allow the HSCD project to fit more comfortably in our neighborhood: First, there are traffic issues that already exist and have become significantly worse in the time we’ve lived here. In particular, the intersection at the corner of Clingman and Hilliard is nearly impassable during “rush hour” (c. 8-9 a.m and 4-6 p.m.), in particular for those trying to turn left out of our neighborhood, and dangerous in the best of times. This would be easily addressed with the addition of a protected left turn or changing the timing of the lights to allow one side to go at a time. Also, W. Haywood itself has become very difficult to drive on, particularly with the addition of several homes without off-street parking. Perhaps it would make sense to make W. Haywood one-way downhill to match the Club-Trade St segment that is one-way uphill. Second, adding sidewalks on W. Haywood and Club/Trade would make it safer for everyone (residents and visitors alike) to walk from the downtown/south slope area to the River Arts District. Third, a building of this size would feel considerably less imposing if it were set back a ways to take advantage of the slope toward the freeway and to leave the green space and trees that are on the side of the property facing toward the neighborhood. Residents of the HSCD building would still enjoy lovely views of the mountains, but it would preserve some of the openness that neighborhood residents currently enjoy. Many thanks for your consideration and for your continued attention to these pressing issues. I understand that proposals such as this one always provoke considerable anxiety, but I truly believe that this project would be a wonderful addition both for Asheville and for WECAN. All best, Jocelyn Olcott 411 W. Haywood |
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