ASHEVILLE – Residents here have a reputation for getting involved. It’s not unusual for people to pack a rezoning hearing or for a building proposal to draw mass protest. 

But it wasn’t always so.

More than 25 years ago, neighborhoods were loosely organized at best, and homeowners sometimes heard about major changes to their communities only after they happened, said Haw Creek resident Barber Melton.

Melton helped change that. The longtime neighborhood activist worked to organize her community, and in 1983, helped cobble together the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods.

“We were concerned about people building on steep slopes, but there wasn’t a core group to talk to the city about it,” Melton said. “We felt like if we could get a group formed, we would have more clout.”

Now 25 years old, CAN serves as the voice for more than half a dozen community groups and has become a sounding board for elected officials on issues including construction in neighborhoods, signs and public safety.

Tonight, the coalition will celebrate its anniversary by honoring Melton, one of its most tenacious and tireless members, said Chris Pelly, coalition past president.

“She knows where all the bodies are buried. How one issue connects to a previous issue and to a previous issue,” Pelly said. “She is the one and only person who has been that continuous thread.”

The event at St. John’s Episcopal Church will be part ode, part roast with friends jabbing at some of Melton’s well-known habits and soft humor, organizers said.

About the roast, Melton quipped, “There is a long line of people that would truly like to put me on a spit for one reason or another.”

Those could include the builders who had an eye on six acres of Avon Road in 1995.

Developers wanted to expand an existing apartment complex by 90 units, but Haw Creek residents said the complex would pack too many people onto the narrow road in a small residential area. People were also concerned about “critters,” Melton said, including a bear, living in surrounding woods.

Luckily for the residents and critters, Melton began meeting with and cajoling elected officials, developers and a utility company that owned the property. The company eventually relented, selling the land at below market price to the city.

Neighbors raised $50,000 for a picnic shelter and other amenities at what is now Haw Creek Park.

Even those who found themselves on the other end of an argument with Melton couldn’t help but respect her, said former Mayor Charles Worley. Though he counts her as a friend, Worley said he and Melton had disagreements.

“You always knew where she stood, but she never crossed the line from being a good, strong advocate to getting nasty about it,” he said.