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Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods (CAN)
Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2009
CAN Goals
1. Educate and inform the community about matters that concern Asheville area neighborhoods;
2. Provide a means for Asheville area neighborhood organizations and groups to share information; and
3. Provide technical assistance to neighborhood groups and individuals that are interested in participating in community affairs
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Topic
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Presenter
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1
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Approved January minutes.
Treasurer's Report. Ending Balance $4951.74 with $47.10 in expenses
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Bill Bailey
Carl Nyberg
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2
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Introductions - your name, neighborhood and quickly state any Issue / Success to share or to add to agenda.
Barber Melton (Haw Creek) Have established new park. Mayor Bellamy spoke at last neighborhood meeting.
Lael Gray (Montford)
Debbie Applewhite ( Beverly Hills) All is calm and quiet. As Realtor the realty market is still busy.
Katherine Turner (Parkway Forest in East Asheville) Rash of car break ins but things have calmed down
Bill and Marianna Bailey (Viewpoint) Organizing neighborhood watch.
James Judd (Chunns Cove)
Robert Zeiber ()
Gordon Smith (Riverside) Joined with weed and seed program in Burton Street.
Bette Jackson (Beverly Hills)
Norma Baynes (Shiloh) With help from Marsha Stickford and Jackie Stepp of APD had a community discussion to list needs. Setting up 4 different task forces to work on problems.
Byron Ballard (West Clingman) Rocking and Rolling with Crazy chicken wars. Big thing is Aston park reopening. Working on grant for playground equipment
Jake Quinn (Grove Park Sunset) Looking forward to spring planting especially in conjunction with traffic calming islands.
Alan Escovitz (Grove Park Sunset Mountain) Have planting committee for bump outs and islands in street.
Dewayne Barton (Burton St)
Joe Minicozzi (Brucemont Circle) still marginally close to possibly being organized.
Shannon Tuch (City Planner)
Cindy Weeks (Mountain Housing)
Harry Weiss (Neighborhood Housing Services)
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Round the Table
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3
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Neighborhood Spotlight - Norwood Park See story at bottom.
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Christina Longoria
Bruce Baker
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4
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Affordable Housing Ordinance Proposal: Shannon Tuch of City Planning introduced a proposed ordinance regarding affordable housing which includes density bonuses and du, tri and quadri-plex units in single family neighborhoods.
First Cindy Weeks spoke about the different affordable housing programs which Mountain Housing Opportunities (MHO) administers including building new homes, emergency home repairs and rehabilitations, renovation or new construction with financing, down payment assistance program, and affordable apartments. Cindy made a distinction between public housing and affordable housing and cited that since mid 1980’s most affordable housing has been a private model. Cindy highlighted the following Myths and Realities related to affordable housing:
Who lives in affordable housing? MYTH: the poor. REALITY: 50% of wage earners in Buncombe county would qualify for affordable housing based upon 30% of wage.
Who owns affordable housing? MYTH: publicly owned and subsidized. REALITY: mostly owned and developed under a private model.
Who manages affordable housing? MYTH: city or county housing authority. REALITY: privately managed. Noted that better management can often be achieved when there is one management company with one manager as opposed to properties where the owners live out of town.
MHO built 104 new homes in 2008 with 63 being rental homes.
Next Harry Weiss spoke about the Affordable Housing task force and working group’s efforts. Harry Weiss was the past President of Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) which was not able to sustain its business model and has been out of business for about a year. Almost two years ago Mayor Bellamy convened task force of 24-26 members from variety of broad spectrum of people involved in housing. The task force’s recommendations were produced in late spring last year and were put under advisement. To bring from a recommendation stage to implementation as with most things requires a considerable effort. Out of the task force a dozen members volunteered to continue efforts as a working group with the purpose of crafting something more solid like an ordinance or more recommendations. Current efforts involve using density bonuses as a tool to meet the predicted need 500-600 new units per year while reducing problematic effects of pushing housing out into county such as increased commuting, use of farmlands, etceteras. Working towards advanced planning which will include economic analysis.
Finally, Shannon Tuch of the City Planning Department discussed the two task force recommendations which are being formulated into a proposed ordinance. Currently all residential zoning districts have rules for how many dwelling units can be on a property and the size of the lot. For example, in single family districts only single family houses are allowed and not multi-family dwellings. The first goal is to develop a point system which would award developers for doing good things by allowing increased density. There would be mandatory requirements and the guidelines would be stricter for single family districts. Shannon noted that there are many examples in Asheville of units which are very nice buildings while having large densities like 32 units/acre. The challenge is to define the qualities which add value to the neighborhood and devise an appropriate point system.
Second goal is allowing duplexes, triplexes, and quadriplex units in single family districts.
The ordinances propose to allow these development decisions to be made by staff without public hearings by making them be permitted as a USSR (Use Subject to Special Requirements). Permit types include USSR, Conditional Use, and permitted uses. Currently increasing density in the manner proposed by the ordinances would require a Conditional Use (CU) which involves public notification and three different public hearings. Shannon encouraged neighbors to contact her at stuch@ashevillenc.gov to share ideas and examples of what works well for neighborhoods.
Shannon answered questions about issues including separation of proposed multi family housing and noted that are considering minimizing restrictions but the ordinance is still in some flux.
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Shannon Tuch
Cindy Weeks
Harry Weiss
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5
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Burton Street and I-26 Impact: Dewayne Barton shared a powerful story of the struggles and rebirth of his Burton St. neighborhood which is endangered by a proposed I-26 alternate route. Dewayne was born in Asheville and has lots of family members in Burton St. neighborhood. As a youth he moved to Washington DC and came back in the summers. Moving back to Asheville in 2001, he was struck hard by how the Burton St Neighborhood had digressed in terms of drugs, garbage, etc. It was not the place that he had left as a child and to many it seemed almost hopeless. Even the city seemed to have given up and wanted to close down the Burton St Community Center which would have been a real death blow. There was concern with his experiences in DC and with the history of urban development that once the drug trade starts marinating and the community gets to be a bad place…then the bulldozers come. Burton St. started a neighborhood association and started with picking up the garbage. More people started organizing and things started happening such as city funding and an internship program to help youth make good decisions. The richness of their history was rediscovered including the first agricultural fair and first black baseball team. After much hard work and support from within and outside of the community things have gotten much better. Unfortunately, alternate 3 of the I-26 project has the ability to undo much if not all of the communities work by condemning 25+ homes and a church in the Burton St. neighborhood. The people in the community are still tired from the drug fight and living through the turmoil of crack houses, gunshots, and being afraid of going outside. Burton St is an area rich in history that fell down and then got back up. Dewayne hopes that the community can survive this latest struggle. A community meeting about I-26 is planned for March 9th at 6:30 at the St. Paul Baptist Church with a community walk starting at 5:30 pm.
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Dewayne Barton
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6
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Montford and I-26 Impact: Lael Gray and her neighbors are concerned about the impact of the I-26 project and have started a group in Montford to bring more focus and a Montford voice to the issue. The Montford Neighborhood Assocation has not formulated a formal opinion. Lael believes Alternate 3 is the worst plan the Design Center’s plan is the best. She is deeply concerned with DOT redesign of Design Center work known as 4B. Lael believes that the most important thing is to be clear and not roll over and pick least bad plan. Lael and her neighbors have created a list of continuing goals for the neighborhood and hope to use this as a centralized plan to including separating interstate and local traffic, multi-modal transportation, etc. Lael was interested in the feasibility of pushing I-26 further west. Another CAN member was aware that many years ago a formal study group determined that a loop pushing I-26 out from the city center would be more destructive than cutting through town and that Harry Weiss was part of group.
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Lael Gray
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7
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Open Discussion of I-26 Impact: Group enjoyed a spirited discussion.
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All
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8
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Task Force Updates (time did not permit…tabled until March meeting)
§ Neighborhood Toolkit
§ Neighborhood Organization
§ Review of CAN Structure
§ Affordable Housing
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Task Force Members
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9
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Additional Agenda Items
Marsha Stickford passed out Neighborhood Guide to the Development Process which is a helpful pamphlet developed under the direction of the our new Planning Director, Judy Daniels.
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Open to All
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Meetings are 2nd Monday of the Month
Oakley Community Center
Check Out www.AshevilleCAN.org
Spotlight on Norwood Park Neighborhood
Driving around the Norwood Park neighborhood, you get a strong sense of the history of the area and what it might have looked like when it was first developed as a designed community by E. W. Grove in 1912. At the time it was outside the city limits and was a very progressive concept - the first designed community in Asheville and one of the first in the nation. Because of this it was often referred to as "the suburb beautiful."
It is this sense of their place in the history of Asheville and the nation that prompted the Norwood Park Neighborhood Association to undertake the process to gain a place on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Association began the Nomination process in 2002 by holding a tour of neighborhood homes to raise the funds for the project. An important part of the process was the research on the history of each of the properties. This has given the neighborhood a stronger sense of the need to protect and maintain their neighborhood and community.
One reason Norwood Park was honored with the Historic Nomination is that it is considered an "intact" neighborhood, one in which most of the homes were build as part of the original community and have a consistent exterior style and design. Currently, 154 of the 174 homes in Norwood Park are original to the development. Over time there has been very little infill building, so the neighborhood has maintained its original shape and appearance.
Much of the work of preparing the Nomination is best undertaken by a consultant who specializes in historic research, so the Association used one to help with the Nomination. Working together the neighborhood raised $10,000 through various activities and events to cover the cost of the consultant.
The Norwood Park Neighborhood Association clearly feels the process was worth the effort and expense. While it took a total of four years and a lot of work, the recognition helps call attention to the very special nature of their neighborhood and they understandably view this accomplishment with pride. During the Nomination process, neighborhood members learned there are no downsides related to being on the National Registry - it is a process that recognizes the historic value of their neighborhood without placing any restrictions on what they can do with their homes. They also discovered that there were benefits to owning property in a neighborhood on the National Registry in terms of being eligible to receive a state tax credit when they have completed $25,000 of restoration on their house. In addition, the designation provides some protection when certain kinds of development activities such as road widening are undertaken in or near the neighborhood.
So the next time you are in North Asheville and have a little time to spend walking around, check out the Norwood Park sign at the corner of Murdock and Woodward and take a stroll around one of Asheville's most historic, attractive, and friendly neighborhoods!
National Register of Historic Places: What You Need to Know
The National Register of Historic Places is a federal program administered by the National Park Service in partnership with state governments which was created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. National Register listing is primarily an honor meaning that a property has been researched and evaluated according to established procedures and determined to be worthy of preservation for its historic value. The listing of a property or district on the National Register does not obligate or restrict a private owner in any way unless the owners seeks a federal benefit such as a grant or tax credit. National Register properties also receive special consideration when federal undertakings such as highway construction would potentially impact them.
For a private property owner the chief practical benefit of National Register listing is eligibility for investment tax credits that can be claimed against the cost of a certified rehabilitation. If the property is income producing, the owner may be eligible for a 20 % state and 20% federal tax credit. If the property is non-income producing, the owner may be eligible for a 30% state credit.
Proximity Park and Norwood Park are the newest National Register Districts in Asheville bringing the total number of recognized National Register Districts to 14 in addition to nearly 100 individually listed properties.
National Register Districts in Asheville:
Albemarle Park Historic District
Biltmore Village Historic District
Chestnut-Hill Historic District
Clingman Avenue Historic District
Downtown Asheville Historic District
Grove Park Historic District
Montford Area Historic District
Municipal Golf Course Historic District
Riverside Industrial Historic District
Sunset Terrace Historic District
West Asheville Aycock School Historic District
West Asheville End of Car Line Historic District
The National Register of Historic Places and local historic landmark and district designation are two very different programs to recognize and protect historic properties and are often confused. Some historic properties and districts may receive both types of recognition in communities where local preservation commissions have been established such as Asheville. However, local designation is entirely a local government decision and is independent of the National Register program. In Asheville, Albemarle Park, Biltmore Village, and Montford share both National and local district status, while the St. Dunstan's community is exclusively a local district.
For more information, contact Stacy Merten, Director of the Asheville-Buncombe Historic Resources Commission at smerten@ashevillenc.gov or 259-5836.
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