From Staff Reports

New Belgium Brewery General Manager Jay Richardson presented a progress report on his company’s building to the Council of Independent Business Owners early March 8.

The issues meeting, including breakfast at Biltmore Square Mall’s food court in Asheville, drew about 60 people.

Among officials in attendance were Asheville City Councilman Marc Hunt, Buncombe County commissioners Joe Belcher and David King and Buncombe emergency services Director Jerry Vehaun.

“New Belgium, like a lot of our fellow crafter brewers, began as an offshoot of a hobby,” Richardson said. In 1991, top company officials “learned how Belgiums do beer.... In commemoration of that trip, “New Belgium called its first brew Fat Tire… That’s our flagship beer today.”

“All crafter brewers are defined as being independent. Other aspects are small and traditional… sticking to old-world techniques… It’s pleasing to me that there are groups like this in Asheville.”

The company’s founders felt it was important to “determine what the purpose (of New Belgium) would be…. Profitable? It’s a very vibrant industry right now. it may not always be.”

The other thing the company founders stablished were core values and beliefs. “One of those is being a business role model. We strive to run our business in such a way that we serve as a positive role model.

As for the project, we are in “deconstruction ...The next thing will be taking down the stockyard buildings…. That will take us about 3-4 months. Then we will start dirt work…. That’s going to take about 5 months. So construction should begin by the end of this year.

““The construction process, we think, will take about a year…. We hope to produce saleable beer in 2015.”

As for the staff at New Belgium, Richardson said, “I will assemble a team that is interested in coming to Asheville. The official hiring process will start in probably a year from now.

During a question-and-answer session,  CIBO member Mac Swicegood asked, “Could you talk about how you will get your goods in and out of here?”

Richardson said, “Our raw materials include glass, paperboard, cardboard and malt.”

Swicegood asked, “Your traffic needs — how do you perceive that?” Bicycles — most of us don’t ride them.”

RIchardson replied, “One of the appealing things about our site in Asheville is that it’s near the center of town. We hope many of our workers will live nearby, so that they could bike or walk to work… We know we can’t have everybody bike or walk to work, but we’d like as many to do so as possible.

Hunt said he had no questions, but “I would like to voice a public thanks” to New Belgium for coming here…. New Belgium is an awesome corporate citizen… These guys did not have to come here. They certainly did not have to choose this very challenging site in our River Arts District. You guys did not have to do that…. I thank you for all you’ve done

Ad meeting attendee asked,  “Could you tell us about the beginning pay rate?”

Richardson replied, “We have long been a proponent of the living-wage concept. The numbers I looked at put our average salary in the $40,000 to $50,000 salary range.” (The crowd applauded.)

In other action, Asheville City Manager Gary Jackson provided an update on the city’s budget projections. “Thanks for having me,” he said, succinctly. “The budget projection is bad. (That comment drew some nervous laughter from the CIBO crowd. ). Things are tight. We are doubling down.”

Jackson added, “I intend to be relentless … We’re looking to improve performance...”

While the city has focused on the Development services department and getting managers in place, Jackson said, “I was asked if I could do that elsewhere.  Well, I’m back here to say we’re looking at making improvements in multi-modal transportation.

“We want top be consistent in providing that level of service to everybody who comes in.” With 12 departments reporting to me directly…. There used to be 13.

“We continue to have the core businesses and, public safety... in the forefront,” he said.

Jackson also said he questions, “What are we doing to improve performance and silos?

“Now Cathy Ball (director of public works) couldn’t be here today, but the executive director of finance and strategic planning Lauren Bradley” is present.

In terms of improving performance and breaking down silos (things that happen in a vacuum). he said a plan that will be brought forward to council relates to having concluded that some 18 to 20 construction workers “do it well, but not as economically as if we contracted it out.”

Jackson added, “That was one of the first things they dug into. By eliminating those 18-some positions and shifting that money into local contractors doing that asphalt work, the savings would be…. And we’ll get more done at a better, more efficient cost.”

Instead of having a greenway commission and other such bodies, “We’d have one multimodal commission,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to cut out extra layers of government.

“Those are just two examples where Lauren and Cathy are trying to improve efficiency.”

On other topics, Jackson said, “Lauren Bradley has put together this economic development strategy… Our focus … is on quality development. Making this an attractive place for your to invest… The only way we/re going to do that is to treat everybody like they’re New Belgium… That hasn’t always been the case. We also need the supporting infrastructure in place.

“Downtown — it has significant investment opportunities, particularly on the South Slope. If you look at this brochure, you’ll see the continued investment in the river district and improving U.S. Cellular Center. We question whether we should continue investing in Bele Chere.”

Next, Shannon Tuck, development services department, said, “I think Gary’s done a good job of telling you about the big citywide” changes.

She talked about DSD’s organizational structure. “Our goal was to create a ‘one-stop shop.’”We wanted to have a shared vision and purpose…”

Seven new positions, including three process managers and four coordinators will be added, Tuck said. “So if you run into a problem, you have a point of contact in the process. Responsible for [processes from cradle to grave). These individuals are your natural advocates.

“With the launching of our new permitting software this spring, we will have data that we didn’t have before. We will be able to monitor trends, so we can shift resources. This also will enable us to track performance measures. We are still in the transition period, but I think in the next couple months we’ll be” picking up steam.

Tuch said, “I mentioned the permitting software. That’s huge. It’s supposed to be launched April 8… It’s going to create a much better interface, not only for our staff, but for the public.

“We’re looking very closely in this next year at operational redundancies. We’re going to try to identify those redundancies and eliminate them.

“Also, I’m very interested in application processes that we simply don’t need. For example, temporary sign permits. Is it really worth it for the city to issue a permit for a sign that’s only going to be up for two weeks?”

Next, Julie Mayfield, executive director of the WNC Alliance, addressed the I-26 connector and I-26 widening project. The invitation was for me to talk about the alliance’s role in the I-26 project.

I’ve been in Asheville for about 5 years. I moved up from Atlanta. I’ve been doing environmental policies,” she said. “I’ve got family in Jackson County. So I’m not just a regular transplant.

“We (the alliance) were founded by people who grew up here,” Mayfield said.

“At one point in history the forest service had applications for oil and gas exploration covering a huge acreage in the area. If they’d found anything, this region would have looked” quite differently today.

“In the past, we’ve fought nuclear waste dumps in Sandy Mush, and elsewhere.”

The alliance’s three primary focus areas include public lands, water and land use and transportation, but she said her talk would primarily focus on land use and transportation, “which is what I’m going to talk about today.

“There are two highway projects on the books — the I-26 connections and the I-26 widening project... DOT doesn’t know right now whether it’ll be six or eight lanes. Whatever they do, they want to go inside, using the median, as opposed to expanding the footprint of the project.  Plus, the Blue Ridge Parkway, they literally will have to build new bridges for the Parkway.

“The coal ash ponds… that’s a choke point and it’s going to be a challenge ... Our concern always is what’s are the environmental impacts... Now the connector project is a more complicated story… This project first came up in the mid to late ‘80s…. Our leadership on this project dates back to Brownie Newman’s time,” she said.

“The last time it really, unintentionally, pitted neighborhood against neighborhood. So I’ve launched an effort to connect the neighborhoods. We call it the I-26 Connect Us project. That’s where we are.

“We want an alignment of the highway that minimizes dislocation of homes and businesses, in West Asheville, what we’re willing to trade off on through-traffic versus community.

Mayfield added, “Litigation is not our preference. It’s the last resort.” We much prefer “We don’t need to sue anybody. We don’t want to sue anybody…. 

During a Q &A, Swicegood said,, “I’d like to thank you for being here this morning. You started your presentation on a regional perspective and ended up with a local perspective ... This organization has impeded progress on I-26.”

He then added, “I think your organization has done more irreparable harm for this area than any organization I know of.... basically on the I-26 connector.”

(Afterward, he told the Daily Planet, “They’ve opposed basically everything. People live here because they need a job.”)

“I ask you to please go back to the regional approach,”: Swicegood said.

Keeping her composure, Mayfield replied, “We can agree to disagree on the impact. But you’re right, this is a regional organization.”

Commissioner Joe Belcher said, “When I came into Asheville at rush hour, I came up on a bridge, and I looked in all directions…. I said, “Oh, gosh.” I’d heard the next day a study by Texas A&M about excess congestion. I started looking at it. The closest city to look at it was Winston-Salem. And I thought of everybody’s positions that we took on the thing. There’s nobody that loves these mountains more than I do.

“In Winston-Salem — excess congestion. So 50 million lbs. go into the air each year.

(tremendous) lost productivity lost per year.”

THat’s 1 million lbs. of CO2 simply because we were not able to get it together. You should look up that study.