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Wednesday, 17 January 2007 07:12 |
By DAVID FORBES
Downtown Asheville will see expansion and more parking spaces, as City Council approved a new urban-style, mixed-use development on north Broadway Street and a new Buncombe County parking garage that will add about 200 public parking spaces.
Both projects were approved unanimously, although Councilman Bryan Freeborn was absent from the meeting.
The
new development, located at 237 Broadway, will include two four-story
buildings, combining office space, apartments, stores and a restaurant.
A parking deck under the building will house 78 spaces.
The buildings will include 44 housing units, with five set aside for affordable housing.
The area surrounding north Broadway is one of the last major corridors leading into downtown to remain largely undeveloped.
Prior to
councilës vote, developer Kevin Kerr said he had aimed for "an urban,
downtown feel to the design, but also with as many open spaces as
possible."
Architect Mitchell Sorum struck a similar note in his comments to council.
"Weëre looking to bring a more communal, more urban tone to this part of town," Sorum said.
However,
Councilwoman Robin Cape, who eventually voted for the project, asked
about landscaping, buffers and how waste disposal would be handled.
Earlier, city
planner Kim Campbell noted that the project, with certain conditions,
met with city staffës approval and that they had received no negative
remarks from members of the surrounding neighborhood.
Kerrës company,
Broadway Development, LLC, has also begun construction on a nearby
mixed-use development at the Pioneer Building.
Later, council
approved a permit for a proposed seven-story parking deck to be built
by Buncombe County on Woodfin Street next to the Health Department
offices.
While the total deck is 650 spaces, most of those will be reserved for county employees.
Assistant County
Manager John Creighton said that the high traffic the nearby Buncombe
County Courthouse receives, especially when night court is in session,
helped motivate the project.
"You can have 3,000 people go through security at the courthouse on nights like that," Creighton said.
Later, Cape praised the county for its action on the parking deck.
"Itës good to
see all county citizens stepping up on this and not expecting just the
residents of the city to provide parking," Cape said.
In other action, council:
ï Delayed
considering three areas for annexation, including the Biltmore Lake
subdivision in Candler and the Schenck Gateway and Sardis Road areas.
No firm date was given for when the annexations would be back on the
agenda. City Manager Gary Jackson indicated that he wanted more time to
review the details of the areas, adding that they could be back on
councilës agenda within a month.
ï Voted 5-1 on
spending $55,000 to look into ways to further develop city-owned
property by hiring a firm of consultants. Proponents of the measure
said that a professional group is needed to assess how practical the
step is and what pieces of city-owned property could be better used.
The dissenting vote came from Councilman Carl Mumpower, who said he doubted the need for such an expenditure.
ï Delayed
consideration of naming the St. Dunstanës area in South Asheville a
historical district because of Freebornës absence.
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