The City of Asheville will be undertaking a community visioning process for city-owned properties at 68-76 Haywood St. and 33-37 Page Ave.
The City has retained the Asheville Design Center (ADC) for this effort, which will work with city staff to facilitate the community visioning process.
And the City is seeking Advisory Team members to be involved throughout the community visioning process.
The community visioning process
The outcomes of this community visioning process will be designed to inform future actions on the subject sites and surrounding rights-of-way (the “Study Area”), which may include a future design competition and/or a Request for Qualifications/Proposals.
The project’s scope will include strategic planning and coordination with an Advisory Team, key stakeholders, as well as the broadest community interests who express a desire to participate in an open, democratic “town hall” process of consensus building.
Engagement with local stakeholders and property owners will inform a long-term vision for the properties, while also serving to identify opportunities for temporary installations to enliven the space now and suggest appropriate permanent uses on the site over time.
The City envisions that the final deliverable of this project will include a full exploration of site constraints and opportunities and publicly-informed expectations, priorities and considerations for the Study Area. The document will be a culmination of community ideas and strategic planning for the Study Area that will help to inform future actions, rather than determine a definitive design for the Study Area.
Scope of the Haywood Street Advisory Team
The Asheville Design Center will work with city staff to form an Advisory Team for the public visioning process and implementation plan. The Advisory Team will have representation, at minimum, from the following organizations (in no particular order), plus three at-large members:
- City of Asheville Recreation Board;
- Asheville Downtown Commission;
- Historic Resources Commission of Asheville & Buncombe County (HRC);
- Public Art and Cultural Commission (PACC);
- Buncombe County liaison;
- Asheville Downtown Association;
- The Basilica of St. Lawrence;
- Friends of St. Lawrence Green;
- Grove Arcade;
- Battery Park Hotel/Vanderbilt Apartments representative(s);
- Downtown Asheville Residential Neighbors (DARN);
- Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce;
- U.S. Cellular Center; and,
- Asheville Buskers Collective.
The scope of the Advisory Team includes, at a minimum, the following tasks:
- Kick-off meeting with ADC and city staff on the project.
- Review of site analyses of the Study Area, as submitted by ADC.
- Workshop with the Advisory Team to explore creative ideas for implementation and management of vibrant civic spaces.
- A follow-up session with the Advisory Team to explore techniques and best practices for thepublic visioning workshops.
To apply
To apply to be a member of the Haywood Street Advisory Team contact the City Clerk’s Office at 828-259-5601 or e-mail at [email protected] for an application form. The deadline for receiving applications is 5 p.m. April 6.