City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning. My name is Esther Manhammer. I'm mayor of the city of Asheville, and I'd like to welcome you to the June 4th, 2026 agenda briefing work session. All council members and staff are participating virtually. This meeting is intended for discussion purposes only. No formal actions or votes will be taken. In addition, no public comment is taken during this meeting. The live meeting will be streamed on the city's YouTube channel, accessible through the YouTube icon on the city's website or via the live stream. You also have the option to listen to the meeting live via phone by calling 855-925-2801 and entering meeting code 3578. Today, Assistant City Manager Jade Dundas is out of the office, but I will introduce the rest of the council and staff. When I call your name, please say a quick hello. Vice Mayor Antoinette Mosley.

Good morning.

Council Member Maggie Ullman.

Hey, everybody.

Council member Kim Roney. Good morning. Council member Bo Hess.

Good morning.

Council member Sage Turner. Good morning. Council member Shanika Smith. Good morning. And our city manager, DK Wesley. Good morning. Assistant city manager, Ben Woody.

Good morning.

City attorney, Brad Branham.

Good morning.

And city clerk, Maggie Burleson.

Good morning.

Thank you. Now I'll now turn it over to the city manager, DK Wesley.

Thank you, Mayor, and good morning again, everyone. Today we're going to be reviewing our agenda for Tuesday, June 9th. The meeting, regular meeting will start at 5 p.m. in council chambers. Also on today, we'll take a look at two committees, upcoming committee meetings, which includes a housing and community development committee, as well as planning economic development environment committee. ON TODAY, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER BEN WOODIE WILL BE FACILITATING THIS BRIEFING. SO I'LL TURN IT OVER TO HIM.

THANK YOU, MANAGER WESLEY AND GOOD MORNING, MAYOR, VICE MAYOR, MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. I'M GOING TO JUMP RIGHT IN AND AS USUAL I'LL COVER ITEMS THAT I THINK ARE OF INTEREST AND IF THERE'S ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DISCUSS, QUESTIONS OR ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO COVER I HAVEN'T JUST STOP ME AND I'LL adjust accordingly. So we'll start with our meeting on June 9th, and this meeting does not have a work session, so we're going to start at 5 p.m., our typical meeting time. We do have one proclamation. June 2026 is National Gun Violence Awareness Month. Moving on to the consent agenda, we have a relatively short consent agenda for us, so I'm going to cover a few items in that, and I'll start with item B, which is the budget amendment to move Mellon grant funds into a capital project budget. And that's going to let us begin really implementing some of the recommendations from the PAC square vision plan. We do have Dana Frankel here today, who is the project lead and under our other items, part of this agenda, she's going to give you a project update on this effort. So we'll look forward to hearing that more about that from Dana. Moving on, item D authorizes the city manager to enter into multiple contracts related to the employee benefits package. Periodically, we do go out, issue RFPs and go out for bid to make sure we're getting a cost effective and valuable package of benefits for employees. So this is a contract FOR EACH OF THOSE BENEFIT AREAS, AGAIN, IT WAS SELECTED THROUGH A COMPETITIVE RFP PROCESS AND THE APPROVAL OF THESE RESOLUTIONS WILL ALLOW THE CITY EMPLOYEES TO MAINTAIN THEIR BENEFIT PACKAGE. MOVING ON TO ITEM F, AND THIS IS THE LAST CONSENT ITEM I'M GOING TO COVER TODAY AND THIS IS RELATED TO OUR COX AVENUE STREETSKATE PROJECT. THIS IS THE RESOLUTION THAT AUTHORIZES OUR DESIGN AND ENGINEERING CONTRACTOR TO BEGIN THE ACQUISITION OF TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION EASEMENTS. you're going to hear also a more detailed update on this today we've got walter ear our capital projects uh manager here and he's going to give as part of the other issues section of the agenda he's going to give council an update on the cox avenue streetscape project any other questions on consent okay i'm going to keep moving we do have a manager's report scheduled for this meeting we're going to have bridget herring our recovery coordinator And she's going to give a quarterly Helene recovery update. Moving on the public hearings, we have one public hearing item. This is a substantial amendment to the D.R. action plan. And because it is a substantial amendment, it does require council approval. And what this amendment does, it proposes to reallocate $9.2 million from the multifamily construction program and $10 million from the infrastructure program. And that total allocation of 22 million would then be allocated to the single, or excuse me, that total allocation of 19.2 million would be allocated to the single family home repair program, which would create a total of $22 million of DR funding in that program. So this is the public hearing. You're not voting on this amendment at your meeting next week. And I'll give a quick kind of timeline of what the next few weeks looks like. June 3rd, so yesterday, the Housing Recovery Board considered this amendment. They voted six to four to not support the reallocation of any multifamily dollars. You know, there was a pretty robust conversation, just kind of generally, I think the cost per unit of the state single family program was expressed as one of their concerns during the meeting. June 14th, we have an open public comment period right now. So the public comment period, a 30 day required period that closes June 14th. So we'll have the summary of public comments before you take action on this. On June 23rd, the infrastructure recovery board will also consider this amendment and they too will make a recommendation to city council. And then finally, this will be back to you on June 23rd for your action. Councilwoman Roney, and I will probably need help answering questions on this. And I do think we have a couple of folks on the line that can do that. So go ahead.

Yeah, I was just trying to get maybe ready for Tuesday, so it could be some follow-up. But I know that members of the Housing Recovery Board were focused on the language that was presented during the planning process for our recovery plans, that why aren't we pushing harder for the state funding to cover the home repairs through Renew and See in the city limits? I think that's something that we should be prepared to answer and there have been some questions to staff and emails so I wonder if maybe we need some more information on the strategy around that because I think the idea that we need both home repairs and new construction is important but I think those questions need to be answered.

I'll chime in. I attended the meeting yesterday and addressed the committee, and I also spoke with Stephanie McGarrah, who's the director of the Renew NC program, just prior to the meeting. I asked the committee to talk about why those who weren't supporting the recommendation to help verbalize what their concerns are. And Brian, who made the motion, he said, I want to send a signal to council that we're very concerned about multifamily housing funding and that they really feel like there's so much more bang for your buck to fund multifamily housing. And he in particular talked about the scarcity of housing for those who are experiencing homelessness and specifically representation of the voices of people who are experiencing homelessness and who might benefit from multifamily housing projects. We did have Jeffrey Barton attended as well, the director of mountain housing opportunities. And of course their project is now coming back before us. And the committee was glad to hear that. So they, you know, and they voiced how difficult a decision we have to make balancing the single family home repair program with opportunities to fund multifamily housing. The there was a question around whether or not there was some sort of change, whether at one point the state was going to fund single family home repair in the city, um, or not. And I think the, um, there was some clarifying, uh, remarks made and I, I don't remember if James is on here. I don't remember if it was you, James, that clarified that was not the, um, That was not the debate. We, the city of Asheville, have the option to take the CDBGDR dollars directly, the all 225 or 225 million, or we could have let the state take all those funds and administer it themselves. And in that case, they would be carrying out this program. And in our situation, they're running the program in the city. So we avoid all administrative costs related to the program directly. but we the city have always been and are obligated to fund it. Just one other thing to note, the state does not have full funding to fund their applicant pool. They have over 7,000 applications, but between 3000 and 3,500 are, um, even qualified to be considered. They're still working through their list. Um, they do not have enough money to fully fund their program. So, uh, it, uh, it would be challenging, I think, to, um, seek funding from the state, but the committee did, we had a discussion about that and the committee did pass the motion urging us to have more communications with the state around opportunities to see if the state would consider funding our program in the city of Asheville. And as you all know, the governor has been asking Washington for additional CDBGDR money just for this very purpose.

Thank you for that. I think one of the other concerns I'm hearing from the Housing Recovery Board members is why aren't we pushing to collaborate on getting the phase one funding done for households at or below 60% area median income before moving to phase two? They thought that had a strong argument.

yeah that question came up during the meeting yesterday and um i got that information from the state the state has about 1500 just under 1500 applicants themselves of phase one and nikki's nodding her head uh so they're and those are our priority and for us as well so i think you know we're we're all in a real tough spot that there's not enough funding to to cover But we, you know, we theoretically have enough funding to cover all 110. Now I believe it's 106 applicants in the city of Asheville. But of course, as you all know, we're making this challenging decision between multifamily housing infrastructure and single family home repair.

The last question I would have would be around because it's been promised on our behalf that we will fully fund the home repairs. Do we have any updates on where additional funding will come from? Because we're going to be making decisions on where to move our dollars and it's still not clear to me how we meet that promise.

Yeah, I mean, I think you guys know what the opportunities are here and what the choices will be. I think the way staff has structured this, it's somewhat of a two-step process in that this single family home repair funding can be moved now to bring the total to $22.2 million. And that'll address... a lot of what's in the pipeline or will be in the pipeline through the fall. And then we'll have another opportunity to look at where the total lands. Yesterday, the estimate of the total repair program had already come down to about 32 million and change. They are seeing some attrition. So we'll need to see where that final number lands. And by then, maybe we'll know a little bit more about the HMGP applications, but hard to say.

I think maybe that's to me. Esther, thanks for going to that meeting. I'm going to have to watch it. I wasn't able to attend. When they, I agree wholeheartedly, multifamily housing, more housing supply is needed to help address both affordability issues and overall rent prices and homelessness. However, I am still really concerned that not repairing people's homes is could also increase homelessness. You know, we've got a real issue here. And it sounds like, and so I'm just still uncomfortable with it, I'll say that. But you just mentioned attrition. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Do we know, is that people that are just like, couldn't get insurance, couldn't get speedy repair from the programs available, and maybe just had to cut their losses and move on? Or what do we know?

No, no, this is, so So, remember, this single-family home repair program is for people who aren't doing another program, like they're not doing a buyout, HMGP, or they didn't, or it's somebody who didn't have any homeowner's insurance. Right. The attrition is due to, in some cases, according to the state, and I guess this happens during all disasters, some people aren't completing their applications. Now the state is working with them to make sure they get all the documentation in and those sorts of things. In some cases, someone else has come along and fixed the home or done the repairs. So there's a lot of nonprofits and faith-based organizations out there that are also doing this work. And so it could be Samaritan's Purse already took care of it. And so that is happening quite a bit. In fact, at the last meeting of the Western North Carolina Recovery Committee, we had a presentation around this because the state is also depending on these nonprofits and faith-based organizations to fill in the gap because right now there's not enough funding to fund all of these.

Is this mostly like our thinking or do we have data?

What?

In terms of the... Like people getting helped otherwise and stuff. I just wonder to what extent there's data.

Well, there's data, but that's a whole other can of worms because... We can only see so much information. DK's nodding her head. That's been an ongoing discussion with the state around what's confidential information and what's not. I'm just, this is just the information they're providing.

That's really helpful. I appreciate that. I guess for me, it's just the overall perspective of are people getting repaired? And if it's other faith organizations, great. That's helpful. I just look at the big picture. The more information, the better. I appreciate it.

And I just want to verify, I guess, through Nikki, priority phase one is 60% AMI or less.

That's correct. The P1P1 priority one phase one designation includes the 60% AMI or less, plus having a child, elderly or disabled person in the household. So that's the complete characterization of the P1P1 phase one priority one sector.

Nikki, I first understood that to be both below 60 AMI and disabled, but is it and or?

It's and. It's both characteristics. So the first characteristic is the income qualification of 60 AMI and below. The second characteristic is either a child, elderly, or disabled person in the household. So one of those three other characteristics are both true, income plus that characteristic. Okay, thank you.

And remember, Paige, the one, remember I told you I visited someone who benefited from the program and technically they had them all. Because it was under 60, a child who was disabled was also in the household.

Wow. Yeah. It's such an amazing thing. I mean, I can't remember a time when we ever got funding to help this demographic of folks.

It just seems really crucial.

Okay. Is that it for public hearings? Any other questions or comments? Okay, I'm going to keep moving. So that takes us down to unfinished business. You do have four items under unfinished business. The first is item A, which is an amendment to the recently approved fees and charges manual. As council knows, you approve the fee and charges manual. Typically prior to approving the full budget, what this amendment does is incorporate new parking fees and the addition of staff and capital to operationalize the proposed meter expansion into the South Slope area. So again, this is gonna, go ahead Councilman Ullman.

I'd love a breakdown between the capital costs and the staffing costs. And I'm also curious if staff scoped out a contracted solution instead of an employee solution and what those dollars are.

Yeah, we'll have to include that in the follow-up document because we don't have Jay Dundas on the call today, but I'm sure those are things that we can get back to council before Tuesday. So good questions. Yeah, there's a little bit of detail on the staff report, but we'll get more so we can more accurately answer your question, the specifics of it. So, okay. Anybody else?

We'll just elaborate. a theme of when we're adjusting or adding services is to always scope out that we hire people for it. And I rarely see if there's an alternate estimate gotten, especially for something like this that might have readily available private partners available. And so I really would love to know kind of a cost comparison for that.

Council Member Ullman, so I'm clear about your question. Are you asking about the additional positions that's being requested? Those are for operational costs. Right. Okay. Right. The actual slope expansion is for the supervisor. AS WELL AS THE ENFORCEMENT STAFF. I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT'S THE.

TO THE FOOTPRINT OF WHAT STAFF OPERATE. SO MY QUESTION IS, DOES THAT NEED TO BE A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE OR COULD WE CONTRACT PARTNERS TO FULFILL THAT AND WHAT'S THE COST COMPARISON TO DO THAT, ESPECIALLY AS WE HAVE these continuing budget conversations where the vast majority of our budget are staff, but then we're locked into really tricky positions when we have hard budget years like this year, where none of us want to reduce our staff, but then we're left with having to put the burden, you see what I'm saying? That type of financial analysis, I'd like to see more of, and this is a place where we could apply it. Thank you for clarifying.

Okay. Thank you. Moving on. Item B is the adoption of your FY26-27 budget. As proposed, it totals, the budget has a total of $275.6 million and includes a property tax rate of 37.84 cents per $100 of assessed value, which is 4.95 cents above revenue neutral. And of course, along the way, council's had multiple work sessions and we've had a public hearing to get to this point. So again, this would be the consideration and adoption of the manager's proposed budget.

I just want to add on that one too. I've had some conversations and continue to have a conversation with you all. So we'll be continue to work on this through Friday and we'll indicate if there's a adjustment to the current recommendation. at that time.

Are you anticipating any that weren't ready for today that we should be aware of?

Well, nothing that's going to be substantial. What I'm hearing is a continued desire from council to continue to consider the impact of the tax rate increase above revenue neutral. SO WE'RE LOOKING AT OUR CURRENT STRATEGIES TO SEE IF THERE ARE SOME ADJUSTMENTS THAT CAN BE MADE. THINGS LIKE CONSIDERING OUR PROPERTY TAX COLLECTION RATE. NOTHING SUBSTANTIAL WHEN IT COMES TO LIKE STAFF AND SERVICE IMPACTS. JUST LOOKING AT WHAT WE'VE PRESENTED SO FAR IN THE PROPOSED BUDGET AND IF THERE'S ROOM TO DO ANYTHING ADDITIONAL. BUT WE'LL SEND THAT AHEAD. I JUST WANTED TO KIND OF GIVE YOU ALL FORESHADOW THAT YOU MAY SEE SOME SLIGHT ADJUSTMENTS. IN THE TAX RATE PROPOSAL.

THANK YOU, MANAGER WESLEY, FOR THAT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. MOVING ON UNDER UNFINISHED BUSINESS ITEM C IS A FOLLOW-UP TO YOUR MAY 26 PUBLIC HEARING, OR EXCUSE ME, COUNCILMAN TURNER.

I'M SO SORRY, I COULDN'T GET MY HAND UP QUICK ENOUGH. Manager Wesley, I guess I'm just wondering, just one last plug. I know you've heard me say it. If there's anything that we could do to inch towards a change in the overtime, that would go a long way for me. And I think the community and staff just to say, hey, we recognize there's something here and we're trying to begin working on it. Just a little input.

Thank you. I think I've shared this with some of you that our overtime calls have THE ACTUAL COSTS HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY COME IN OVER BUDGET. SO ANY CHANGES, WHICH I DO BELIEVE WE WILL REALIZE SOME CHANGES, WILL BE A DECREASE IN THE ACTUAL COSTS AND NOT NECESSARILY THE BUDGET. BUT THAT IS AN ADDITIONAL AREA THAT WE CONTINUE TO LOOK AT, COUNCILMEMBER TURNER.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? Okay, item C, follow up to the May 26 public hearing on the 26-27 CDBG and home funding annual action plan. We are accepting public comments on the action plan and those will be presented at your June 9th meetings. You'll get access to those next week as you consider the resolution. Real quickly for the CDBG funding in particular, just want to note that The four program areas identified for funding this next budget year are the Asheville Water Resources Department Lead and Copper Program, Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, Pisgah Legal Services, and Helpmate. And again, this was recommended by HCD Council Committee, and you had your public hearing at your last meeting. Finally, Item D under Unfinished Business is the... Or I'm sorry, go ahead.

I have my hand up, but it didn't make a noise, sorry. I believe in the council meeting, we were, someone asked to see the other applicants that we usually fund who weren't funded in this period. Is there a way, and I saw that, is there a way, because I believe there was like a scoring rubric that was used. Can you help me remember or figure out who scored highest and lowest before Tuesday? Just so I have something to compare it to. Because I believe in the last meeting there was consideration for another organization too. Did that question make sense? Okay, I see James.

So you're asking to see what we originally presented back in March as the highest scoring applications. You'd like to see that again?

Yes.

Okay.

Let me see if I can make that available for you today. If not, we can certainly get that to you before Tuesday.

Okay, James, we need to see your whole baby's face. I mean, this is... Come on.

Yes, you have a baby on here.

Hello.

James Shelton, Community Development Division Manager. I'm home with a sick child today. Hi, buddy.

My goodness.

Hi. Yes, Councilwoman Mosley, we can get that for you shortly.

Along those lines, if we were to make an adjustment in the allocations, would we have to run this back through any kind of a process or can we do that?

That's a good question. I don't think so. I would have to confer with HUD because I don't know if we've ever gone through a public comment period with a set of awards and then changed the number of awards because what you're changing is the public's opportunity to comment on the awards. So if you're changing what's being awarded by adding or taking away who is included, that's a different set of awards at that point. So I might have to get some clarification on that.

Yeah, it would seem odd if you couldn't change it since, I mean, isn't the point of a public comment period to maybe potentially make changes, but yes, good. Okay, so let's find that out so we know in case we do that.

Good questions, and we'll work with staff to include that in the follow-up document. Okay, last unfinished business item is item D, which is reconsideration. of DR multifamily funding for the Terrace at River Hills project. If you remember, Council, that was from the staff's criteria, the top ranked and most of already projects submitted as part of our recent RFP for DR funding for multifamily DR funding. So what this action is, it's not a it's not a new application process. It's an amendment to the resolution you previously approved on May 12th. And if approved, It would include or add the Terrace at River Hills project back to that funding package. That concludes the council agenda review. Yes.

At what amount, I'm having trouble accessing the documents, at what amount is that Terrace Hill proposed currently? Or what do we land on?

It is, I'm going to look it up, but James or Nikki, if you can say it faster than me.

It was a reduced amount from what came last time, right?

So what are you? No, we're recommending the same amount. That's what we'll be on. It's for 9.5. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Following up on that, Nikki, were you all able to look and see if we can reduce the cost of this project by removing some of the items that were listed in the NOFO that don't seem necessary for this? So apparently there are a lot of bells and whistles for these projects. And I don't know if that's required by HUD or not because it's CDBGDR money. But like, for example, it included waterproofing the first floor of the building, even though the building's not in a flood hazard area. It included requiring a full water backup system in case the city's water system ever goes down again. I mean, it includes some extraordinary costs for things that you wouldn't typically find in another project. And what mountain housing... told me those costs amount to, their best guess anyway, is about a million and a half of the project. So I'd be interested to know if we have the discretion of eliminating that.

So I have a question about that, potentially. What if someone who would have applied for the NOFO did not apply as a result of those requirements?

Yeah, that's a good question.

And additionally, did the other awardee have to meet said requirements and could they be relieved of such and save the money?

I think, and so I would need to circle back to really understand the precise answer to the question, but that does, that really does kind of talk about the challenge is that yes, because this was disaster recovery funding, there were certain elements that we needed to include for mitigation purposes. And so that mitigation was characterized as flood proofing in flood prone areas and or backup systems that would allow for more resilience if things like loss of water, loss of electricity would occur. That was included in the notice of funding opportunities. So all applicants had to demonstrate how they would comply with that mitigation as the tie back to disaster, as the tie back to how they would position these projects to be more disaster resilient in the future. That plus the deep affordability that came out of our overall public public comment period during the development of the annual action plan those two components really did drive the cost per unit to be what it is it's going to be more expensive than the normal projects because we're accomplishing the addition of those disaster resilient characteristics and the deep affordability mix that we're seeing with these projects so For now, staff would recommend full funding, because yes, having that parity across the other applicants and other applications in the process, as well as just the endeavor of the NOFO to really have that disaster resilience piece was key to our recommendations. So I can, again, I'll take a look and we can provide that in the follow-up document, but that will be the recommendation from staff. Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of money.

It's a lot of money to create a development that, I mean, I understand it'll be, I mean, anyway, it has backup generators, alternate water sources. It has, you know, flood proofing on the first floor, even though it won't flood. So, I mean, I'm just, you know, this is taxpayer money. And I just wonder if... If, you know, anyway, I understand the concept and I understand we asked everyone to include this in the proposal, but just wondering if it needs some second thoughts.

Yeah, I'd like to know if it's actually required because it kind of makes me feel like this funding was, if so, required than intended for floodplain areas for us to rebuild where the flood actually happened. hit. Yeah, I'd like, can we get some more information? Is this required? Did we require it of the other project on Biltmore Avenue? Are they going to see increased expenses when unnecessary? Because Mayor, I agree, taxpayer money and the needs of so many other needs in the community for these dollars. Let's make sure we get it right.

Okay. Understood. Understood. And that's information we'll work on to provide the council's follow-up. Any other questions on the agenda? Okay. I'm going to move on to council committees. We have HCD and planning and economic development environment. Both meet on June 16th. So these are draft agendas. Not quite finalized yet, but for HCD, we have one item, Oak Hill Development. which is a city on parcel of land. And what this does is create an agreement with the developer to provide 42 affordable town homes. That'll be available for home ownership, as well as an allocation of funding for construction and down payment assistance. So ultimately this will get folks into home ownership opportunities. The, the allocation, will be approximately 1.6 million that the deal is still getting finalized. But that will be the item for HCD and HCD. You've had some discussions about this at your previous meeting, so this is a follow up. Any questions on that item? OK. Planning Economic Development Environment Committee actually has three items, so the first is the committee will hear an update from Arts AVL on their Buncombe County Arts and Culture Plan, and they actually rolled that out earlier this week. So they had a session at Thomas Wolfe, a lot of good information. So Arts ABL will be at PEDE to give a more detailed update, and we'll focus that more to kind of the city's space within this Arts and Culture Plan. Staff will also provide an update on the DR Small Business Support Program. We had, again, a press conference recently, and that program is about to roll out. So we'll get some details on what that rollout is going to look like and what to expect. So really excited about those DR dollars getting out into the community through our partners. And then finally, our city attorney's office and planning staff are going to provide or share a framework for a proposed moratorium on data centers. And the idea is that assuming PEDE recommends that move forward, we'd like to have that to council as a public hearing item on June 23rd. Any questions on PEDE? Right, I'm gonna do the eight week agenda, then I'm gonna turn it over to Manager Wesley to move us into our other topics. So on the eight week agenda, you've got a busy June 23rd meeting, so I'm gonna cover a couple of items. One that I think is of interest to the community We tentatively, and this is tentative, have a contract, a resolution for a contract to stand up a temporary skating rink at the parcel of land beside the ARC transit station. I think we've put that out in the bid three different times, so I'm optimistic this will be the one. I think skating seems to be real popular with the kids these days, so I think it would be, I think the community would really enjoy seeing a temporary skating rink on that vacant piece of parcel. So hopefully that will come to you as an item you can approve for a contract. A couple other things, you know, you're beginning to see contracts flow for design and engineering around Helene Recovery. We've had a number related to roads and stormwater infrastructure. You'll have some more at June 23rd. You'll have contracts for landslides. So we've got a number of landslides we've got to deal with, as well as some specific roadway and sidewalk projects. So more details to come, but we continue to see you know, a lot of this repair work getting underway, at least the design and engineering. As I said earlier, you're going to have a, if it moves through PED, a public hearing on a moratorium on data centers, a lot of areas are doing that particularly in Western North Carolina. So that's not anything new, but something Asheville's potentially taking up. And then the last thing I'll cover is a couple of big items that are coming in July. You've got a busy, busy July meeting. One is potentially the contract to move forward with our comp plan and UDO rewrite. Planning staff's been working on that. I think they've got it narrowed down to three consulting firms. So we'll have a recommendation for council to move that really important project forward. And then two other things is hopefully we'll have for your consideration in July, a home repair policy. So a policy for how we can begin to deploy funds for home repair in the community. As well as a specific allocation of 2024 Geobond dollars to do that. So number one that gets us. This is outside of the lien money, so that's going to help us really continue to make progress on home repair, and I think that is also an important piece of our anti displacement efforts as well. So you get some big items in July. Any questions on the eight week agenda? OK, I'm gonna turn it over or go ahead. I'm sorry. All right, I'm going to turn it over to Manager Wesley to move us into our other items and updates. Thank you.

Thank you, Ben. I just want to make sure, Council Member Turner, your hand is up. So I want to make sure you, if you have a question, you can ask your question. Is it up from a previous question? All right.

Sorry.

No problem. Thank you. Thanks, Ben. We have two items to discuss today and we'll have two presentations. One on boosting the block from Dana Frankel and then we'll have a presentation to provide you all with an update on the Cox Avenue streetscape project. Both items are related to actions that you will be requested to take on Tuesday, boosting the block again is item B and then Cox Avenue project is item F. So we'll turn it over to Dana first.

Great, thank you and good morning Mayor and members of Council. My name is Dana Frankel and I serve as downtown planning manager in the city's planning and urban design department. I'm managing the boosting the block initiative and I'm happy to provide an update today ahead of two actions coming to Council for consideration this month. I'll briefly cover the background of boosting the block, what the initiative is intended to accomplish, and how the funding fits together, and next steps for the capital component of the project, which is what your actions relate to. First slide, please. So to start with a few key takeaways, boosting the block is one of three projects funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation that implements recommendations of the PAC Square Plaza Vision Plan. The initiative invests in both people and place. It supports community capacity building, cultural identity and storytelling, and physical improvements that better connect the block and strengthen it as a black cultural district. The city's also leveraging additional investments beyond the Mellon Grant to maximize project impact, including a million dollars from transportation bond funding. The capital or physical component of boosting the block is we're calling Eagle and Market Street enhancements, which brings several funding sources together to deliver an integrated public space improvements project that reflects community values and supports the long-term vision for the district. Staff is pursuing TDA lift funds to further enhance the project's impact and benefits. And council will consider two actions later this month that move the project forward. On June 9th, that's a budget amendment to move a portion of the already received Mellon grant funds into the capital project fund. And on June 23rd, we anticipate bringing a design and engineering contract for your consideration. Next slide, please. So to rewind a few years, the PAC Square Plaza vision plan was adopted by city council in 2023. The plan synthesized extensive community input and identified a clear vision for strengthening the physical and cultural connections between PAC Square and the block. Central to the vision was the creation of a cultural corridor along South Market Street with the goal of improving connectivity while lifting up the history, culture, and stories that make the block such an important part of Asheville. Around the same time, the Mellon Foundation's Monuments Project was supporting communities across the country that were rethinking how history and identity are represented in public spaces. These efforts aligned really well and really closely, and the Mellon grant secured by the city created an opportunity to move forward with both cultural and physical investments in the district. Of the $3 million Mellon Foundation grant that we received, about 1.74 million is allocated to boosting the block. Next slide, please. So boosting the block was designed around several related goals that support the long-term success of the block. First, the initiative seeks to create a physical gateway and cultural corridor between PACS Square and the block, improving visibility, access, and overall connection. Second, it supports the organizations and neighborhood anchors rooted in the block so that they can continue to shape the district and steward its cultural legacy into the future. Third, it aims to enhance public spaces and programming in ways that reflect the community's vision and tell the story of the block's past, present, and future. And finally, the initiative supports work around neighborhood identity and marketing, so there's a clear shared understanding of what the block is, what it represents, and why it matters. Together, these goals are about strengthening both the physical environment and the community infrastructure needed to support the block over the long term. Next slide, please. So I'd like to briefly highlight the work that's happened since the PACS Square Plaza Vision Plan was adopted, the Mellon Grant was awarded, and we set out to achieve these goals of the initiative. Early on, the focus was on building relationships, setting a framework for working together, and building and hiring a community facilitator team along with a community coordinator. Shortly after the project's launch in July of 2024, Tropical Storm Helene shifted immediate priorities. In addition to supporting immediate needs post-storm, project partners used the time to deepen conversations about needs, organizational capacity, and the long-term future of the block. In 2025, the focus shifted towards deeper learning, visioning, and broader stakeholder engagement. A group of community members, facilitators, and city and county staff traveled to New Orleans to learn from an established Black cultural district, while local engagement efforts helped further define the community's aspirations, really in a high-level visioning form, but also to think more specifically about design and programming. So that work continues to shape both the community-led programming that's happening today and also the scope of this upcoming capital project. Recent activations on South Market Street, including the Ujamaa Marketplace series, are helping test how this corridor functions and what types of spaces and amenities best support community use in the future and what should be implemented as part of this project and specifically in the capital project. So we're now at a really exciting point where more of the work of this initiative is beginning to be visible and we're starting to see more of those outcomes on the ground and will continue to do so. Neighborhood identity and placemaking projects are underway. A creative strategist is finalizing materials to help guide and inspire the early streetscape and gateway design options. And staff and the project team are prepared to move the capital component of this initiative forward. Next slide, please. So this graphic shows the different pieces of how boosting the block fit together and how the funding is incorporated and supporting the overall effort. At the center is this capital project I am referencing that we're calling the Eagle and Market Street Enhancements Project. This is the main construction, physical, which we call capital project within boosting the block. And it's really how the physical elements of the project are gonna be delivered. A strength of this effort is that the city is leveraging several funding sources. In addition to the Mellon Foundation, the project includes transportation bond funding and other city investments. In addition, we're actively pursuing additional support through the TDA's legacy investment from Tourism Fund or Lift Fund. It's also important to note that not all Mellon funded work is part of the capital project. So other grant funded efforts support capacity building, cultural identity and storytelling initiatives. Some of those are directly part of boosting the block, but other of those are in compliment to boosting the block. So while funding comes from different sources and supports multiple elements of this project and activities, these investments are working towards the same goal, which is advancing the broader vision for the block. And next slide, please. So I've talked about the broader goals of boosting the block, how the funding fits together, and this slide focuses on this physical or capital improvement project, the Eagle and Market Street enhancements project, and what it's intended to deliver. At its core, the project's about improving the experience of the block, making it safer, more accessible, more connected, and more reflective of the district's unique history, culture, and identity. The scope includes more specifically expanded accessible sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, street trees, and site furnishings. It also includes the creation of a gateway feature and thoughtful integration of public art storytelling and neighborhood identity throughout the project area. So council will have two key touch points on the capital project this month. On June 9th, you'll consider a budget to transfer already received Mellon Foundation funds into the capital project fund. And on June 23rd, we anticipate bringing to you a contract for consideration to hire a design and engineer firm to move forward with next steps of this capital component of the project. In the meantime, staff, community facilitators, and a local creative strategist are preparing for the design kickoff. The goal is to make sure the design team begins with a strong understanding of the community vision and all of the engagement work that's been completed so far. Once under contract and onboarded, the design team will begin developing conceptual design options, and we anticipate taking those to the community for feedback later this year, likely in the fall. Next slide, please. So to close, boosting the block is more than a capital project, although the capital project component is significant. The initiative brings together community capacity building, cultural storytelling, neighborhood identity work, and targeted public space improvements. It implements key recommendations from the Pax for Plaza vision plan, and it supports long-term investment in the block as Asheville's historic black business district and helps turn community priorities into real improvements on the ground. The city's leveraging multiple funding sources to maximize impact and and Council will be asked to consider two actions this month that that advanced the project. And with that i'm happy to take questions, and we also have several other staff people here who are involved with the project, who may also be able to help answer questions.

I'll jump in. From start to finish, what is the estimated timeline for this? From we got started to we're going to execute things that I can touch.

Sure. So some components of this you're going to start seeing on the ground as soon as you've already seen some, which is programming that's happening. But other placemaking improvements within this month, you'll start seeing more visibility on the ground. The Mellon Foundation grant at this point funds through 2027. The capital project component, of course, we have a projected timeline, but some of that will be worked out later with the construction contractor and all of that. So it's a little bit hard to predict exactly when all of the construction will be tied up in a bow. I could hand it over to our project manager, Rebecca Cipriano, if you want to hear like a little bit more detail on how the timeline on the capital component is being laid out or what we anticipate.

I mean, even a ballpark would be helpful because so far it looks like we're two years in. Yeah. We haven't seen any physical things yet.

Yeah.

I'm using this more as an example of like, I would love when we start things like this, to really know how long these things are gonna take. Cause it's sounding like a five-year project and that's for a really, really important neighborhood. And so again, I'm using this project more as an example of projecting how long things take and figuring out where things can be fast forwarded so that again, really good work gets done um because it feels like we've been hearing updates on the planning to planning to plan for a long time i can pass the baton over to sage

Sure, I didn't know if anybody was going to respond. I guess I'm just curious, since the duration of the funding and its ability to do more things, is there any opportunity to leverage some of this to layer into block planning around a proposed PFA in the area? I know we'll probably launch our own you know kind of community input but i just wonder if there's some of that ahead of time uh just a thought to put out there in case there's that opportunity it's a big change to that neighborhood potentially the more we can plan things together the better

So this project is on a, you know, we've made a lot of progress. We've done a lot of groundwork in terms of engagement, setting the vision, really what is implementation of the vision look like, and we're at the moment now of moving forward with those physical investments. It's on a different, you know, it's ahead of the potential performing arts center and recognizing these are related initiatives and aligning where possible is really important. So while I can't, I don't feel equipped to speak about the specifics of the approach with the performing arts center now, I will say that the investments being made as part of boosting the block it's investments into the community and the organizations that are rooted in the block it's these physical investments that we are you know moving advancing now but it's also it's the goal is really to this is these are long-term investments and so So there's been a lot of work to set that groundwork and we hope that these impacts will be significant and meaningful regardless of the other projects that are being considered and happening around it. The goals of this initiative are clear and we are moving forward to advance them. I would invite other staff to comment if appropriate.

No, that's good. I think you've hit on it. I just want to, you know, kind of remind us if this other thing's coming behind it, let's leverage what we've learned, maybe the partnerships we've built, information. And I know we were trying to tackle this as a council and body. And then staff went out and got a great grant, which is what this is. So, you know, just making sure we acknowledge that I think it was you and planning director Stephanie Monson that really kind of went out and got this money to make it even possible. So thank you for that. I'm glad we're getting to this design phase. Councilwoman Ullman, I mean, I don't know, but I would guess that if we're trying to go to RFP for design, we'll spend three to six months doing that. And then a design firm will be hired and spend, you know, six months to 12 months designing. And then we'll see designs and it'll go through design review and start construction. It's probably several years minimum.

So we're looking at, so the RFP process has already completed. And so we are anticipating bringing that contract to you on June 23rd. We're going to ask them to get started on design right away since we already have the community input and we already have the vision. So they're going to get going with conceptual designs, which then the community will be able to react.

Okay, so a year from now, we're probably going to be reviewing this, if not sooner.

I expect, maybe I'll kick it over in terms of construction start expectation. Thanks, Walter.

Hi there. Walter Ehr, Director of Capital Management Department. And yes, I can't give you a definitive timeline, but roughly in a year, you would expect to see completed designs and then we would we expect to have a construction contract that yes, council would see roughly in a year of design. And I think that towards the larger question, I'm happy to, at the next quarterly capital update review, I've shown a slide that shows the typical timeline from like a project is funded through to design and then construction. And it takes a lot longer than we often expect. And then on the left side of that line is so much planning and community engagement that the planning department, transportation department, and our team do with the community that feels a lot like design. We get to see some pictures of some concepts of things that we're planning for the site and the community that aren't strictly, I would say, design activities. They're planning and forming up what the project will be. And that's effectively what has happened in the planning side of the grant activities. So it feels, and when we go over Cox Avenue, you'll see some of that timeline displayed. It has taken us quite a while to get to this point. And it's just the engagement and planning side that really takes some intense effort before we start to see something get put in place.

Yeah, and I would say, just to tie it up on the boat, we'll, in our follow-up, give you more specific details around the timeline. But yes, to your point, Councilmember Ullman, this has been a long time coming. I remember the initial conversation and work through the Advanced Monument Project that's kicked this off. And I will say the community engagement part of it was essential. The trust-building part was essential. And sometimes that takes some time when you're working with neighborhoods and you're working with communities. So I'm really excited that the team is going to be able to show some tangible progress here really, really soon. But I also think it's important for us to be able to give you all at least a clear estimated timeline. So we'll give you a follow up to that. Any other questions for Dana? Thank you. Up next is Walter. He's already here. Go for it, Walter.

Good afternoon. My name is Walter Ear. Director of the Capital and Asset Management Department. I'm here to present to you the Cox Avenue Streetscape. Council will see an easement acquisition contract with a firm that says engineering the name, but we're just employing them for their easement acquisition activities. So it's a half-mile complete street reconstruction from Pat-Nav to Southside Avenue. Next slide, please. So some of the goals of this project are to improve the safety and overall experience for pedestrians and users of this corridor. Folks will see on-street parking, streetscape features, lighting, streets, trees, and seating, other things above ground that make a place a place and help us to bring continuity to this corridor. As well, we're working on improving the underground infrastructure, stormwater and domestic water supply infrastructure as well. Next slide, please. So to our earlier discussion, again, planning activities take quite a while. So this really started in 2018 with the tactical urbanism effort that the community applied to Cox Avenue. And then the South Slope Vision Plan concept was employed and a lot of community engagement went into that. And then the city got additional funding, which we're gonna show later, the breakdown of that funding to design the project. So we've taken the past couple of years to work through design and we're on the last phase of design and we'll be going into construction hopefully sometime next year. Next slide, please. As part of the design phase, we did extensive community engagement in the 30 and 60% design phase. So this is from community engagement held at Bear's Barbecue for 60% design. We also did engagement directly with the business owners of the South Slope Association, door-to-door notification, one-on-one meetings with specific impacted owners, and we'll continue to work with folks along the way to ensure that we are coordinating with other developers. The county's got a project that's going to potentially kick off during the implementation of this project. So we are working to ensure that folks are engaged and informed. Next slide, please. Continuing on that theme. Again, this didn't come out of nowhere. It does take quite a while to get to the effort where we're at right now. So again, the South Slope Vision Plan concept put together the backbone of what goes into the scope of the project. It helps us to size it, to know the boundaries and limits of what we are going to do and what we are not going to do, what we can't do necessarily within the constraints of the project. uh and then we engaged in our continuing to engage with members of the community as well as at that time free helene multimodal transportation committee next slide please so um Again, these are the primary features that were expected that went into the scope, activating the street edge for pedestrians. Maybe not everybody sees it, but there's not a lot of continuity. When you start at Patton Avenue and then down in the South Slope, ADA accessibility is a challenge. We tried to explore green street infrastructure. It doesn't fit within the constraints of the funding type that we received. But again, utilities overhead and underground need to be coordinated with a very complex but short project. And then parts of making place, there'll be a tabled section between Banks and Buxton that will receive more streetscape details. Next slide, please. So the breakdown of funding, we're able to leverage our own city funding, just like almost every project. The city's constrained in the funding that we are able to generate through steady state capital improvement funds and bond funds. So the city was able to get federal grant the ST state surface transportation block grant. So about almost $10 million there, and then a TDA lift grant. And so we're using about 15% of city local funds to leverage to make this $15 million project happen. Next slide, please.

And so to give you,

Again, if you can orient your brain, I generally think of it as linear down, but this is orient yourself left to right. Left is uphill and right is downhill. So the tabled section starting there at the right Banks Avenue will receive a different treatment and highlight effectively sort of a downtown, I guess, of South Slope. So continuous sidewalk, dedicated bike lanes, high visibility crosswalks, we are aware and are consciously trying to ensure that pedestrian safety is a feature that we're catering to. And then, again, stormwater and water infrastructure improvements, as well as trying to improve within the right-of-way available Street trees not mentioned here, but shown is additional parking. We've been working with parking services and transportation to formalize that parking and set it up so that we can have metered parking on the street. Yes, Councilor Rooney.

we talked about this in a previous meeting and work session level um because this work is happening it seems like the right time to hear the businesses that are asking for metered parking so it sounded like we're moving forward in that direction but the way that it was phrased sounds like it could be for metered parking not that it will be for metered parking so I guess it would help me to know, like, is this already built into the package? And if not, what would be the steps that would require that to be done at the same time so we don't have to come back and do more infrastructure work later that could be more costly when we could do it now?

Right. Thank you for your question. So we are not installing the metered parking as part of this project, but Parking Services is prepared to install it after we're done so that we're not duplicating efforts, so they're not tearing up infrastructure that we are installing, it will be sequenced so that the parking infrastructure for metered parking will be able to just plug in right after we're done.

Okay, so we're not building infrastructure that gets torn up to build new infrastructure again. That's the goal.

Yes, exactly. Yes. Yes, correct.

Great. Thank you for clarifying.

Yes, ma'am. Any other questions on this slide? Thank you. All right. So again, we are currently working to update folks on project status. When we get a new phase of design available, which we're currently at 90% design, we need to internally review it and then work through the second and third tier impacts so that we can communicate and coordinate across departments, how that's gonna affect stakeholders. And so, again, we're trying to strike the balance between what the proposed improvements are and then potential impacts. That's part of just even acquisition. That's we have to acquire and have rights to space so that we can operate in that area. And that's what a temporary construction easement is for. So if we need to be a foot on the backside of the sidewalk we're about to build, that's somebody's property line. And that's what we're acquiring effectively for folks that aren't aware with what easements are or temporary construction easements. That's what that resolution is intended to do. And so we are continuing to coordinate not only easement activities, but project activities and schedule with affected property owners. That will continue throughout the project and through this phase. Next slide, please. So we will incorporate feedback from staff community members and the project in its current status is in easement acquisition and then NCDOT must approve the plans and they also will not approve the plans until easement acquisition is done. We expect to go to construction in 2027 and then we'll continue pre-construction activities, various touch points with stakeholders and coordinate through again through construction with impacted business centers. And this time I want to open it up for any questions or follow up on previous discussions.

Thank you, Walter. Any questions from council at this time? Any additional questions? All right. Seeing none. That's all we have for today for agenda briefing. I don't see the mayor's bubble. I don't know if she's still on.

Maybe not. Well, are you there? Okay. Yeah, you're kind of blurry to me. Maybe, I don't know. Anyway. Yeah, I don't have anything further. Anyone have anything further before Tuesday? All right, everyone. Have a good afternoon. Maybe I'll get outside. It's beautiful. Thank you. Bye-bye.