City Council Contacts
Email all 7 Council Members

Related References:
Citizen's Suggestions

Contact:

If you have information that should be on this site, or corrections to information displayed please contact us.

Meeting Notice E-mail from Heather Rayburn, 10/12/05:

What: Neighborhood meeting to draft public comments, concerns, and suggestions to new Deal Buick property owners (organized by Heather Rayburn, 251-5484). Please let your neighbors know about this meeting!

Where: Montford Community Center

When: Tuesday Oct. 18, 6-7:30 p.m.

Purpose: The new owners of the Deal Buick property are considering development options for their eight-acre Merrimon location. (The car dealership is moving to South Asheville). We would like to get together people from the surrounding neighborhoods to discuss ideas and concerns about the development and then present these comments to the developers.

Why does it matter: Look at the depressing Staples eyesore on Merrimon. Talk to the neighbors behind Greenlife and ask them what it's like to have 18-wheelers off-loading at all times of the day and night on tiny streets. Then ask, how can we help the Deal Buick developers improve the area in a respectful, responsible way for our area? The good news is that the developers say they're open to ideas. Bring examples of "smart growth" projects, if you have them. (How nice to have an opportunity to be proactive instead of reactive!) If you can't make it, but still want to submit ideas and comments, call Heather or Ben at the number above.

Background:
From: The Asheville Citizen-Times Business Section
October 10, 2005

A group of local investors bought the eight-acre Deal Motor Cars property just north of Chestnut Street for $7.2 million this summer and is looking at options for its development.

Partners are former Vice Mayor Chris Peterson, accountant Foster Shriner and Cam and Annette Pace, owners of Asheville Waste Paper. The partners have commissioned drawings that show condominiums, a large, multistory hotel and several thousand square feet of retail space on the property. Peterson and Shriner, however, said plans are not firm yet and development is still some time away.

"We've had a ton of calls on the property" from prospective users, Shriner said. "We're really just all ears at this point. The most important thing to all of us is that it be beautiful and something Asheville can be proud of."

Deal will leave the property in about a year and a half for property it is developing on Brevard Road, Peterson said. The property's size and location make it unique, said real estate agent John Spake, who is working with owners: "It's eight acres on Merrimon Avenue and you just can't assemble eight acres on Merrimon Avenue." Development there will most likely have retail and residential components, he said.

10/10/05 Article from the Citizen Times:

Not much sits still on Merrimon Avenue
by Mark Barrett, STAFF WRITER
published October 10, 2005 6:00 am
ASHEVILLE - Here's a look at some changes coming to Merrimon Avenue.

A group of local investors bought the eight-acre Deal Motor Cars property just north of Chestnut Street for $7.2 million this summer and is looking at options for its development.
Partners are former Vice Mayor Chris Peterson, accountant Foster Shrinerand Cam andAnnette Pace, owners of Asheville Waste Paper. The partners have commissioned drawings that show condominiums, a large, multistory hotel and several thousand square feet of retail space on the property. Peterson and Shriner, however, said plans are not firm yet and development is still some time away.

"We've had a ton of calls on the property" from prospective users, Shriner said. "We're really just all ears at this point. The most important thing to all of us is that it be beautiful and something Asheville can be proud of."
Deal will leave the property in about a year and a half for property it is developing on Brevard Road, Peterson said.

The property's size and location make it unique, said real estate agent John Spake, who is working with owners: "It's eight acres on Merrimon Avenue and you just can't assemble eight acres on Merrimon Avenue." Development there will most likely have retail and residential components, he said.

Citizens Ace Hardware, one of Merrimon's oldest businesses, and The Firehouse Casual Living Store are preparing to vacate space at 841 Merrimon Ave. A Walgreens drugstore will occupy the space, people at both departing businesses said.
Citizens plans to move into the former Skate-A-Round USA building in Woodfin later this month. Firehouse will move into a building on Biltmore Avenue a little north of Mission Hospitals. Citizens' departure is the loss of a needed community business that's "probably more vital and more important to the community" than another pharmacy, said North Asheville resident Mike Lewis. "I really hate to see them go," he said.

The state Department of Transportation is scheduled to open bids Oct. 18 on improvements to the Interstate 240/ Broadway/Merrimon Avenue interchange at the northern end of Merrimon.
DOT at one point had considered a remake of the interchange that would have offered more direct links between Broadway, I-240 and other streets in the area. That idea had support from UNC Asheville officials and people who have pushed Broadway as an alternative to Merrimon Avenue. But critics said DOT alternatives did not achieve that goal, so DOT decided to scale back the project to deal with safety concerns instead of spending more money on a project that might have to be redone later to provide better Broadway connections.

Plans would eliminate the crisscross of ramps near the intersection of Woodfin and North Market streets but otherwise make only a few changes to the interchange. Traffic exiting I-240 eastbound would curl around to a "T" intersection on Merrimon, where a traffic signal will be located.

Developer Greg Edneyis asking that 1.8 acres he owns at 674 Merrimon Ave. - the former Burger King location - be rezoned to allow a drive-through window.
Edney proposes to build a 14,2000-square-foot, two-story building close to the sidewalk with a Carolina First branch bank and possibly retail space on the first floor and office space upstairs, according to drawings and project consultant Gerald Green. In April, the city Board of Adjustment turned Edney's request for an exception to city zoning rules to allow a drive-through. The city Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-0 Tuesday to recommend City Council approval of the rezoning request. Council will probably decide in November, and if it gives its OK, then construction would begin next year, Green said.

Neighborhood resident Lewis is opposed to the idea, saying drive-through windows cement people's dependence on their cars and make walking Merrimon more dangerous. "When you've got pollution issues, you've got fuel issues. Who needs people sitting idling in their cars, waiting to go through the bank drive throughs?" he said. Green said Edney's plans contain several steps to make it more pedestrian-friendly and have picked up some neighborhood support, also, as a result. Customers want drive-through windows, and businesses that want to serve them are the ones willing to pay what it takes for a nice building, he said.

Staff Writer Paul Clark contributed to this report.

Contact Mark Barrett at 828-232-5833 or via e-mail at mbarrett@ashevill.gannett.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS FOR LETTERS TO EDITOR:
Note: When you send letters to the editor of ACT and MtnXpress, they will need your name, phone number, email, and full home address please keep your letters to the point. Click here for ACT Letters Policy.

Asheville Citizen-Times
Letters to the Editor
c/o Dave Russell DRussell@citizen-times.com
P.O. Box 2090
Asheville, NC 28802
Phone: 828-236-8973
200 word limit

Mountain Xpress
Letters to the Editor
c/o Nelda Holder, nholder@mountainx.com
PO Box 144
Asheville, NC 28802
Phone: 251-1333
300 word limit, longer may be accepted but subject to edits.

To email both editors at once, click here.