Meeting Notes

4-20-11 West Asheville Library, 6:00 PM

Agenda for the Meeting:

1.     Mobile Food Vending
2.     City Council West Asheville meeting on 5/31/11
3.     Transportation, a major topic Vending of the Vision Plan

Mobile Food Vending:

There is an effort by the City to provide a clearer City-wide policy for mobile food vending (food trucks).  Currently it is being considered by the Downtown Commission because it is an area not available for Mobile Food Vending because of limitations in the Central Business District (CBD) zoned areas. The situation for the majority of West Asheville is more flexible with options for permanent and temporary food truck uses.  The residual areas of CBD zoning along Haywood Rd. also prohibit the trucks so that is one change staff is recommending, removing the barriers in the CBD sections that prohibit Mobile Food Vending.  This topic will be more thoroughly reviewed at the next Vision Plan meeting in June.

City Council West Asheville meeting:

City Council community meeting in West Asheville Tuesday May 31, at Vance Elementary School. Beginning at 6:30 PM.  There was a discussion of staff and West Asheville residents to summarize the vision plan process and sharing with City Council West Asheville initiatives.

  1. Haywood Road Vision Plan process and topics of discussion: Alan Glines and Leslie Fay
  2. Activities of the West Asheville Business Association- Hugh Munro
  3. Activities for the Hominy Creek Greenway- Brotherhug Barton
  4. Concerns about Beecham’s Curve- not sure if anyone committed to discussing this
  5. Historic Preservation- Identification and protection of the Sulphur Springs- not sure Coronel if anyone committed to discuss this item
  6. Weed and Seed Project dritte and the work of the Burton Street Community

Transportation issues related to the Vision Plan:

Staff and volunteers from the City presented on several topical areas:

Ken Putnam, City Transportation Director reminded with the group that Haywood Road is a NC Department of Transportation (DOT) owned and maintained road.  The DOT has approval authority for any changes to the roadway.

Barb Mee, Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator with the City of Asheville presented the topic of  ‘Complete Streets’ which is an initiative in transportation planning to design travel ways for the full Jersey range of users: from drivers to bicyclists, and walkers.  During her presentation 20 Barb noted this interesting fact that it is estimated that 1/3 of Americans don’t drive: either they are too old, or too young or some combination of expense, physical ability or personal choice.   Staff will try to identify a link for ‘Complete Streets’ for further reading. It was noted that Haywood Road has the potential to be the Asheville model for Complete Streets because of its, geometry, land uses and neighborhood context.

Don Kostalec, a transportation planner and West Asheville resident presented information of a draft safety and pedestrian assessment called ‘Haywood Road and Active Living’ for most of Haywood Road that was conducted along the corridor last Fall.  The group of volunteers from the Bike and Pedestrian Task Force measured the width of sidewalks, cross-slopes of sidewalks, location of signs and  power poles and street crossings.  It was also noted that street lighting could be improved with pedestrian scale lighting as street sections are upgraded.  The assessment report will be used to target repairs and improvements along the corridor.  The cost to the city for a report like this is upwards of $20,000 if it had been contracted out to a private engineering consulting firm.  Many thanks were expressed to Don Kostalec, staff and the other volunteers for the dedicated work in this report. The Haywood Road Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Audit report can be found here.

Yuri Koslen who a planner for the City transit system was present and share background for the new routes that have been developed as a Stylish part fo the 2009 transit master plan.  Since that time routes have been prioritized and a new brand for the transit system was presented: Asheville Redefines Transit ‘ART’.  Several route changes were presented to the group and new maps were shared.  There are two of the five busiest routes serve West Asheville riders: the Haywood Road Route and the Patton Avenue Route. The changes to the route as a part of the planning effort will be implemented sometime later that year.  Several points along Haywood Road have 30 minute bus service where two routes and times overlap.  Yuri noted a long term goal of 20 minute bus frequency to really increase ridership and make auto drivers willing to become car-free.  It is possible that Haywood Road could be the model for that type of frequency.  There are also plans to include capability for phone applications that can help track the location of the bus along a route. The website for Asheville Redefines Transit is http://ridetheart.com/, and a route map can be found here.

Throughout the presentations there were a number of questions and explanations that were offered during the conversation:

A new pedestrian signal is expected at Louisiana Ave and Haywood Rd

Comments from citizens regarding sidewalk or street maintenance can be directed to Marsha Stickford for follow up by Asheville appropriate agency of individuals

As the Haywood Road Vision cheap jerseys Plan progresses emphasizing the importance of connectivity along the corridor and the  ‘complete streets’ policy will be important

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force is an organization that may be interesting to residents of West Asheville.

The was concern about the scale of the design of the bridge across the future I-26 project and the possibility of implementing the ‘complete streets’ policy for that

There was comment that road work not block the sidewalk access especially with signage

The was a question about of the extent of the DOT right of way which is expected to be back of sidewalk to back of sidewalk.

A comments was made to keep the bus route schedules up to date at the bus stops.

It was noted that there is not cheap nba jerseys a bus connection to A-B Tech Enka Campus at this time

It was noted that there should be a Meeting, way to notify bus riders of changes to a route such as during cheap mlb jerseys an emergency


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