Asheville Loves Its Downtown. Assessing the significance of this plan requires an appreciation of Asheville s attachment to downtown. Attitudes and opinions about development vary widely in the community; they grow especially strong when the subject is downtown, which artists and preservationists began reviving in the 1980s. The lively and appealing district they created attracted a surge of development proposals in the 2000s.
Building Consensus: The Key to Any Plan Building consensus among diametrically different stakeholders businesses, artists, downtown residents, newcomers, natives, African-American residents, developers represented the central hurdle for the plan.
How To Balance Assets and Change? In the mid-2000s, the volume and scale of development proposals threatened to overwhelm downtown s distinctive character. Concerned that it lacked effective tools for reviewing large projects, the City commissioned a master plan. The planning team recognized that in order for the plan to have teeth and win adoption public involvment would need to play a key role in the planning process.
Issues Facing Downtown Strong market demand yet no limits on height or appropriate scale Parking pressures yet no requirement to provide it Nightlife and buskers yet sometimes too vibrant for the growing resident population
A Process Built Around Public Involvement An extensive facilitated public process yielded a broadly shared vision and heightened understanding of tradeoffs. Most of the 14 meetings and special-focus workshops drew capacity crowds.
SHAPING EXPERIENCING Seven Principles Frame the Community Vision. 1 2 3 4 Enhance the Downtown experience by cultivating its creative, cultural, and historic character. Expand convenient choices for Downtown access and mobility. Establish an urban design framework to extend Downtown s sense of place and community. Shape building form to promote quality of place.
Seven Principles... SHAPING Update Downtown guidelines to be current, to be clear, and to promote 5sustainable development. Make Downtown project review transparent, predictable, 6and inclusive of community input. MANAGING Nurture a sustainable and resilient economy by actively managing 7Downtown.
Volunteers Moved the Project Forward. The draft plan still sparked controversy around contentious issues. The Downtown Commission led a mediated process to work toward agreement. In all, residents donated more than 5,000 hours of volunteer time to locate common ground.
Sticking Points: Where Consensus Took Longer HEIGHT AND MASSING-CONTROL MECHANISMS The Downtown Master Plan lays out six steps for determining allowable height and massing. These form-based control mechanisms, are explained in detail the Action Steps: Near Term section of this strategy.. a CREATE GRADUAL SCALE TRANSITIONS TO ADJACENT NEIGHBORHOODS As buildings approach the Context Transition Edge, maximum allowable height decreases. c LIMIT HEIGHT AS REQUIRED BY HEIGHT ZONE b d SHAPE BUILDING MASSING AND HEIGHT TO PREVENT EXCESSIVE SHADOWS ON PARKS, PLAZAS, OR LANDMARK BUILDINGS PRESERVE DOWNTOWN S TRADITIONAL SCALE AND ALLOW DAYLIGHT TO REACH STREET LEVEL Above the established streetwall, step back upper floors from front or side property boundaries. Study area extent Height determined by proximity to context transition edge Context transition edge (setback 1.5x overall building height) f SHAPE BUILDING MASSING AND HEIGHT TO PREVENT EXCESSIVE SHADING OF PUBLIC PARKS, PLAZAS, OR LANDMARK BUILDINGS Building siting and architecture particularly the design of building caps should acknowledge the prominence of taller buildings on the skyline. Orient building mass to preserve and frame established public view corridors. e CREATE SLENDER BUILDINGS THAT ALLOW VIEW CORRIDORS AND DAYLIGHT BETWEEN THEM
Asheville Embraces Its Downtown and the Future. Changes arrived at in mediation generated sufficient public support that the City Council adopted the master plan. A business improvement district is in formation, and the Downtown Commission has embraced earlystep recommendations, including revision of the development ordinance, on which the Council votes in fall 2010. The final document provides 21st-century tools that equip the city to conserve downtown s distinctive character and welcome the new growth that will keep Asheville s economy vibrant.
Behind the Plan... CLIENT City of Asheville > Pat Whalen, Chair, Downtown Commission > Sasha Vrtunski, Project Director, Office of Economic Development CONSULTANT TEAM Goody Clancy with > Economic Stewardship, Inc. > Heritage Directions, LLC > Kimley Horn & Associates > Code Studio