Coleman Needed Four Votes. He Got Three.

From: Thomas Rightmyer

Review of the Level III site plan for the project identified as Parkside Condominiums, located at 90 Court Plaza for a proposed mixed-use development consisting of 45 residential units and 173,855 square feet of retail and parking. The owner is Swag Holdings, LLC and B lack Dog Realty, LLC and the contact is Mark Fishero. The properties are identified in the Buncombe County tax records as PINs 9649.18-40-9331, 9649.19-50-0341 and 9649-19-50-1512. Planner coordinating review – Alan Glines

175 K sq ft including two parking levels accessed from Marjorie St. 145 ft high. Set back to reduce interference with view of city hall from Vance memorial. Considered Pack Park guidelines.including Site B massing studies. Height at shoulder of county courthouse. Proposal cornice is 23 feet higher. Penthouse is 29 feet higher than that for total of 52 feet taller than guideline height. Property sold by county no longer under mandatory guidelines. Downtown Commission has reviewed proposal. Staff recommends approval but one floor shorter, down about 12 feet. Trade off is building back to preserve view of city hall and adjust height to preserve cubic footage.

Developer had slide show. Lou Bissett spoke first. Complex project in sensitive area. Landmark project. Complains that city and Pack Square Conservancy have not cooperated with them. Units will give $5K on first sale each plus ½ of one per cent on resale to Habitat. Fifth tallest building in area (BB&T, Jackson, City Hall, and County building are taller.) Removing one floor not economically feasible.

Mark Fishero, architect, Back from north edge of present buildings. Exterior reflects elements from other downtown Asheville buildings. Daughter tree – 200 cuttings from magnolia to be planted. Building is 130 feet from city hall; guideline is 100 feet; asks greater height as tradeoff.

Public hearing opened at 7.21.

Bill Branion – over-development an issue.

Michael Bucom? Supports project, concerned about tone of opposition.

Carol King chair Pack Square Conservancy – design and staging concerns. Design – view corridor with mountains in background of city and county buildings with space around them. Proposed building crowds and obstructs view. Staging – road in front is subject to review and mandatory compliance. Crane interferes with park use. Recommends – smaller building, front line side of city building, Street referred to Conservancy for compliance.

Willia May Brown, Mount Zion church (adjacent) opposed. Impact on people doing city and county business, church services and garbage pickup conflict. Church not consulted in plans.

Barry Summers, land swap proposed, speculative issue.

Jennifer Caffee, historic building, Hayes & Hopson building part of historic downtown. National Register status. Irresponsible to throw this building away.

Johnny Grant, Mount Zion church has been invisible in discussion. Wonderful building in wrong location. Proposes land swap with Mount Zion church land to put building back farther, relate to the Block.

Herman Turk, Renaissance Hotel, development way too large for the space. Pack Square our Washington Mall, our Central Park.

Ben Scales, Preservation Society position opposes demolition of Hayes & Hopson building. Part of collection of historic buildings. Built as Westall Lumber Company. Julia Wolfe was a Westall. Building was a part of Pack Square.

Steve Harrell, architect and environmentalist. Not a bad building but in the wrong spot. Scale overwhelms city hall; jail and jail expansion blocks view from Beaucatcher Mountain

Leni Sitnick, former mayor – nice building wrong place, insult to giver of park land. Bad for Eagle / Market Street development.

Steve Rasmussen, submitted written report to P&Z, lipstick on an elephant. Context important. Violations of 7 standards – injures value of adjoining property, fire access and danger of fire prevents public events in park.

Vicky Bearman – for magnolia tree. Land in dispute. Graffiti opportunities on buff stone.

Bill Muloney, downtown businessman. Blocks Eagle / Market and park. Interferes with Shindig and other park events.

John Curry, works downtown, opposes this building on this site as not consistent with 7 standards as not reasonably compatible with park andf also reduces value of adjoining park property.

Noah Scott, bad site

Bob Mountain, retired landscape architect and planner. Major objection – does not allow sufficient space around city hall. Need to allow 100 feet space to south of city hall. Battery Park condos are not selling; doubts economic viability of project.

Mike Fryar – developer owns property – city closed down Riverside racetrack

Elaine Lite – city master plan for downtown development needs to be finished before action on this proposal.

Claire Hanrahan – petition to preserve park and tree –

(missed name) Reviews history of deal, lots of questions about it

Tim Emory – construction business – lots of balance to proposal, supports it.

Derrrett Briggs – character of downtown Asheville at risk – precedent set of intrusion into park space.

8:27. Bissett (16 opposed 3 favored) We can take care of the staging if Conservancy will talk with us. Facts vs. fiction.

Questions from Commission – Staging concerns? To Oast – staging area must be approved by police and fire in TRC. Crane radius in city air space? Oast – will look into this. Where did new road idea come from? Shannon Tuch – original plan did have road, but revised plan approved by DOT did not include road. Guidelines developed by Conservancy and approved by city and county 2003, but do not control private property including Hayes & Hopson building and property sold by county.

Comments by P&Z members: Hart – too big and too tall. Byers – puzzled by omission of Hayes & Hopson building from Pack Square guidelines, city response to land swap also puzzling. City building iconic to particular degree – teeshirts and mugs. Final issue fairness; from ground level view of city building improved by moving building back. Jones – concerned about city response to land swap and lack of communication between Coleman and Conservancy, too big but fairness issue, concerned about street which could be public space – why is it necessary? Cathey – . dispute about pictures of viewshed. Cannady – property rights vs too tall – would prefer one story less but will that make a significant difference. Habitat support a plus. Weeks – plans like 2020 and guidelines – not support city goals and standards. Cannady move, Byers seconds- approve as submitted. 3 for 3 against – does not pass.

This will go to City Council automatically.

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I agree with you, Gordon … but I would say it was truly ‘a victory for common sense and ethical behavior’ if the vote was 6-0. Sadly, it was a tie … so 3 of the 6 were willing to overlook many of the very questionable issues and approve it anyway. We won this round by the skin of our teeth. We need to keep the pressure on until this is resolved by City Council.

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From a reader:

“Just got a call from Charu at WLOS. She told me Stewart Coleman says he’s going ahead with plans and will take them to the city.”

Looks like it’s time for another marathon City Council meeting!

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VIDEO

WLOS News Report
http://www.wlos.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/wlos_vid_491.shtml

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The latest newsletter from Asheville PARC states:

Placing the ugly back of this building facing The Block also continues the historic separation of black and white in our town. Is this really the message we want to send?

While I appreciate the point made, I think it’s important to note that the proposed Performing Arts Center, which just received a $1M donation from the Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation in Atlanta, will most likely be built at the current location of the city staff parking lot; that is directly behind the proposed Parkside condos and on the corner of Eagle/Spruce (on block from The Block). I assume it will face south.

The question I have is this: Did Susanne Marcus Collins apply for one of the two available Parkside condo penthouses as a condition of her donation to the Performing Arts Center which would be built across the street?

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Council will decide Parkside condos’ fate, developer says

Developer Stewart Coleman said Thursday he will push for City Council approval of an 11-story condominium building despite the city Planning and Zoning Commission’s failure to endorse the project.

The commission tied on a 3-3 vote Wednesday on whether to recommend City Council approval of the building, which would be located 135 feet west of City Hall on the edge of Pack Square Park.

The issue automatically goes to council unless Coleman requests otherwise.

Coleman said Thursday his project team will look at a city staff report to consider changes it recommends. The staff report endorsed the project but said the building’s height should be reduced by one story.

A council vote has not yet been scheduled. City planner Alan Glines said it will almost surely come no sooner than May.

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