City of Asheville 2008 Highlights & Accomplishments         (PDF Version)

The City of Asheville will offer a standard of living that is affordable and attainable for people of all income levels, life stages and abilities:

• In an effort to make Asheville more affordable for citizens of all income levels, Asheville City Council held the line on the city’s tax rate and avoided a rate increase during the 2008-09 budget process.
  
• The City of Asheville and the Regional Housing Consortium supported 54 projects in 2007-08 with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) funds. These projects created 584 units of affordable housing and served more than 6,000 citizens through human service programs. In addition, 40 micro-businesses were started or expanded through these programs. By working with other partners and programs, the city supported the creation of an additional 241 affordable units.
  
• City Council continues to leverage substantial private investment in developing affordable housing through its annual allocation to the Housing Trust Fund (HTF). The Housing Trust Fund provides the critical public investment needed by private developers to make affordable projects feasible. An additional 76 affordable units were produced in 2007-08 by making $1.6 million in HTF funds available through low-interest loans.
  
• During 2008, the city launched Priority Places, an interactive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping tool that allows users to research locations for new or expanding businesses. This tool generates maps that highlight optimal locations for specific business activities. Priority Places is designed to strengthen quality economic development investment in the city of Asheville.
  
• The city has conducted an extensive public process throughout 2008 seeking proposals for redeveloping key city-owned properties. The purpose of this project is to support specific City Council goals including the creation of affordable housing and promoting infill development, among others. The city has received proposals on four sites and is currently in negotiations with development teams for the properties. Proposed projects include two workforce housing projects, a hotel/retail development, and a mixed use project in the historic Eagle-Market Street business district.
  
• The City of Asheville remains committed to its goal of reducing homelessness by supporting programs and initiatives that implement the 10-year Plan to End Homelessness. In 2007-08, the city committed over $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds to provide housing and services to the homeless. Another highlight for the year was the creation of the “Spare Change for Real Change” program by the Asheville Downtown Association, which placed lockboxes in downtown Asheville for the donation of spare change to fund homeless programs.

Asheville will be the southeastern leader in clean energy and environmental sustainability while preserving and enhancing the city’s natural beauty:

• The City of Asheville continued the second year of its sustainability program by completing an Energy Management Plan for the organization. As part of these efforts, the city is closely monitoring all municipal utility bills to establish building energy management practices and reduce overall energy consumption.
  
• The City of Asheville promotes emissions-reducing transportation options including greenways, bike paths and sidewalks. During the last year, city crews installed two miles of new sidewalks. Additionally, Asheville partnered with NC-DOT to install an additional three miles of sidewalks in conjunction with road widening projects.
  
• Asheville City Council fully funded two major greenway projects, the French Broad River Corridor Connector and Hominy Creek Greenway. Once completed, these projects will add two miles of greenways in Asheville.
  
• To enhance cyclist safety and encourage biking as a transportation option, Asheville City Council adopted a Comprehensive Bicycle Transportation Plan for Asheville. The first project completed as part of the plan included the installation of share the road arrows, called “sharrows,” on South French Broad Avenue.
  
• Asheville continues to produce one of the highest recycling rates in North Carolina. The city increased recycling in 2008 by 10 percent and collected 7,838 tons of recyclable material. The “Feed the Bin and Win” recycling contest increased participation in curbside recycling with rates up 21 percent during the contest.
  
• The city continues to support the carbon reduction goals set by City Council by purchasing energy efficient vehicles. During 2008, Asheville purchased two Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles, five gas-electric hybrid vehicles, and 30 flex fuel vehicles. Overall, the city owns 76 alternative vehicles including 11 CNG Vehicles, 42 flex fuel vehicles, 15 hybrid vehicles, and eight electric vehicles.
  
• In 2008, nearly 1.5 million passengers were served by the city’s public transportation bus service.
  
• In an effort to partner with large employers in the Asheville area to promote public transportation, Asheville Transit continued its Transit Passport program, which provides bulk discounts for transit services for employees of participating organizations. Buncombe County government, Greenlife, and the Grove Park Inn & Spa all joined the Transit Passport program to encourage employees to ride the bus to work.
  
• Asheville Transit received $2.1 million to acquire five hybrid buses, furthering efforts to develop a green transit fleet. In addition, Asheville Transit received a Federal Transit Administration grant to develop an Environmental Management System.

Asheville will be one of the safest and most secure communities when compared to similar cities:

• The City of Asheville made significant investments in maintaining a safe community in 2008. Forty-one new officers graduated from the Police Academy this year. In addition, City Council approved the creation of a gang suppression unit, which investigates gang related crimes throughout the city. Detectives are also tasked with gaining intelligence, suppressing, and cataloguing gang activity. The detectives actively participated in more than 50 gang education presentations to the community.
  
• More than 100 adults and nearly 40 teenagers graduated from the Citizens Police Academy and Junior Police Academy in 2007-2008. These programs provide an in-depth and behind-the-scenes education about police operations and crime prevention.
  
• In a continuing effort to provide information on public safety efforts and the actions of the Asheville Police Department to deter crime in Asheville neighborhoods, the Asheville Police department launched the online Asheville Police Blotter. Visit www.ashevillenc.gov/police to see the results.
  
• In 2008, the City of Asheville and the Asheville Police Department continued its commitment to drug interdiction and prevention efforts. More than 1,100 drug-related arrests were made, 30,904 rocks of crack cocaine were seized, $227,725 was confiscated from drug-related cases, and 452 guns were seized in drug cases.
  
• The Asheville Fire-Rescue Department responded to more than 13,623 calls for service, averaging about 45 calls per day during 2008.
  
• As part of its ongoing commitment to maintain and improve emergency response coverage throughout the city, the Asheville Fire-Rescue Department secured property for a fire station in West Asheville and placed into operation a portable emergency generator for shelters and government operations. In addition, six firefighters were added to the organization in July 2008.
  
• The City of Asheville Fire and Rescue Department has instituted a new rapid emergency notification service called CodeRED®. The new system distributes emergency messages via telephone at a rate of 1,000 calls per minute. CodeRed has been activated 60 times in 2008. Asheville city residents and water customers are encouraged to enter their contact information for home, business, and mobile phones so they may be contacted by the system in the event of an emergency. To register, visit www.ashevillenc.gov/fire.

Asheville will support a sustainable community and a sustainable city government through a strong commitment to infrastructure maintenance, capital improvements, and long-term planning and fiscal responsibility:

• With approval from Asheville City Council, the city’s Planning and Development Department facilitated the review of new downtown development including 145 hotel rooms, 204 residential units and approximately 23,000 square feet of retail space.
  
• The City of Asheville continued to develop a Downtown Master Plan, which will provide an extensive assessment of opportunities and challenges associated with future growth and development in downtown Asheville. The plan takes current community goals into account with previous planning efforts in order to provide a clear and predictable framework for both developers and citizens. For further information about the Downtown Master Plan, visit www.ashevillenc.gov/ed.
  
• The City of Asheville continued its commitment to providing safe and reliable drinking water to the region by repairing and replacing critical water infrastructure. City Council approved a $40 million revenue bond for water line replacement projects. With these improvements, the City of Asheville can provide more consistent water service to many customers. The new water lines are larger and made of upgraded material, which makes them less likely to break and better equipped for fire protection services. The City of Asheville installed in 2008 more than 25 miles of new water pipe in the system. In addition, the Bee Tree Water Plant was put back into operation, supplementing water production as the area’s population grows.
  
• The city continued its participation in the Regional Wayfinding Project in 2008. The wayfinding system will help direct residents and tourists to key civic facilities, visitor attractions, and public parking, and will assist in creating a safer and pedestrian friendly city.
  
• In cooperation with the non-profit Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, the city completed and opened the new Asheville City Market downtown on city property. The City Market includes more than 60 vendor members and provides community retail space for farm-grown and local foods and gifts. The City Market will have an economic impact of over $1.5 million and assists local growers. More information is available at www.asapconnections.org.
  
• The city is in the final stages of introducing an updated Standard and Specifications Manual. These standards apply to all construction on public property, rights-of-way and private property to ensure safety and functionality of systems serving residents and/or connecting to systems maintained by the City of Asheville. More information is available at www.ashevillenc.gov/departments/trans_engineering.
  
• The Office of Economic Development worked with Land Of Sky Regional Council to secure $800,000 in funding for the identification and remediation of Brownfields sites. The program will create new opportunities for economic development in distressed areas of the city.
  
• Working with economic development partners, the city developed a program to assist local manufacturers with major expansions within the city limits. As a result of this program, the city ratified an economic development grant with Unison Engine Components to assist with the company’s $15 million expansion.
  
• In 2008, the city launched mapAsheville, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) web-based mapping tool designed to strengthen quality economic development investment within the city. It provides electronic maps that can display multi-layered pictures and information about a specific area. It also allows citizens to map large-scale development activity by neighborhood. To view this application, visit http://www.ashevillenc.gov/online_services.