Coming out of a pandemic with limited resources, the Fiscal Year 2021-22 Budget approved by Asheville City Council June 22 still includes service improvements to our community, such as extended evening transit hours starting in October and expanded evening and weekend hours for youth at City Recreation Centers. The budget, which goes into effect July 1, [...]
While the pandemic put a pause on the Noise Ordinance revisions it also allowed City staff to further engage Asheville’s music community and downtown residents and be part of the City’s Reimagining Public Safety conversation. And because this initiative began under a previous City Council, Development Services Director Ben Woody gave an update to the current [...]
In March, the Environmental Protection Agency revised its Lead and Copper Rule that strengthens regulations for eliminating lead from drinking water. The new requirements mandates, among other things, that water utilities nationwide increase tap water testing, and that they create a service line inventory to check for the presence of lead pipes in water systems, [...]
With the new fiscal year will come new registration and renewal fees for alarm systems in the City of Asheville. Following an overwhelming number of false alarms coming into the Asheville Police Department — 97% of which were false alarms — City Council adopted a revised Alarm Ordinance at its June 22 meeting. According to the [...]
The Asheville Fire Department is requesting the authorization to apply for a FEMA Firefighters Grant of $130,910 to provide funding to purchase two air compressors to allow greater accessibility to fill air bottles used by firefighters during operation at a fire scene. During their June 22 meeting, Asheville City Council authorized a resolution for the City [...]
The City of Asheville’s AVL Shares Space temporary outdoor expansion initiatives launched in the spring 2020 to support safe business operations and customer access in alignment with COVID-19 public health guidelines. In fall 2020, the City extended these temporary initiatives to align with the Local State of NC Emergency issued [...]
Asheville City Council will continue meeting in person June 22 and July 27 at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville Banquet Hall, 87 Haywood St. This comes on the heels of not only Gov. Roy Cooper’s easing of statewide facemask and social distancing restrictions per Executive Order 209 but also Buncombe County’s action [...]
Construction for the French Broad River West Greenway is under way! This greenway will extend from the southern end of the French Broad River Park near the dog park to the existing greenway under the Haywood Road bridge. Current activities include surveying, soil and sedimentation protection and preliminary grading. Part of the preliminary grading work includes [...]
At the June 8 City Council meeting, City Council voted unanimously to enter into a contract with environmental strategy firm AECOM to update the City’s Sustainability Management Plan into a Municipal Climate Action Plan [MCAP]. The purpose of the Municipal Climate Action Plan is to update the [...]
On June 18, Asheville City offices will be closed in observance of Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. Technically on June 19, it marks the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, were finally told they were free. These enslaved people learned they were free two years after [...]
Asheville’s streets keep getting better, thanks to investments in annual resurfacing coupled with the bond program. Two downtown streets will be resurfaced this year as part of the bond program. They include Carolina Lane and Langren Alley. Both alleys have been identified as beneficial pedestrian corridors and this resurfacing will improve the surface for both vehicular [...]
The 9th annual Carolina Brotherhood ride picks back up after a year off due to COVID and is set to take off from Asheville on June 14 and finish on June 18 covering 650 miles. The six-day ride to include 8 riders from AFD and APD will cover 130 miles on the first day paying [...]