Homelessness in Asheville has long been a serious and complex issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has both highlighted and heightened this reality. While the homeless service system we’ve had in Asheville has ended homelessness for a small number of people annually, it’s never had the resources to operate at a scale that will make homelessness truly [...]
In anticipation of the lifting of the Governor’s State of Emergency due to Covid-19, the City of Asheville is preparing to return to in-person board and commission meetings. The State of Emergency is slated to be lifted July 30. The City acted swiftly last year to find ways to continue serving the community by going to [...]
Did you know that in the US nearly 40% of food is wasted, clogging our landfills and costing us over $408 billion annually?! The City of Asheville is working hard to think of solutions to reduce our waste and save our food. The City of Asheville’s Office of Sustainability, in partnership with Sanitation and Buncombe County, [...]
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 [...]