The public had a lot to say about the proposed business improvement district, or BID, at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Many residents waited hours and waded through confusing, contradictory instructions from the city. Nearly 50 people persisted and spoke out on the topic, both in favor of and against the BID.
The confusion came from conflicting information about the meeting start time. An official notice issued by the city said the meeting started at 4 p.m., but that it was “highly unlikely that the public hearing on the Business Improvement District will start before 7 p.m.” The city’s website did not say anything about a delayed start for the public hearing.
State law requires notice of a BID proposal hearing to be sent to any property owner in the proposed area. Council member Maggie Ullman said the mailing created confusion.
“And in that mailing we said 7 p.m. So it just feels like a rock and a hard place,” she said. “We want to honor that by not having the bid conversation until 7.”
Resident and governmental transparency advocate Patrick Conant called the process “unnecessarily complicated.” Another speaker, Barron Northup, referred to the situation as “scheduling chicanery.”
Council member Kim Roney acknowledged the scenario as “a failure on our part” to be consistent.
“When we're not consistent, it makes it hard for people to show up and then folks are upset with us about the process and not the issue,” she said.
About 30 people showed up at 4 p.m., ready to speak. Council went about its regular business for about an hour and a half.
The meeting was led by Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore as Mayor Esther Manheimer was absent due to the Passover holiday, according to city spokesperson Kim Miller.
At around 5:30 p.m., when many expected the public hearing to begin, City Attorney Brad Branham suggested the BID hearing should not start until 7 p.m. — the time when the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Asheville Downtown Association planned to present on the proposed BID.
“So we have sent out advertisements on this – and I apologize for missing this during my first remarks – that the BID public hearing would not start until 7 p.m.,” Branham said. “So we are moving very quick tonight because of having several items moved, but Council may want topostpone starting until that time.”
Council members, including Ullman and Sage Turner, backed this suggestion. Council opted to start general public comment rather than the BID public hearing. Regular public comment is typically one of the last items in the city's meetings.
The delay frustrated residents who arrived as early as 3:30 p.m. to sign up to speak at the public hearing.
Magnolia Baxter, a local educator, brought their students at 3:45 to speak. Because of the time discrepancy, they had to leave before getting a chance to speak.
“I felt like it was really important to come and I took a lot of time out of my day,” Baxter said. “I feel like I kind of just wasted their time.”
Baxter continued, “the dissemination of information hasn't been only paper since like the ‘90s. So why would it not be on the website? It feels kind of disingenuous.”
Resident Nina Tovish took the regular public comment period to call for the BID hearing to start.
“I'm going to urge you to extend the time available and I'm going to urge you to start it now,” Tovish said. “Is there anyone here who doesn't feel prepared to comment? Because they haven't seen a presentation? Please raise your hand.”
She continued, “No, these people are ready to speak now.”
Kilgore eventually relented, starting the BID hearing at 6:30 when regular public comment ended.
Of the 58 people who signed up to speak at the public hearing, 48 ended up participating.
In an email, city spokesperson Kim Miller explained the time discrepancy.
“A specific start time for the BID presentation was not detailed on the agenda to afford maximum flexibility as the agenda was formalized in the nearly 4 weeks between the first notification of change and the regularly scheduled City Council meeting,” she said.
She also said council “adjusted the meeting schedule on site to meet the needs of those community members who arrived early as well as those who understood the opportunity to speak would be after the BID presentation.”
More than three hours later… the BID hearing began
Once the public hearing finally started, residents expressed mixed reactions to the proposal for a business improvement district.
Under the current plan, the BID will tax downtown property owners and the money will go into a fund controlled by a largely unelected board. The estimated $1.25 million fund would support beautification, cleaning and public safety initiatives downtown.
The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Asheville Downtown Association proposed the BID, citing a need for additional safety and cleaning downtown.
Sherree Lucas, the president of independent business organization Go Local, spoke in favor of the BID.
“It’s important that our downtown is clean and safe for businesses, for their employees, for local residents and their visitors and tourists. I think the BID will go a long way towards giving our local community the downtown it deserves,” she said.
JB McKibbon IV, who owns several large commercial properties downtown and is a member of the BID Steering Committee, said the area needs additional services.
“We've had employees that have been mugged. Unfortunately they feel unsafe, you know, walking to their vehicles. We've had riots in our hotel,” he said. “So it's not all about police but an additional presence in downtown to make it clean and safe.”
Opponents of the BID expressed skepticism about the meaning of the term “clean and safe.”
Educator Kyle Teller said the words can be a “dog whistle against marginalized groups.”
Another resident, Madison Hayse, said “there's no clear definition on what clean and safe actually means. My initial reaction to a board that isn't publicly appointed is clean for who and safe for who?”
She reminded council of prior decisions she said hurt marginalized groups.
“This all sounds too familiar of Asheville's painful history of breaking up and pushing out thriving black communities through redlining.”
Critics also questioned the BID’s proposed ambassador program, which would hire around 16 ambassadors to clean up downtown and engage with members of the public – from tourists looking for directions to unhoused people in crisis.
Erin Mastandrea, a permanent supportive housing case manager, told the council the ambassadors would not be equipped to deal with the homeless crisis.
“We're not looking at the systemic issues,” she said, referring to issues like substance use disorder and the affordable housing crisis. “Those are all public health issues that we need to start focusing on and putting money into… not, like, weird little people walking around downtown and brightly colored polo shirts who are not clinically trained.”
Not the first BID proposal
In 2012, a group of business owners and other downtown stakeholders attempted to create a BID in downtown Asheville, which ultimately failed.
Susan Griffin co-chaired the committee that proposed the plan 11 years ago, but Tuesday night she spoke out against the BID.
“It has too many unresolved and underdeveloped elements, too little real community input, a false sense of urgency to get it done,” she said. “A bad BID is worse than no BID at all.”
The city will accept at least one more round of public comment at the Asheville Downtown Commission meeting onFriday morning.
In order for a BID to pass, the proposal must go through a public hearing and two readings which are tentatively scheduled for May 14 and June 11.
Under state law, property owners within the proposed BID area who want to opt out may petition Asheville City Council in writing within five days of the public hearing.
From the consent agenda
Council approved a 22-item consent agenda. Highlights from the agenda include:
- The Vance Monument is finally being removed after a lengthy court battle. The city ratified a $99,402 contract with Chonzie, Inc. to finalize the process. The work is anticipated to be completed by the end of July 2024. After the remaining portion of the monument base is removed, the resolution said that staff will work with “a minority-owned local landscape contractor to make landscaping improvements to the site.”
- A $1.7 million contract with Rock Creek Grading, Inc. for repairs on Vance Gap Road. A landslide damaged the road in April 2021.
- Approval to demolish a derelict home on South French Broad Ave. Several residents spoke out in favor of this measure, citing safety and crime issues taking place in and around the abandoned structure.
- A request for $11 million from the Federal Transit Administration to purchase 15 new diesel buses.
Other tidbits
- Council approved $4.8 million in investments to help build 197 affordable housing units. The money comes from the city’s Housing Trust Fund and will support five projects through low or zero interest development loans. See the full slate of funding recipients.
- Council also approved $237,000 in Strategic Partnership Grants that will support youth literacy, food security, transportation access and other community-led programming. See more details on the recipients.
- Some public commenters renewed their calls for city council to pass an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire resolution.
Every second and fourth Tuesday, Asheville City Council meets at the Council Chamber on the 2nd Floor of City Hall, 70 Court Plaza beginning at 5:00 p.m. See the full recording of the April 23 meeting and the agenda.
