Council punts West Asheville APD resource center relocation
The Asheville Police Department will wait at least another month to relocate its West Asheville base from Haywood Road to the Tanger Outlets on Brevard Road. Asheville City Council removed a 10-year lease agreement for the new location from the consent agenda during its Tuesday meeting.
As outlined in a city staff report, the new police resource center would more than double the current 1,800 square feet facility at 970 Haywood Road. Tanger Outlets has also renovated the space at its own expense of roughly $1 million, offering APD greater security and capacity than officers have at the current building, which was originally built as a library in 1953. Asheville’s rent for the new base would start at $6,000 per month, with a total estimated cost of about $837,000 over the 10-year term.
Council had originally planned to vote on the lease last month but postponed the move after hearing concerns from West Asheville organizations. The area has been a locus of public safety complaints in recent months, particularly regarding panhandling and homelessness. Council members did not address the additional postponement during the meeting, although member Kim Roney subsequently told BPR that the city hoped to have more conversations with neighborhood groups.
Although police patrols in West Asheville would remain unchanged after the relocation, according to a Nov. 17 memo on the issue, some residents and businesses fear that moving the APD substation would eliminate an important deterrent on the busy Haywood commercial corridor. Speaking with Council’s Public Safety Committee on Nov. 20, former City Manager Debra Campbell acknowledged those worries but argued the ultimate outcome would be positive.
“It is being perceived as something being taken away. We actually feel that it is additive, that we truly are creating an environment where the officers in particular are in addition to [current capacity] and can conduct business out of the facility that we are leasing,” Campbell said Nov. 20.
Mayor Esther Manheimer said the matter will be taken up at Council’s meeting Tuesday, Jan. 27. APD continues to operate the current West Asheville resource center, along with centers in Oakley on Fairview Road, South Asheville on Walden Ridge Drive, and North Asheville at Fire Station 13 on Broadway.
City allocates $24M for Helene debris removal
As Asheville continues to pick up the pieces from Hurricane Helene, Council approved two contracts funding that work. The first supplements an existing $6 million contract with Greer, South Carolina-based Southern Disaster Recovery by an additional $20 million. The company will continue to remove and haul away storm debris, including downed plant materials in the Bee Tree reservoir that serves the city’s water system.
The second contract awards $4 million to Miami-based CDR Maguire for debris removal monitoring as required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Both contracts are expected to be reimbursed in full by FEMA and state funds, with no direct cost to the city.
The agreements come after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wrapped up its own debris removal work throughout the city of Asheville in August. Asheville had contracted with Southern Disaster Recovery in the immediate wake of the storm, but cancelled that contract in October 2024, allowing USACE to take over. As reported by BPR, local conservation nonprofits and U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards subsequently raised concerns that the USACE’s approach to debris removal damaged area waterways.
Other tidbits
- Council approved a $24 million bond issue from the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville to fund a 120-unit affordable apartment complex in Woodfin. As reported by the Biltmore Beacon, the development’s site at 28 Reynolds Mountain Boulevard has been vacant for several years after a housing project approved in 2018 fell through. The bonds will be repaid with revenue from the housing project and aren’t tied to Asheville’s tax base. Construction on the new project is expected to begin this month and conclude by September 2027.
- Asheville plans to apply for a $250,000 grant from the French Broad Metropolitan Planning Organization to fund a multimodal transportation study on Hilliard Avenue. The work could include bike lanes and other changes to the corridor, which will likely see different traffic patterns due to the Interstate 26 Connector project. Council also adopted the FBRMPO’s Safe Streets for WNC Plan, aiming to reduce pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle crashes across the city.
- Jonathan Anzollitto, an analyst with local consultancy Urban3, was appointed to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission from a field of nearly 20 applicants. The body, which makes key development recommendations to City Council, now has its full complement of seven members. An extra vacancy opened last month after Council removed Jared Wheatley.
- Over a dozen residents spoke during public comment, urging Council to implement the Missing Middle Housing Study the city released in 2023. Most claimed an affiliation with two “yes in my backyard” groups, Asheville For All and Strong Towns Asheville. In a break with usual public comment protocol, several Council members expressed their appreciation for the housing advocates and shared their desire to promote housing options like duplexes and townhouses.
- In response to a BPR public records request, Asheville released its full employment agreement with newly hired City Manager Dakisha “DK” Wesley. She will be paid $265,000 per year — slightly less than the $273,261 Campbell was earning at her departure — along with a $7,200 annual vehicle allowance, $10,000 relocation reimbursement, and 165 hours of vacation per year.
- Council approved its schedules for both regular meetings and budget worksessions throughout 2026. Meetings will not take place on July 14, Aug. 11, Nov. 24, or Dec. 22; the meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 27, will move to 10 a.m. The public hearing on the fiscal year 2026-27 budget will occur Tuesday, May 26.
Asheville City Council regularly meets every second and fourth Tuesday at the Council Chamber on the second floor of City Hall, 70 Court Plaza, beginning at 5 p.m. However, due to the winter holidays, the next meeting will take place Tuesday, Jan. 13. See the full recording and documents from the Dec. 9 meeting.
