Earlier today, a lively impromptu discussion broke out among stakeholders in the ongoing saga of Pack Square Park. In 1999, a leaking fountain in front of city hall somehow exploded into community visioning for a grand park with an amphitheatre. A watercolor rendering even made it to the cover of the phone book.

That was several years ago. In the meantime, the city center has been mud and barricades. The local daily reported today that it may be a couple more years before the park is usable. One prominent businessman remarked that he didn’t expect he’d need a 4WD to get to work all these years. He asked what he could do to help see the project through short of writing a $25 million check.

He said the project was costing $100,000/sq. ft. The web site says the project had an initial cost of $12.5M, but realistic estimates were never that low. He said it started at $17.5M. “Now, [somebody] is going around saying it will cost $25M, and his wife is telling him to shut up.”

The project has been delayed largely because an enthusiastic nonprofit group, the Pack Square Conservancy, got in over its head in attempting to administer state and federal grants. Numerous delays have been caused by failure to perform due diligence upfront. The City of Asheville helped with a historic resources survey. They are providing engineering consulting and even office space in city hall for the project coordinator. The city fathers do not see this as mindless profligacy, but something that needs to be done to fix the black hole causing traffic jams and looking ugly – right in the city center.

Had the press been present, another prominent local would not have said, “There was a lot of naivety about administering state and federal grants from the get-go.” City staff from just about every department has been involved in the what-nows. One city engineer now works exclusively on the project. People experienced in administering federal grants understand that, “The federal government does not view noncompliance as teachable moments. They see it as –” A chorus of “Gotcha!” spread across the room.

One person noted that the only thing that had changed in the last year was when the city moved some granite to mulch for Bele Chere. Besides that, the only signs of fixing the mess have been two parked trucks and an occasional change in the paint lines on the ground. Mark Barrett’s opening line covers things nicely.