The steering committee for the Asheville Downtown Master Plan met this afternoon to discuss its first draft. It was expressly “not for distribution,†but persons present complained that it wanted 2% of profits from new development to go to what amounts to goals of city council, like the arts and affordable housing. It proposed “freezing downtown in time†and putting skyscrapers on the periphery. Chris Peterson and Albert Sneed fought for property rights, and Dwight Butner and David Brown chimed in. Pat Whalen argued for finding the middle ground for people who wanted to exercise property rights and those who wanted to control others’ rights. Peterson argued that business people were the dynamo for downtown, but their concerns, such as unaddressed aggressive panhandling and graffiti, were ignored in the plan.
The steering committee was supposed to act as ambassadors to promote the plan, and just about everybody was uneasy about some aspects. A public meeting had been scheduled for next week. That seemed too soon, but the master planners were out of dough. Peterson, perhaps as an intentional torpedo, suggested the planners return to council with a request for more funds. He argued there was no point to fast-tracking a document that was sure to create a mess. The planners would soon be gone, but downtown business owners would be stuck with whatever was imposed.
All but two in the room liked the idea. One was the person who had to approach council with the request.
