As you surely know, Physis backed out of a Smart Growth, urban infill development project just north of downtown Asheville. They were egged on by groups organized to preserve the status quo of their neighborhoods, who probably wouldn’t appreciate being referred to as NIMBY’s. In Physis’ letter withdrawing their proposal, representatives wrote, “Enough is enough.” They pointed out how the city’s ordinances and council’s goals are at odds with each other and with themselves. They were also disappointed at the expense and element of surprise associated with trying to build in Asheville. They asked the city to be more respectful of developers’ expenditures in time and money trying to meet the city’s expectations, and maybe do something to level the playing field so neighborhood groups wouldn’t have such an easy time of leveling their efforts.
As if in response, the city decided to accept $30,000 from the Z Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Dynamic Governance Institute to “to facilitate the development of training materials and process [sic.?] to enhance partnerships to build neighborhood capacity” in several public housing developments referred to as the “South French Broad neighborhood.” The concept is reminiscent of Yugoslavia, but who cares. The added neighborhood capacity mentioned here is not infill development. Instead, it means, “strengthening effective neighborhood participation in policy and planning decisions.”
