WECAN Board Meeting July 11, 2013 at 64 Clingman Ave.
Board Members Present were: Byron Ballard, Joe Fioccola, Rachel Larson, Luke W. Perry and Pattiy Torno . Board Members not present were Jeff Carnivale, Jessie Nell Coleman, Tom Gibson, AnnaBeth Hardcastle, Mike Kenton, Yuri Koslen, JoAnn Skinner and Suzanne Willis. Also present were: Stephanie Greiner, Alicia Kaiser, Jane Mathews, Linda Rettig, Rafael Rettig and Officer Tyler Radford,
Luke called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. with a round of introductions, after which the June Meeting minutes were approved as distributed. There was no Treasurer's report.
APD CRO Update: Tyler reported that Evan Coward is reassigned as our CRO for South/Central District. He also reported that National Night Out would be observed locally at Carrier Park on Tuesday August 6 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. He encouraged WECAN members to attend. It is also with some regret that his personal career path and training opportunities may prevent him from serving as Community Resource Officer in the near future but he will let us know if and when he is reassigned and who his replacement will be. He complemented WECAN as we are held up as an example of a model community. He also reported that The Traffic Safety Unit also had a new supervisor but he would check with Officer John Derrick about the planned operations for Clingman Avenue and on South French Broad Avenue.
BLOCK JESSIE UPDATES: Alicia reported that her house under construction on the site of the Old Club House on Club St was supposed to be finished by the end of August but may actually be closer to September or October. Joanne is back in town. Bret is out of town. Yuri is fathering. Street lights are still out on Clingman Ave.All Souls Pizza is about to open where the Silver Dollar and The Asheville Tap were. 12Bones ownership is changing hands but nothing else should change. The Bull and Beggar will open soon on Riverside Drive near the Railroad trestle.
CLINGMAN FOREST GREENWAY: Steven Lee Johnson and Jane Matthews were on hand to lead a second round of discussions regarding the greenway. Siteworks Studios and Matthews Architects areworking on The Clingman Forest Greenway and the Town Branch Greenway which are two of the 6 to 8 projects in the works in the East of the Riverway area. Their priority tasks are to identify alignments, constraints and opportunities.The prime constraints are large old growth trees, steep slopes and private property ownership. There is also an opportunity to increase parking for the Tennis Center west of the tennis courts with a turnaround at the south end at one trailhead. There is an opportunity for WECAN when the trails are constructed to rescue some desirable vegetation such as wild azaleas, etc. Tonight they were looking for input on connectivity between WECAN and the greenway. We looked at examples of signage including: identifying signs atop existing street signs, trail connector signs showing walking or hiking. Jane advised that the Greenways commission was looking for some uniform thread, graphic or color for all greenways in the city and that the chamber may fund way finding maps for the city-wide trail system. There were several examples of signage at the trail head entryways. They also looked at design elements currently in the neighborhood such as the neighborhood logo sign, the John Payne Bus stop bench, the metal Kiosks at the Owens Bell bus stop shelter, etc. and raised the question of materials or designs for amenities such as trash cans, overlooks, benches and rails. Materials under consideration include locust wood, metal and stone. Lighting was also mentioned as important. In contrast to the greenway along WT Weaver Blvd the CF-Greenway is not visible from any street and without directions hikers can get lost. The idea for trailheads ( three were suggested) include a framework to which art can be applied or text labels to a base, stand, framework, archway or pillars. The style that appears to be emerging for WECAN is metal and local, and not fancy or out of a catalog but something that gives a more timeless appearance--using what is on hand. The trailhead designs at Merritt Street should reflect the residential neighborhood and the one on Clingman Extension should reflect more the River Arts District. An idea was raised to make the trailhead gateway do double duty as a rain shelter. Consideration of the vocabulary of signage design will be given focusing on way finding, orientation and style. There will be another round of meetings and the construction documents will be completed in 2 months. Then construction funding will be sought. There is also an idea to make the Aston Park Trail head at the corner of South French Broad Avenue and Hilliard Avenue. Next steps: Still seeking comments and suggestions from residents and request all comments come from one source. Luke volunteered to relay them. Consideration giver to safety, vistas and overlooks then a closer look at overlooks, bench placement, hand railings, signage by late August or early September. Rafael brought up the issue of erosion after he removed hundreds of tires also the sighting of a family of foxes. Pattiy identified a runoff area behind Clingman Café. The next public input meeting will be at the Dr Wesley Grant Southside Center on August 15 or 20.
ADC DESIGN/BUILD PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE AT JEAN WEBB PARK PROJECT: Luke reported that it is moving along even thought no ground has been broken yet. The metal work is almost done off site. He showed a model of the bridge. and reported that more input is still needed. They are still shooting for an August 2 completion date. He listed a host of contributors but funds are still needed for completion. Tax exempt contributions may be made to the Asheville Design Center. Progress is being recorded in a blog: AVLDESIGNBUILD.WORDPRESS.COM.
YOUTH EMPOWERED SOLUTIONS/ASHEVILLE REAL FOOD requested a letter of support to the Hot Spot at 79 Asheland Ave to stock more healthy food items. Pattiy recalled that WECAN had made contact with the head office who even engaged a consultant but since Selena Sullivan stopped working there they have been less responsive. Tyler advised that he and Evan work secondary there and may be able to acquire a contact name or number.
MASTER PLANNING: The committee will meet again on July 25 at 6:30 at 62 Park Square to review and finalize the goal statement and some recent movement by the city :
DEVELOPMENT UPDATES: The Dave Steel property developers have pulled the original plan from the TRC (Technical Review Committee) due to the city's inability to fund a parking deck and are reconsidering the development without a public parking component. Pattiy noted that parking is a constant problem in the area and at a recent RADBA meeting the number one issue was parking.
ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY: Joe reported that a replacement sign was ordered and may take up to four weeks. He also showed the 15 year sticker to go on both signs.
CLINGMAN/HILLIARD PED-HEAD MIS-PLACEMENT: The pole closest to the metal vane sculpture is totally wrong. the placement on that corner is placed as if it was a 90 degree corner when in fact the entire intersection is skewed in a parallelogram. From the December 2/2011 minutes: Ped Head crossing lights are funded as a part of this project but will be going up after it is completed. Pattiy requested an input meeting when the Ped Head project phase begins so that the city can talk us through what is coming and hopefully about a month in advance. In Feb 2012 Barb Mee showed plans for pedestrian crossing signs but in the next 18 months no other activity or notifications were made. On June 6,2013 Joe expressed concerns because he noticed that spikes were placed in our area and one week later construction had begun. Pattiy expressed the obvious that they look awful. Joe will talk to Marsha when he sees her at the next Neighborhood Advisory Committee meeting--to which, by the way, he has been appointed.
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: after some discussion the general membership meeting was set to be concurrent with the next WECAN board meeting on August 1 at 164 Clingman Avenue with pot luck food. At that meeting discussion of a non-business social party possibly out of doors sometime thereafter.
GARDEN CLUB: Joe set the next date at Owens Bell Park for Tuesday July 23rd at 5 p.m. for any one interested in helping.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
DRAFT Minutes submitted by Joe Fioccola.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday July 12 River Music funk bands galore
Saturday July 13 River Arts District Second Saturdays Ceramics and Sculpture Demonstrations
Tuesday July 23 5pm-dark Owens Bell Park Garden Club
Fri-Sun July 26-28 Final City Sponsored Bele Chere (volunteer with GO)
Thursday July 25 6:30 Master Planning Sub Committee Meeting at 62 Park Square (Not a museum)
Monday July 29 5 p.m. French Broad River Greenways Coalition @ Sims and Steele on Merrimon Ave
Thursday August 1 WECAN semi annual General Membership Meeting 6:30 at 64 Clingman Avenue
Tuesday August 6 National Night Out at Carrier Park 5:30-7:30
Thursday August 15 Greenworks Root Fest Fundraiser5 6:30-9:30 318 Riverside Dr(new location)
