Victory!
Past Campaigns and Successes
The residents of the Battery Park Apartments and PARC led the campaign to fight the City of Asheville's plan to build a huge parking deck between the St. Lawrence Basilica and the Battery Park Apartments, a residence for low-income seniors. The plan called for a privately-owned 7-story condominium tower in front of the Basilica. We were successful - the city is no longer considering plans for a garage at this site. Now, PARC is advocating creating open, public space at this gateway to downtown.
More information:
Proposed Parking Deck Fact Sheet
The View from Battle Square
Nearby construction may rattle Asheville's historic Basilica
Hulking behemoth of a parking deck is all wrong for downtown
Apartment tenants push to stop parking garage
Changing circumstances should prompt review of parking garage plans
Richmond Hill Park
Richmond Hill Park is the City of Asheville's largest wooded city park. At 183 forested, hilly acres, this park is unique and irreplaceable. It connects the French Broad River and its adjoining wetland complex with the drier woods of the uplands. Its strength is its size, as this park caters to a wide variety of outdoor activities such as mountain biking, hiking, jogging, dog walking, bird watching and just seeking serenity. Asheville City Council planned to level a large portion of the park for a baseball field complex including 5 fields, a parking lot, a concessions building and a National Guard Armory.
A UNCA student named James Wood began calling attention to the city's plan and organizing citizens to stop the destruction of this unique park. You can read James' Richmond Hill Woods Blog for more information. With public pressure, including support for James' efforts from PARC, City Council finally scrapped it's plans for the ballfields and stopped grading for the recreation complex. Unfortunately, a great deal of damage was done to the park's special and beautiful ecosystems before Council listened to the public outcry (see photo of failed silt fences, below).
A UNCA student named James Wood began calling attention to the city's plan and organizing citizens to stop the destruction of this unique park. You can read James' Richmond Hill Woods Blog for more information. With public pressure, including support for James' efforts from PARC, City Council finally scrapped it's plans for the ballfields and stopped grading for the recreation complex. Unfortunately, a great deal of damage was done to the park's special and beautiful ecosystems before Council listened to the public outcry (see photo of failed silt fences, below).
Above: Sixteen acres of the park was already cut and graded to build a parking lot and national guard armory before City Council finally listened to public outcry and halted the destruction.
Visit Richmond Hill and experience this beautiful and unique patch of public land for yourself! Directions to the park:
- From 19/23 at UNCA exit, turn left onto Broadway.
- Turn left at stoplight onto Riverside Drive (heading south).
- Take first right onto Pearson Bridge Road, following signs for Richmond Hill Inn.
- Take next right, in middle of hairpin turn, onto Richmond Hill Drive.
- Go to top of hill and turn right.
- Take second left onto Richmond Hill Road, follow onto gravel road and into parking lot.
- Enjoy - Smith Creek Trail starts near the basket for hole 9.
The news that the city staff and council had offered the Sammons Corporation of Dallas, owners of the Grove Park Inn, an option to purchase a portion of our public park took many people by surprise. Asheville PARC grew out of the citizen effort to oppose this sale of public land to private, for-profit interests. We organized to preserve public space and "Save our Square". Nearly 2000 people joined in our efforts and signed petitions, carried signs, began letter writing and word-of- mouth campaigns, which ultimately convinced City Council not to privatize this publicly owned land. This was the beginning of Asheville PARC, which has since focused on a variety of issues related to land use, public space, and development.
