No Momentum

Asheville PARC

The Health Adventure is bankrupt. Eight million dollars in donations has been wasted. One and a half million dollars of it was taxpayers’ money.

Two years ago, neighbors were stunned to see the beautiful trees along Broadway clear cut to build a tourist attraction called Momentum. Ten acres of beautiful trees were lost and what was left was a mud hole surrounded by an ugly chain-link fence.

Neighbors were continually misled about the plans — “We’re environmentalists, we’ll leave most of the large trees” — and the prospects for completion — “Construction will start in winter!”

And now comes word that the mud hole will remain indefinitely and
then the property will be sold. What’s next? A shopping center?
Condominiums?

City Council did not create this mess, but they can take the lead in cleaning it up. The council can help in many ways:

•     City Council can acquire the land for a park. The
Broadway area is developing rapidly — GreenLife, the Pioneer Building —
and if green areas are not saved, there won’t be any.

•     Council can zone the land to prevent the worse uses. They
just gave the developers permission to build 15 and 25 story buildings
downtown without going to Council. Surely this abused parcel can be
spared for greenery.

•     Council can enforce contractual obligations made by the Health Adventure to the City concerning greenway development.

•     We need a tree ordinance which requires justification for
the removal of large trees and encourages developers to remove as few
trees as possible when building.

•     Council could make sure that this is the last time
developers clearcut an area and then leave an ugly mess by requiring
performance bonds before granting building permits. A performance bond
is issued by an insurance company and would pay to restore the site if
the development is not completed.

You can help too. Write to City Council and ask for their leadership in making lemonade out of this lemon.
For more information on PARC, write to
PO Box 4093, Asheville, NC 28805 or visit www.ashevilleparc.org