Advocacy

Urgent! Email or call the Downtown Commission in Support to the College / Patton Ave Complete Street Project

by Asheville on Bikes

Submit a comment in support of the College / Patton Complete Street Project. Your comment needs to be received before 5pm this evening (12-8-22)

Email the Commission:  AVLDowntownCommission@PublicInput.com Leave a voicemail: 855-925-2801, then entering code 9272

Call into the meeting tomorrow (12-9-22) at 9:35am to leave live public comment. Dial 855-925-2801, enter code 9272, then press * and select option 3

Support for the complete street treatment is wavering and your comment is critical in moving this project forward. Call or sent a quick email that states:

“I support the College / Patton Complete St project because it’s important that our City commits to expanding its mobility options to provide safer and greater access into and through downtown Asheville. This project aligns with the City’s of Asheville’s Comprehensive Plan and transportation planning, like the recently adopted Close the GAP. We cannot continue to lead NC in pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and death. Complete Streets are proven to be an economic driver and a component of affordability. The more mobility options into downtown the more parking is available for others.” 

Here is AoB’s letter to the Downtown Commission about this project:

Dear Downtown Commission, 

On behalf of Asheville on Bikes Board of Directors and our members (over 900 strong) I’m writing to you to encourage your support of the College / Patton Complete Street project. Asheville on Bikes and Connect Buncombe partnered to fund the design phase of this project for many good reasons.

Reasons Asheville on Bikes and Connect Buncombe support this project: 

  • Asheville continues to lead in North Carolina in pedestrian and bicyclist collisions
  • Active transportation is a component of housing affordability. Overwhelmingly lower income households rely on bicycle communing. 8.3% of City residents do not own a car; the City has the obligation to provide safe and accessible infrastructure for these residents as well as motorists.    
  • Our community continues to support investment in active transportation facilities as evidenced by the Merrimon Rd reconfiguration (currently under construction) and the recent robust support for active transportation facilities included in the upcoming Haywood Rd resurfacing project. Each individual project serves to advance the whole. Each project is a necessary piece of our future active transportation network.  
  • Active transportation investment is a critical component of urban density and downtown functionality. As the City continues to court developments like Aston St Project, 319 Biltmore Ave Project, 360 Hilliard Ave Apartment, the Maple Crest Apartments it must simultaneously invest in mobility options beyond automobiles so that people can connect to their home, their work, and places of recreation and enjoyment by a variety of modes.
  • This project is more than just adding bike lanes as it serves to maximize the utility of the public right of way; it adds an additional 175’ of loading zones, improves pedestrian crosswalks, and provides a greater buffer between people and moving vehicles.

The City’s transportation staff also supports advancing a complete street treatment through the College and Patton corridor.

The College / Patton project page addresses a variety of potential concerns: 

  • The Asheville Police Department and Asheville Fire Department have been consulted on the project design, including lane widths and configurations, to ensure that emergency vehicle access is not negatively impacted. 
  • Current traffic volumes on College and Patton are between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles per day. 
  • These daily volumes are well within thresholds for single-lane streets.
  • Business owners have also raised concerns about the bicycle facilities potentially impacting their business operations and revenue potential. Numerous studies have shown that adding bicycle facilities has no negative, and in many cases, a positive impact, on businesses. A sample of these are linked below.

Studies that show the economic impact of projects similar to College/Patton:

On Dec. 5, Patti Glazer of Glazer Architecture, PA submitted an email to the Downtown Commission requesting that the commission oppose the College / Patton Complete Street project. The letter states: 

“Public outreach has been very obscure with no public forums. Until recently, the City’s Project Page on the City of Asheville website did not even present the Plan. The only information available on-line was the study/video analyzing whether the bike lane conversion should be the right lane or the left lane. There was no discussion or information as to whether College/Patton St. is an appropriate place to implement bike lanes at all.”

Respectfully, Glazer’s critique of the process does not match the facts and timeline of public input presented by staff and posted on the project page. Public outreach began in Feb. of 2020 and will continue through Jan. 2023. The project has been presented to the Downtown Commission several times before today’s meeting. Additionally, Glazer’s email included an attachment of 36 businesses operating on the corridor. Twenty-four of the businesses claimed they were “Not Notified,” of the project but a scan of the public process shows that 41% had either received an email from the City or responded directly to the City’s Stakeholder engagement tracking.

41% of the businesses that claimed they were not notified…were notified. The City has those tracked notifications and interactions.

Our City faces many challenges and opportunities and reasonable people can disagree on what’s best for our community, however, it’s integral to decision making that the best information is shared with decision makers. I trust this commission to deliberate with the facts when it considers the future potential of safe prosperous streets that serve the needs of our community. Thank you for your service to our City. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Mike Sule 

Asheville on Bikes