Mark Barrett

ASH

City government is in the early stages of a construction and equipment replacement program that will triple the amount of money it spends on everything from sidewalks and greenways to police cars over the next five years.

The $129 million plan included in the proposed 2014-15 budget will significantly expand alternatives to driving, although streets will get a share of the money as well. At least $49 million will go for transportation improvements oriented primarily toward pedestrians and bicyclists, with another $10 million earmarked for paving streets.

If the city is able to stay on schedule, residents will be able to walk on a sidewalk along Hendersonville Road through South Asheville, take a stroll on a different one along Leicester Highway out to the city limits or use one of four greenways planned in or near the River Arts District in five years' time.

"The city of Asheville has never embarked on anything as ambitious as this," said Ken Putnam, city transportation director. "This is history-making."

City leaders for years have voiced concerns that streets are deteriorating faster than the city repairs them, and officials and residents have pushed for new sidewalks and greenways, but city officials have said tight budgets kept them from spending as much as needed on those areas and other infrastructure.

Some of the proceeds from last year's tax increase and borrowing will change that, city officials say.

Projects on the five-year capital improvement program will encourage private investment and increased tax revenue, improve the city's quality of life and take care of basic infrastructure and equipment needs, Mayor Esther Manheimer said.

"The five-year plan reflects largely the values of the community, the interests of the community, but also results in long-term economic sustainability for the city," she said.

An in-depth look at the city's financial future in 2010 suggested the city would have to take steps to shore up its tax base, she said, and the five-year plan is a result of that examination. "It became evident that doing nothing was not an option," she said.

What the city will build, buy

Larger expenditures in the plan include:

• $21.9 million for street, sidewalk and greenway improvements to 2.2 miles of Riverside Drive and Lyman Street between Hill Street and Amboy Road in the River Arts District.

As part of what the city calls RADTIP, it will add landscaping, parking and sidewalks along the two streets and a greenway that will be close to them for some stretches and closer to the French Broad River in others. RADTIP also involves looking at alternative ways to get trucks to the New Belgium Brewing site.

Fueled largely by a federal grant, about 30 percent of the project plans have been drawn up so far, said Dan Baechtold, a city planner working on RADTIP. Most of the rest of the project would be paid for by federal funds as well, and construction would probably occur from 2017-19, he said.

Manheimer said the project is one of several likely to have a direct economic impact.

"If you put that infrastructure in the River Arts District, you're going to see investment down there," she said.

• $15 million to replace aging city vehicles, with an emphasis on police cruisers.

In the past few years, "We've been spending very, very little" on new vehicles, said Barbara Whitehorn, city finance director. "There was actually a year in the last five when we (made no police vehicle purchases), so we're really behind."

• $10 million, or $2 million a year, to pave city streets. That's a big increase from the roughly $800,000 the city has spent in the past, Public Works Director Greg Shuler said, and will put the city on a cycle of paving streets every 30-35 years.

That's still less frequent than would be optimal, he told council last month, but would be an improvement over the current practice of repaving every 60-80 years.

Many streets "are really bad right now," Shuler said Friday. "I think (residents) will notice (the additional paving). ... Some of these are neighborhood roads that are just in desperate need."

• $3.8 million for unspecified pedestrian and bicycle improvements to Charlotte Street north of Interstate 240 budgeted. A consultant told City Council in August that narrowing the four-lane street would create problems with traffic congestion, and debate over what, if any, changes to make on the street has waxed and waned for years.

Resident Saul Chase told council Tuesday the project is not needed and the city would do better to spend the money on sidewalks around the city instead.

Manheimer said there has been no decision on just what changes the city would make but that better facilities are a long-standing request from people who live near the corridor and will attract private investment.

"What I hear the community say is that it's not safe to walk on Charlotte Street. It's a corridor that could be so much more," she said.

• $4.9 million spread across three projects to build greenways in or near the River Arts District. One would run through woods to the south of Clingman Avenue, another would parallel Town Branch from Depot Street to near McDowell Street and a third would be located along the west side of the French Broad River between Haywood Road and French Broad River Park.

• $7.7 million to build sidewalks on roughly 5 miles of Hendersonville Road from Interstate 40 south to the area around Long Shoals Road and on Leicester Highway from Patton Avenue to around the city limits, a distance of 3 miles; $200,000 has already been spent.

The five-year plan also calls for spending $250,000 a year on sidewalk repairs and $550,000 over five years on construction of new sidewalks in neighborhoods.

Councilman Chris Pelly and some city residents criticized sidewalk spending as too small during City Council's public hearing on the budget Tuesday.

"Our budget right now is inadequate for the needs of sidewalks in our community," Pelly said. "We can and should do better on this."

Manheimer said sidewalk construction is a major component of several other projects in the five-year plan. They include improvements to Livingston Street, Craven Street, Charlotte Street and Azalea Road.

City staff calculated that the five-year plan contains money for 81,658 linear feet of sidewalks, Whitehorn said, or about 15 1/2 miles.

Manheimer said the City Council "has been very aggressive in pursuing sidewalk spending."

Paying for it

The city first developed a five-year capital improvements program last year, but much of the spending won't really start until the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The city is spending about $8.6 million on capital projects of all types during the current fiscal year, and capital spending over the past five totalled $41.8 million, Whitehorn said.

By contrast, the plan calls for $24.5 million in capital spending in the coming fiscal year.

City Council laid the groundwork for financing the plan when it raised property taxes last year, setting the rate at 46 cents per $100 valuation, three cents higher than a "revenue neutral" rate. The proceeds from 2 cents of that increase, about $2.2 million a year, are going to capital improvements.

The city expects grants and other outside revenue will bring the net cost of the five-year program down to about $90 million, but the proceeds of the additional property tax will fall far short of that figure.

Most of the rest will come from borrowing, Whitehorn. City debt will rise from about $45 million to an estimated $84 million in five years, she said.

The five-year plan, and the debt the city will take on to make it happen, will surely concern some city residents critical of government spending. City officials say the city is in a good financial position to make the plan happen, and no additional tax increases are contemplated to pay for it.

Whitehorn said she does not expect a strain on city finances from the additional debt. With the increase, the city's debt will be 8.8 percent of the amount allowed by state law, she said.

"We have an extremely low debt level right now," she said. "We're going into this with the knowledge that we have this capacity and we know what we can afford."

City staff are working on proposals to create legal entities called municipal service districts in some of the areas where projects are planned as a mechanism to borrow some of the money needed.

The districts would allow the city to borrow at lower interest rates, but city staff has delayed bringing proposals to create them to council until summer while it figures out ways to assure the public they will not be used to levy special taxes, Whitehorn said.

While the state law authorizing the districts allows property taxes that apply only to real estate within their borders, "There is absolutely no discussion of making these into taxing districts," she said.

Manheimer said council has committed to spend the 2 cents from last year's citywide property tax increase "on projects that generate a return. You're not spending the money on paying the light bill or paying salaries."

It makes sense for the city to start making the investments now, even though that involves borrowing, she said.

"If you waited and saved and saved before you buy a home, you might be 70 years old before you can," she said.

Greenways to fire engines

Below are major capital or equipment projects listed in city government's proposed five-year capital improvement program. Not all projects are listed, and project figures do not include money spent in the current or previous fiscal years.