Chamber of Commerce

2009 Asheville City Council Candidates Survey for the Asheville Chamber of Commerce

1.  Why are you running for Asheville City Council?
I am running for City Council because I want to work for the citizens of Asheville to preserve our quality of life and ensure that Asheville remains a vibrant place that fosters and encourages community.  The quality of life we value in Asheville depends on protecting and nurturing a community for all ages, a place where we can raise our children and also retire, a place where we can take real ownership of our neighborhoods, bike to work, walk to the store, or enjoy an afternoon at the park with the grandchildren.  This means supporting and sustaining a community of genuine interaction among generations, accommodating a wide diversity of needs, and removing hurdles to accessibility and civic engagement.

2.  What skills and experience would you bring to the position?
The greatest skill I can bring to the position of city council member is the skill of listening – listening to the citizens of Asheville, the neighborhoods of Asheville, and the small business owners of Asheville.  To hear these voices and implement the changes they want and need.

To effect these changes, I hope to draw on my background as a real estate litigation and land use attorney, my masters in public administration, my experience as an attorney to the State legislature, my experience representing and appearing before local governments, and my experience as a member of the Board of Adjustment for the City of Asheville.

3.  Please indicate which of the following issues would be among your top priorities as a member of the Asheville City Council.

X   Affordable housing
X  Balanced growth
X   Economic growth/strong business climate
X   Education/skilled workforce
X   Environmental issues
X   Fiscally responsible local government
X   Improved transit, greenways and sidewalks
X   Infrastructure and transportation improvements
X   Neighborhood protection and enhancement
X   Protection of public lands/property
X   Recruiting new companies and jobs to Asheville
X   River district redevelopment
X   Streamlining regulations on businesses
X   Supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs
X   Supporting existing business and industry expansion
X   Water and sewer infrastructure

4.  Please elaborate on your top priorities.
Fighting for Appropriate and Sustainable Growth.
Moving to Asheville in 1988, I recall a beautiful and laid back mountain town that was just beginning to discover its unique potential.  Since then, I have watched, with some uncertainty, as Asheville has attracted new kinds of development and emerged as one of our nation’s most desirable places to live.  This growth has strained our community and infrastructure, and too often the City has played catch-up with planning tools designed for simpler times.  Antiquated development ordinances, a crumbling water system and other inadequate infrastructure were not designed for this kind of growth.  Now is our chance to get ahead of the next wave of growth: to fill in the gaps, and make sure that future development is measured against fair, consistent, and thorough rules that match and reinforce the goals of our neighborhoods and our businesses.

5.  What are your views about growth and development in Asheville?
I want to preserve Asheville and maintain what brings us great quality of life and that is community.  We are unique in the way that we have a real inter-generational community where people genuinely interact with one another and care for one another.  But how is this preservation accomplished?  In many ways: through controlled growth, by building greenways, bike lanes, and putting in all the infrastructure that gets people to turn off the TV, get out of their houses and interact with one another.  By supporting the arts, by continuing to support community-wide festivals and other cultural events.  And by supporting and respecting neighborhoods, each with its own community and particular concerns and needs.  Without this active preservation of our community, Asheville will go the way of what I call “generic USA” – strip malls, sprawl, and so on.

6.  What is your position on steep slope regulations? stormwater ordinance?
Development on steep slopes is an issue that communities throughout Western North Carolina must tackle.  The City of Asheville’s steep slope ordinance is an effective step in the right direction to restrict steep slope development.  It should not be overlooked, however, that the construction of roadways on slopes should be regulated to require road standards that will ensure that quality roads are constructed.  If road standards are strengthened, due to the engineering required for such road construction, the overall ability to construct roads on steep slopes will be reduced.

A strict and clear stromwater ordinance must also be adopted by the City of Asheville.  Earlier proposed versions of stormwater controls were well-intended, but confusing and hard to enforce.  As with any type of development restriction, I favor strong regulations that ensure controlled growth that does not erode the fabric of our community, but, at the same time, these restrictions must be clear, concise, and enforceable.

7.  What are the most important challenges facing Asheville?
Asheville faces a number of challenges.  These challenges include: balancing the City’s budget, guiding and directing the future growth of the City, repairing a broken, aging, and dilapidated water infrastructure, increasing the number of quality jobs in the region, ensuring safe, clean, and vibrant neighborhoods, and building a greenways, pedestrian, bicycle, and transit system that is available and functional for all Asheville residents.

8.  What is your position regarding the Down Town Master Plan?
With regard to development, I favor a system where, with the input of our citizens, the City codifies all the development standards we want and need to preserve Asheville.  These standards could include requirements regarding: height restrictions, green building standards, percentage of affordable housing in any project, impact fees that go to support sidewalks, greenways, and other infrastructure, and other standards that we think are vital to preserving the Asheville we know and love.  Currently, these standards do not exist in the City’s ordinances.  I am proposing that the citizens decide now, through a public process, what the standards should be and then put those standards into law.  This process allows everyone to have a clear understanding of the development guidelines and everyone will understand what they can expect from the process.  With strict development standards built into the zoning ordinances, citizens can be assured that future councils cannot stray from the rules we adopt today.

9.  How do you plan to help business and industry in Asheville?
A city can help its local businesses and industry by ensuring that all city services are reliable, efficient, appropriately priced, and high performing. This means a functioning and strong water system, a reliable an efficient trash and recycling program, and programs that keep the city clean and free of graffiti.  A city can also help its local businesses by streamlining permitting centers and generally providing for a smooth and timely interaction each time a business must apply to the city for permits.  But a city can also help its local businesses by supporting a beautiful and thriving community that highly qualified employees desire to live.  A beautiful and thriving community supports its school system and strives to make it a top performer.  A strong community supports parks and greenways systems, cultural events and the arts, and safe and clean neighborhoods.

Personal/Professional Questions:
1.    a.  What is your employment status?
__X_Full-time ____Part-time  ____Temporary  ____Retired  ____Other
b.  What is your profession? law
c.  What is your title? Real estate litigation and land use attorney
d.  Place of employment: The Van Winkle Law Firm

2.    a.  Are you or is your business a current member of the Asheville Area Chamber of     Commerce? X Yes ____No

3.    Please name organizations with which you are affiliated.  (These can include civic,    professional, political, and community organizations, among others.)
The Buncombe County Bar, the North Carolina Bar Association, the Jewish Community Center of Asheville

4.    How many consecutive years prior to 2009 have you been a resident of the Asheville area?
I moved to Asheville in 1988.  After graduating from Asheville High School, I went to college at the University of Colorado at Boulder and then UNC-Chapel Hill from as well as other universities from 1989-1998.  Between undergraduate and graduate school, I lived in Asheville and worked as the volunteer coordinator for Meals on Wheels of Buncombe County.  In 1998, I completed a masters in Public Administration and law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.  From 1998-2002, I worked as committee counsel in the North Carolina legislature.  In 2002, my husband, Mark Harris, and I returned to Asheville where I began working for the Van Winkle Law Firm and he returned to his alma mater, Enka High School, as a social studies teacher and wrestling coach.