Riverfront Parks Recovery
Riverfront Parks Recovery
Tropical Storm Helene severely damaged Asheville’s riverfront parks and infrastructure systems. While significant efforts were made during the emergency period to clear debris and remove hazards, the time has come for the City of Asheville to plan for building back these important public spaces. In 2025, the City started two projects aimed at repairing, reassessing, and enhancing the resilience of riverfront parks, greenways, and infrastructure following Helene.
View Designs & Share Your Feedback
Help our community move from “ideas” to “action” with your expertise in the next phase of community feedback on the Azalea area and French Broad Riverfront projects, redesigning and rebuilding these spaces heavily impacted by Helene’s floodwaters in 2024.
Community Design Workshop on February 28
- When: Saturday, February 28 from 11am to 2pm (drop-in format)
- Where: A-B Tech’s Ivy Building on 9 Genevieve Circle
- Format: Drop-in; come whenever it's convenient for you. Short presentations will occur at the top of each hour for the French Broad area project and at the half of each hour for the Azalea area project.
- Parking: Free parking is available at the meeting location, which is accessible on the S4 ART bus route. Complimentary transit vouchers are available to attend via ART buses. Please contact neighborhoods@ashevillenc.gov to request one.
- What to Expect: Activities for children, light refreshments, and Spanish language interpretation will be provided. This event offers a first look at how the project teams translated community priorities into visual plans for a more resilient riverfront:
- Refine Details: Tell project teams what you like (and don’t like) about multiple proposed layouts and features to refine in a final unified design
- Identify Red Flags: Point out potential hidden challenges like barriers to access, emerging trends, longtime wants and needs, economic concerns, and other info only a local would know
- Create a Cohesive System: Ensure the Azalea and French Broad recovery projects work together as a cohesive, resilient riverfront to best serve our city
Additional Ways to Participate
- Online Feedback: Digital presentations of the concepts and feedback surveys for each project will be available on the official Riverfront Parks Recovery page from February 28 to March 16
- Focused Discussions: Register for detailed group discussions on March 2 focused on topics of Environment & Recreation and Community & Economy
- Pop-Up Events: Project teams are bringing info booths to community events and gathering spaces in early March
- March 1, 11am-1pm: Info Booth at JBL Soccer Complex
- March 3, 10:30am-12pm: Watch Presentation to Infrastructure Recovery Board on the City of Asheville's YouTube channel (you can also access the recording on the channel after the meeting)
- March 7, 9-11:45am: Info Booth at SoCon Downtown Dribble + Kids Fest at Pack Square Park
- March 9, 5:30-7:30pm: Info Booth at Music Trivia at Hi-Wire RAD
- March 11, 1-3pm: Info Booth at Community Engagement Market at Pisgah View Apartments
- March 12, 5-7pm: Info Booth at Ruff ‘n’ Roll at Riverbend Park
Thank you for your input in 2025 during Phase 1 of engagement on the French Broad and Azalea riverfront recovery projects. Check out the engagement summary!
