Downtown Asheboro Inc. sets 5-year goals for the city

ASHEBORO — Improving transportation and walkability will be one of Downtown Asheboro, Inc.’s top priorities for the next five years.

DAI Manager Addie Corder laid out the 2025-30 downtown work plan to the Asheboro City Council at its Jan. 8 meeting, including a new mission statement:

“In the heart of North Carolina, Asheboro proudly serves as the gateway to the world’s largest natural habitat zoo, the North Carolina Zoo. Downtown is entrepreneurial, artistic, and innovative, activating small business and residential living within a walkable, connected environment where every step, ride, or roll supports a thriving ‘people first’ community.”

“That’s a mouthful, but that’s our vision,” Corder said.

She went through a list of DAI’s proposals aligning with three goals:

Goal 1

Serve as a gateway to the N.C. Zoo

■ Continue to host the zoo’s volunteer orientation program.

■ More zoo-specific information on DAI website.

■ Incorporate Asia designs into downtown for opening of new continent.

■ Add educational signage and QR codes for art.

■ Wrap signal boxes in zoo artwork.

■ Recruit a zoo-themed gift shop.

Goal 2

Encourage small businesses and residential living

■ Design downtown-themed ornaments or other novelty items to fund a placemaking grant.

■ Continue the Friday Night Rock’n the Park concert series.

■ Develop an event participation metric to guide future events and messaging.

■ PRESERVE Asheboro grant program to encourage historic tax credit use for redevelopment.

■ Host property owner, investor workshop for upper level residential and AirBNB rehabilitation.

■ Renderings for a future parking deck.

Goal 3

Support walkable, connected environment

■ Partner with at least five existing businesses to open their parking to the public after hours.

■ Identify grants for new wayfinding materials.

■ Work with police department on a pedestrian public safety campaign.

■ Create a self-guided walking tour about architecture and history.

■ Develop traffic calming measures.

■ Install new wayfinding signage for pedestrians and drivers.

■ Develop a weekend trolley system for visitors to “park and ride” into downtown.

Corder said she saw “park and ride” trolleys while she lived in Fayetteville, and they were very popular. 

“We’d be curious to see if we can find private partners who want to sponsor this,” Corder said. “Maybe it’s micro transit, maybe it is something like a historic trolley, but just helping people get connected and maybe grieve a little bit less about parking downtown.”

She also said they put the parking deck design in their goals before the downtown parking study’s results came out and said it wasn’t needed for now.

Mayor Joseph Trogdon, Jr. asked how the hotel is moving along on South Fayetteville Street. Corder said right now, much of the work is happening on the inside, and crews are repairing the flooring, which is required for its historic preservation incentives.

Council member Phil Skeen asked what’s next for the old Acme-McCrary building. Corder said they are trying to work with Norfolk Southern Railway about the right-of-way, but she described those conversations as “whack-a-mole.”

Council member Mary Joan Pugh asked about current vacancies. Corder said they have seen a lot of turnover, as it remains difficult to jump into retail and office space. She also said due to the expenses of operating anything needing a kitchen, more business owners prefer renting space from existing stores like Antiques and Geeks.

Staff asks to add special event rules

Assistant City Manager Trevor Nuttall asked the city council to consider new regulations for managing downtown events. He said as they see more events hosted by outside organizations, it is straining the time and resources of city staff.

The council gave staff their consensus to draw up new policies. 

Nuttall listed some possible changes: n Increase the advance notice from 14-day minimum to 30, with 90 days if event requires a state road closure.

■ Require additional organizational information before approval.

■ Require more clarification what law enforcement services are needed.

■ Set an event fee, likely between $300 and $800 depending on the event size and demands.

Nuttall said none of these changes would take effect before the new fiscal year, and they will notify organizers of past events.

These decisions came on the same evening the Tourism Development Authority presented its most recent annual report for the county. Tourism Marking Coordinator Melody Varner said in 2024, the numbers maintained their annual climb, with a 5.54 percent increase in lodging and hotel demand rising 8.4 percent. They recorded 1.7 million visits at 32 attractions.