Aldi Brings Low Prices, Green Policies and an “Ocean of Parking” to Brevard
Aldi Brings Low Prices, Green Policies and an “Ocean of Parking” to Brevard
Shoppers raved about the new store's prices and food quality. But the first Aldi in Transylvania County also raised questions about a 2015 reversal of the city of Brevard's parking policy.
BREVARD — Brevard Mayor Pro Tem Mac Morrow said he hoped the “message” about this week’s opening of a new Aldi grocery in the city would be “all celebratory.”
And Brad Mayhew was definitely feeling festive about the arrival of the German chain that touts its low prices, high-quality food and responsible environmental policies.
“We’ve been waiting for it because now we don’t have to drive to (the Aldi in) Hendersonville,” said Mayhew, 68, who, with his wife, Toni, emerged from the store on Asheville Highway praising the bargains to be found on produce, cheese and, especially, a jumbo-sized bag of gummy bears.
“Four-and-a-half pounds for a dollar,” he said, after his visit to the store on Wednesday. “It’s crazy.”
But not everybody was celebrating. City Council member Geraldine Dinkins cited the store’s expansive, highly visible parking lot as an example of Brevard “constantly rolling out the red carpet to developers.”
The prominent lot is a departure from the city’s previous commitment to a pattern of street-hugging buildings and hidden parking lots, which was included in the city’s 2006 Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and “meant to make (businesses) look more pleasing, rather than have oceans of parking,” Dinkins said.
In 2015, the Council voted to create an exemption of that rule for projects in the city’s Corridor Mixed-Use zoning districts, which include what Dinkins calls “fast-food row” northwest of downtown. This came at the urging of developers, especially those who in 2014 proposed the nearby Brevard Place planned development district, which eventually included the Starbucks coffee shop, the Bojangles restaurant and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites.
The Aldi property was originally included in that district but later removed.
The store’s construction, however, prompted Council member Gary Daniel to raise concerns about the placement of its parking at a meeting in May. The council agreed to revisit the issue, and the city Planning Board voted last week to recommend removing the exemption. The Council is scheduled to discuss this recommendation at its Sept. 20 meeting.
Pros and Cons
The old rule — still in place in most of the city — required that “all parking must be next to or behind the building (and) . . . not allowed between the building and the street,” according to a staff report in 2015, when the exemption was discussed.
Examples of projects built to the previous standard include the Waffle House and the Tractor Supply Co. store, both on Asheville Highway, said the city’s assistant planning director Aaron Bland.
But the building that best exemplifies this pattern is, ironically, one constructed after the exemption was created and by the people who pushed for it hardest — the Starbucks building across the street from Aldi. It flanks the highway and its several businesses are accessible by steps leading from the sidewalk below.
Daniel called such building-front development “a more advanced concept for urban planning. It kind of removes cars . . . That changes the look and makes it look more like a downtown.”
It also slows traffic and enhances safety for pedestrians, said Planning Board member Greg Hunter. “We thought it was important to get away from that automobile-centric view of a roadway,” he said of the board.
A staff report prepared for last week’s meeting found that several other cities, including Hendersonville, continue to require that parking be placed behind or to the side of stores and restaurants.
This layout worked for the Starbucks building because it allowed for the convenient placement of a drive-through and shared parking with the Holiday Inn, said Sharon Thurner of Charlotte, one of the partners in Brevard Partners of Tennessee, the developers of Brevard Place.
Though that building “turned out really, really nice,” she said, a requirement for street-front buildings “in Aldi’s case, or for any grocery store, would be a disaster.”
A document her company submitted to the city arguing for the exemption says street-front parking creates higher visibility for stores, improves traffic flow by preventing drivers from “feeling squeezed or pinched,” and increases the safety among shoppers — as well as the feeling of safety.
“As a woman who travels a lot, I don't stop where I don't feel safe,” Thurner said, “and I don’t necessarily feel safe behind a building.”
“Fundamental” Change?
When Brevard Partners was pushing for the parking exemption for its project, the city’s planning director at the time, Daniel Cobb, warned the Council to tread carefully:
“This is a fundamental development design question that will have long-lasting implications for the character of the city’s primary transportation corridor,” he wrote in a memo.
But the Mayhews and another shopper, Sylvia Ronneburger, were more interested in talking about Aldi’s innovations and low prices. Ronneburger said she was excited about the store’s opening “because food is getting more and more expensive.”
And she said she didn’t mind the policies, including charging a nominal price for reusable plastic bags, meant to save money and reduce waste.
Though an Aldi spokeswoman did not return a call on Thursday, the company’s website said the chain has been recognized for its environmental policies and pledges it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2025.
The rapidly expanding company also announced plans to hire more than 20,000 new workers by the start of this year’s holiday season and pay starting employees at its stores an average of $15 per hour.
Brad Mayhew shrugged when asked about the placement of the parking lot. It might make sense closer to downtown, he said, but not in a strip where street-front parking is already the norm.
“Up here it’s like whatever,” he said.
But just because that pattern is well established doesn’t mean the city should give up on correcting it, Dinkins said. The Aldi property was one of the largest remaining parcels on the corridor, she said. For it not to conform to the best possible design is, she said, “a missed opportunity.”