During last night’s meeting, Asheville City Council addressed the future of the Vance Monument and voted 6-1 to demolish + remove the 75-foot obelisk named for Zebulon Vance, the state's Civil War Governor and US Senator during Reconstruction. Removal will take up to 45 days — meaning it could be gone from downtown's Pack Square as soon as May — and is expected to cost more than $100,000.

The decision comes after numerous, ongoing community discussions and the creation last summer of the Vance Monument Task Force, a joint City-Buncombe County committee dedicated to gathering community input on the monument’s future.

A $25,535 landscaping contract to local Black-owned business MS Lean Landscaping is part of the now-approved temporary site restoration plan. After the monument’s removal, a team of planners + community organizers will work with the public to create a comprehensive Community Vision Document for the site. The City hopes to have a long-term plan in place for the site by the end of the year.

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