The Pack Square Plaza Visioning project kicked off earlier this month, and the City of Asheville and Buncombe County want to hear from the community about the changes they'd like to see take place in the area, which includes the former site of the Vance Monument.

To gather input, the City and County have launched a 24-7 online engagement hub that will use the responses to create the Pack Square Plaza Vision, a guidebook for a more inclusive + equitable space downtown. Temporary installations from the Art in the Heart program have also gone up to help spark community conversations.

The community’s vision will be used to address five focus areas:

How to re-purpose the former Vance Monument area.
How to advance equity + inclusion at Pack Square Plaza.
Recommendations on future design processes for capital improvements to Pack Square.
Suggestions for public + private partnerships to support future area improvements.
Ways to better connect Pack Square to The Block, both physically and mentally.

The City and County are partnering with Mitchell Silver of McAdams Company to document + synthesize this info into a first draft which will then be made public for the community to review and comment on. The project is expected to be complete by April 30, 2023.