ASHEVILLE – In what police are calling an “expansion” of services, officers have a new resource center at the Tanger Outlets, a shopping mall on Brevard Road.
Asheville City Council adopted a resolution to formally approve execution of the lease Jan. 13 after repeated delays. At $6,000 a month, the 10-year initial lease is not to exceed $837,339. The shopping mall donated $1 million to upfit the space.
Approval was 5-1, with council member Kim Roney voting against. Council member Sage Turner was not present at the evening’s meeting.
Though police have said that patrol response levels will remain unchanged in West Asheville, some people were skeptical — concerned that it will represent a move away from community policing and a less visible officer presence near its current police resource center at 970 Haywood Road.
The change was previously described as a “relocation”, but Interim Police Chief Jackie Stepp said there has been a “misunderstanding” around what would happen in West Asheville.
The department is not moving out of its Haywood Road center, she told council Jan. 13. Rather, “we are expanding services in West Asheville.”
Spokesperson Rick Rice said Jan. 15 that Tanger is doing work in the space now. The resource center is slated to open in March.
Police will also “maintain a footprint” at the Haywood Road building, Stepp said. Built in 1953 as a combined fire station and library, it was repurposed into a police resource center in 1999. Stepp said there are site constraints and safety concerns, like large single-pane windows.
With the new approval, police will work alongside the public facilities management division to ensure improved security to “support the continued operation” on Haywood Road.
Resource centers primarily serve as support facilities where officers can take breaks, complete paperwork and use the restroom. Officers are deployed by geographic area, not by substation location, and the two officers assigned to the Haywood Road area will continue serving that neighborhood, Stepp said.
The Tanger location will have more space than the Haywood Road building — it’s 4,000 square feet, versus 1,800 — and will mean the addition of a non-sworn, civilian staff member during business hours to accept walk-ins from the community and take police reports.
The new office comes amid growing calls for support along Haywood Road. The corridor is the heart of the district, home to coffee shops, bars, restaurants and breweries, and surrounded by neighborhoods.
Roney, who lives in West Asheville and was the item’s sole “no” vote, said the area is among neighborhoods and business corridors navigating “serious issues of homelessness outreach,” mental and behavioral health crisis response and substance use poisoning.
“When there are calls for more support, this does feel like less,” she said.
She cited a lack of budget transparency, community engagement that came only after the decision was made and the “missed opportunity” to invest in street-level relational responses.
To police’s issues with security at its Haywood Road center, Michelle Myers, who spoke at Jan. 13 public comment, said it was “alarming” to her that APD would say they don’t feel safe on Haywood Road.
She is chair of the East West Asheville Neighborhood Association and shared concerns for her child’s safety, and a desire to see more police officers and mental health professionals providing support for people in crisis along the corridor.
“I’m afraid that this move might continue to bifurcate our community. I’d like to see a solution,” Myers said. “If right now the infrastructure has not been invested in to keep APD in more of a centralized population center of our community, but it needs to go down to a private business corridor where people don’t really live, I want to look at what are the long-term lack of investment in community infrastructure that has led us to this place.”
Stepp said crime data from 2025, which show a 24% decrease in violent crime citywide, demonstrates that police “were in the community, where they’re supposed to be,” not sitting in facilities.
“I think you’ll see an improvement in police services, particularly, and what excites me the most, and what you heard the previous community member say, is community policing,” Stepp said, referencing Myers comments.
“She wants people out of their police cars. So do I. But that takes staff.”
After yearslong struggles with officer vacancy, Stepp said she’s optimistic about the department’s progress.
Though council did not adopt a resolution to ratify execution of the lease until January, APD entered into the lease in October. Funding for the first year of the contract was approved with the city’s budget.
During a Jan. 8 briefing, answering what would happen if council decided not to move forward, City Attorney Brad Branham said the city would be “potentially liable,” especially for the upward of $1 million in upfit costs.
Rice, with APD, told the Citizen Times in December that council approval is just part of the process. Ratification is necessary because of a contracting policy that requires it for leases exceeding a certain threshold. Council approval for property acquisition is not required by statute, he said.
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email [email protected] or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.
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