Chamber of Commerce looks to year ahead

When Kit Cramer arrived at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce as president and CEO in 2010, Asheville’s downtown was the subject of much complaining about panhandling, trash and graffiti.

Fourteen years later, Asheville’s downtown is the subject of much complaining about panhandling, trash and graffiti. And the community is once again considering a BID.

City might pause developmen­t program over equity concerns

With rising rents and a growing population, local leaders are using every tool they have to encourage more affordable developments, including the City of Asheville Land’s Use Incentive Grant program. City Council members say the program designed to encourage developers to offer affordable housing is good in theory, but in practice it might be shutting out minority families, perpetuating decades of racial discrimination in housing.

Short-term rental listening session yields conflictin­g views

The proposed regulations would ban future short-term rentals, both whole-house and rentals within the owner’s primary residence, in unincorporated parts of Buncombe County unless they were located within commercial zones or in an open-use district, among other changes. Existing short-term rentals would not be impacted by the changes.