Only one public hearing is scheduled for next week’s Asheville City Council — an appeal against a plan to demolish an existing two-story building at 35 Battery Park Ave. and replace it with a 12-story hotel complex with ground floor retail space.
Gary Davis, attorney, raised concerns with the review process of the Cambria Suites Hotel Development during a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission on February 5. During the meeting, Davis argued that, in the current proposal, the project does not meet the city’s Unified Development Ordinance requirements. He also said he considered the project to be inconsistent with the Downtown Master Plan and said it should be elevated to a level III review process, which would require review by the Council.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved project during the meeting.
Also on the agenda is a resolution to adopt the 2014-15 Strategic Operating Plan developed during Council’s February retreat and amended after public comment since then.
The SOP has three focus areas that give Council and staff direction and goals for the upcoming fiscal year: Economic Growth and Sustainability, Affordability and Economic Mobility, and High Quality of Life. Each focus area contains a number of goals, such as making Asheville one of the safest cities in America and expanding availability of affordable homes for current and future residents. Several action items are listed under each goal to help measure progress and success.
Asheville City Council will meet 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 13, on the second floor of City Hall.
The hotel was designed specifically to comply with the Master Plan. For the Battery Park residents who shelled out big bucks for low level floors—-oops. You should have bought air rights.