Asheville City Council preview: incentivized edition

At its only July meeting tomorrow, Asheville City Council will consider beginning two annexations, an incentive for a Montford development and handicapped onstreet parking in downtown.

Council will consider starting the process on two sizable annexations, one in the Sweeten Creek Road area and one at the Northwestern corner of the city. The first, of the Royal Pines area, would bring 670 homes on 388 acres into the city limits while the latter, of the Coopers Hawk Drive area, would encompass 16 homes on 41 acres. If Council approves this initial step, the city will hold public informational meetings in September and a public hearing in October.

On the development front, Council will consider about $180,000 in economic development incentives for the Montford Commons project, though the staff report raises a number of concerns, including questions about how much of the development will contain affordable housing.

The agenda also includes a report on onstreet parking in downtown for the handicapped, the appointment of a blue ribbon panel to review the city’s health care plan.

Asheville City Council meets Tuesday, July 27, in the second floor of City Hall at 5 p.m.

— David Forbes, senior reporter

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4 thoughts on “Asheville City Council preview: incentivized edition

  1. Ashevillejoe

    Is there a link to details on the development? Montford seems just fine to me, I imagine I’d rather see that 180,000 spent on the public, not on some developers new car.

  2. hauntedheadnc

    I remember reading about this development in the AC-T and if I recall correctly, it was to be built along that stretch of Hill Street behind the chamber of commerce where there isn’t much of anything right now. I think $180,000 would be a good investment in turning a patch of scrubland into a viable mixed-use community that could be putting tax dollars into the city coffers.

  3. UNaffiliated Voter

    the new proposal is NOT mixed use…the original design was for single family homes, now, suddenly it’s become affordable housing apartments…do the Montford residents really want ANOTHER apt complex to blight their neighborhood? Arent they too elitist to allow this at all?

  4. Curious

    ” . . .a viable mixed-use community that could be putting tax dollars into the city coffers. . .”

    But aren’t the developers asking that they project be exempted from taxes from a certain period?

    If getting a loan from the city so a property owner could then pay taxes was a good idea, the city should make loans to any potential home owner or developer who can’t get the full mortgage from banks.

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