Asheville’s long-simmering anti-displacement strategies came to light when two proposals to increase housing density came before City Council at its Sept. 10 meeting. Council member Sheneika Smith was absent.
The strategies focus on helping homeowners and renters, particularly members of the BIPOC community, from getting priced out of their homes by development and gentrification.
And while city staff works to solidify those strategies, Council tabled until its Tuesday, Feb. 11, meeting consideration of zoning amendments proposed by Barry Bialik, CEO of Compact Cottages.
The first of Bialik’s amendments proposes changes to the city’s cottage development requirements, which allow smaller, single-unit dwellings to be clustered around common open space. Bialik’s amendment would reduce the total number of cottages from five to two and eliminate the required 200-foot separation between cottage developments and guidelines for street-facing designs. As written, the amendment omits the Shiloh neighborhood because the Shiloh Community Association indicated it does not want any zoning changes to its neighborhood, says Stephanie Monson Dahl, director of planning and urban design.
The second amendment concerned regulations for flag lots, which allow two homes to be situated along the same street frontage, with one home behind the other. The lot for the rear home is accessed via a narrow corridor extending to the street – the flag “pole” — which doubles as a shared driveway. Bialik’s petition seeks to allow narrower “poles,” which would make flag lots possible on deep and narrow lots.
If adopted, the amendments would revise Asheville’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), which outlines development requirements in the city. Although overhauls have been suggested and amendments have been made to the UDO since it was adopted in 1997, the ordinance hasn’t undergone a wholesale update.
That may change on Tuesday, Sept. 24, when city staff presents to the Council at its work session an overall plan to incorporate anti-displacement policies and changes to the UDO to align with Asheville’s new affordable housing plan, which city officials published Sept. 9.
“That is where Community and Economic [Development] Director Nikki Reid and I will be fleshing out the strategy … where we knit together implementation of our affordable housing plans with our UDO updates projects. And the thing that knits that all together are the pieces around anti-displacement,” Monson Dahl told Council.
Proposed strategies include expanding tenant protections, increasing down payment and mortgage subsidies and home repair assistance programs, and requiring more landlords to accept housing vouchers.
Asheville has been practicing anti-displacement strategies for years, although they’ve not been explicitly called that, Monson Dahl notes in an email to Xpress.
“With new information coming to light, especially in the context of the national housing crisis … the City understands a more intentional effort is called for,” Monson Dahl writes.
“This can involve funding for affordable housing and zoning strategies that seek to maintain affordability and preserve the character of a neighborhood while adding much needed housing supply,” writes Kim Miller, Asheville’s communications director, in an email to Xpress.
Some Council members expressed concerns that Bialik’s amendments might contradict the city’s overall housing strategies.
Bialik countered that his amendments, if approved, would not undermine the city’s efforts.
“We have not really done anything for housing reform. We need action, and you’re not taking the action this community needs,” said Bialik to Council, pointing out that the proposed flag lot amendment would make accessory dwelling units (ADU) easier and less expensive to build.
During public comment, Asheville resident Elyse Marder, one of 14 speakers who supported Bialik’s plans, said she only was able to afford her home in West Asheville because it was on a flag lot.
“Flag lots are a displacement negation strategy,” Marder said, noting that homeowners formerly unable to afford repairs or mortgage payments would be able to do so by selling off part of their land as a flag lot.
“If we’re able to get [our] displacement requirements into place, this could become a very successful tool,” Council member Sage Turner said about Bialik’s amendments.
Despite showing support for the amendments, Council voiced concerns about how they would integrate with the city’s overall strategy involving affordable housing and anti-displacement.
Council tabled both amendments until its Tuesday, Feb. 11, meeting to allow time for more public input.
Progress report
Council reviewed its Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report at the meeting. The report, presented by Tony McDowell, Asheville’s director of finance, and Lindsay Spangler, Asheville’s budget and performance manager, highlighted Council’s progress on its six key strategic priorities: reparations; equitable and affordable housing and stability; homelessness strategies; reimagining public safety; neighborhood and climate resilience; and improving and expanding core services.
Major accomplishments highlighted in the report include finalizing reparations recommendations, adopting a new affordable housing plan, expanding permanent supportive housing and installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
In other news
- After a public hearing, Council voted, 4-2, to approve plans for a 240-unit apartment building in the River Arts District. Council members Kim Roney and Maggie Ullman opposed it, due in part to concerns about the small amount of affordable housing included in the project. Twelve units, 5% of the total, will be designated affordable at 80% of the area median income. The project at 179 and 144 Riverside Drive will result in a seven-floor building where the Asheville Cotton Mill once stood. The revised plans include green features like a solar-ready roof.
- Council members voted to reappoint Geoffrey Barton, CEO of Mountain Housing Opportunities, and to appoint Jane Margaret Bell, a water resources planner, and Anna Zuevskaya, executive director of Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust, to the Planning & Zoning Commission.
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