Asheville’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended to deny conditional zoning for Jettie Rae’s, a seafood restaurant proposed along the French Broad River. Asheville City Council will make the final decision on whether the project will receive approval.
“We recognize that the impacts of tourism are creating some experiences in our community that residents don’t like, and there are feelings that we’re being overwhelmed by tourism,” said Stephanie Brown, president and CEO of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, in a Sept. 3 presentation to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Under the new rules, proposed by Board of Commissioners Chair Brownie Newman, members of the public would no longer be permitted to comment on each of the board’s motions individually. Instead, all public input would be lumped into a single general comment period, moved to the start of the meeting from its current position at the end.
Calling former County Manager Wanda Greene’s activities a “tragic waste on a personal level” with “horrific consequences for the county of Buncombe,” U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad sentenced her to 7 years in federal prison and ordered her to pay a $100,000 fine. Co-conspirators Michael Greene, Mandy Stone, Jon Creighton and Joseph Wiseman, Jr., all received active prison time, a year of supervised release and a financial penalty.
Leadership Asheville pulled in some high-octane local speakers for the final installment of its summer Buzz Breakfast series held on Aug. 14. The composition of the panel reveals some key trends shaping the power dynamic that’s emerged over the past year.
Asheville’s current short-term rental rules do not allow homestays to offer rooms that contain either a stove, a full-sized refrigerator or a kitchen sink. A new definition of “kitchen,” proposed by local host organization the Homestay Network, would still forbid stoves in homestay dwellings but allow sinks and refrigerators.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Interim Asheville City Schools Superintendent Bobbie Short is taking over — for the third time in six years — as the district struggles with extreme disparities in the academic performance of its white and black students, which are the largest of any district in the state. The district is once again searching for a permanent leader. In the best-case scenario, a new superintendent will start work in January.
Beyond recruiting new companies such as Haakon Industries and Fox Factory, the Asheville-Buncombe County Economic Development Coalition supported workforce development and local startups during fiscal year 2018-19. The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners learned about the return on its $350,000 EDC investment at an Aug. 20 meeting.
The $100,000 report, commissioned from Massachusetts-based consultants The Cadmus Group, finds that local government action will be insufficient for Asheville and Buncombe County to run operations entirely on renewable energy by their goal date of 2030 without the purchase of renewable energy certificates or significant state-level regulatory changes.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Board chair Brownie Newman, Vice Chair Jasmine Beach-Ferarra and member Amanda Edwards have placed a resolution endorsing the Sheriff’s Office’s use of MAT on the commission’s agenda for Tuesday, Aug. 20. The treatment is currently offered to the jail’s pregnant female inmates, but Buncombe officials hope to expand its availability to all incarcerated individuals.
A healthy crowd turned out to mingle with local and regional elected officials at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s 14th annual elected officials reception.
“There’s not a simple solution,” says Sage Turner, who chairs both the Downtown Commission and its Parking and Transportation Committee. “The reality is, at peak hours when everyone wants to be downtown, there is just not enough parking.”
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Civil Service Board Chair Carol Goins voted against her colleagues in a 4-1 decision finding that former Asheville Police Department Capt. Mark Byrd’s firing by former Chief Tammy Hooper was not justified and ordering the city to reach “a just conclusion of the matter.” The board’s reasons for that decision were discussed during its first closed session in at least three years.
Buncombe County District Attorney provided a statement via Twitter on the Aug. 9 guilty plea of former Asheville Police Officer Christopher Hickman in the Aug. 25, 2017, beating of Asheville resident Johnnie Rush.
“I wouldn’t even call this a hotel project. I mean, yes, it is leaning more towards hotel than residential, but we are getting affordable housing downtown,” said commission member Joe Archibald. The project as approved includes 137 hotel rooms and 37 residential units, 11 of which are reserved for low-income households or local artists.
