“So, sorry, but local development will proceed, and my view is that our city and county are doing all that they can to preserve our unique local identity and still allow for affordable housing, environmental protections, family farm protections and all of the many factors that make WNC a place in which we want to live.”
“This proposal to deregulate developers within city limits is dressed up with idealistic-sounding justifications like providing affordable housing, improving flooding and fighting sprawl.”
Better known as LUIG, the initiative aims to entice developers to include affordable units in their projects by offering property tax rebates. Asheville City Council is next slated to consider such a grant Tuesday, July 26, for a 186-unit development on Long Shoals Road.
More than two years have passed since Asheville City Council last held a regular meeting at the downtown art deco building.
Of 80 microhousing units, 16 would be designated as affordable for people earning at or below 80% of the area median income. However, developer David Moritz confirmed that market-price rent for all of the project’s units would be about $1,000 including utilities, meaning that the city-subsidized units would not immediately be cheaper for their tenants.
When complete, the document will be a nonbinding, advisory blueprint of where residents and county officials want the county to be in 2043 and will outline the goals, objectives and policies needed to achieve that vision.
“I think it would be a ridiculous waste of revenue to stop collecting a tax that visitors are used to paying. But it certainly should be used to benefit the community and keep it the strong, wonderful place that people would like to visit.”
“I believe Maggie will listen to and elevate the voices within our community and create an inclusive, collaborative environment so we together can tackle our community’s critical challenges, which span housing to city services to climate change impact. “
The three applications were the first to be funded out of 105 projects that had been submitted in response to Buncombe County’s latest request for proposals for American Rescue Plan Act support, which closed April 12.
One referendum would authorize $30 million in borrowing for conservation projects while a second referendum would authorize $40 million in bonds for affordable housing efforts.
New construction at Deaverview Apartments, Asheville’s second-oldest public housing community, will consist of two three-story buildings and one four-story building containing 82 total mixed income units.
During an April 19 briefing, the county Board of Commissioners heard a presentation by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land about the feasibility of issuing $70 million in bonds for housing and land conservation, which in this case would require approval through referendums of Buncombe voters.
“Until the professed advocates of affordable housing and assistance for the homeless get off their BUTS and honestly attack these issues, nothing significant will happen.”
“Back in 2001, downtown was not cluttered with tall commercial buildings such as hotels catering to tourists.”
As outlined in an April 5 presentation to the Board of Commissioners by Tim Love, Buncombe’s director of economic development and governmental relations, the county is exploring a nearly $221,000 contract with the school’s Development Finance Initiative.
Buncombe will commit to creating or preserving between 2,800-3,150 affordable housing units by 2030, requiring new county investments of an estimated $54 million. Up to 1,850 of those units would be rental properties affordable to residents making 80% or less of the area median income.
“Do we really believe that reducing open space in order to build more units per development will actually produce more affordable housing?”
According to a presentation available before the meeting of Tuesday, March 15, the county hopes to “impact 2,800-3,150 affordable housing units by 2030,” including 1,500-1,850 new rental units affordable for households making 80% or less of the area median income ($42,100 for an individual or $60,100 for a family of four).
