It’s a good time to speak up about Buncombe’s steep-slope ordinance: On Jan. 7 a Maggie Valley mudslide destroyed a mountainside home, and the event adds urgency to a special public meeting the Buncombe County Planning Board has scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, in the Permits and Inspections meeting room (30 Valley St.).
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners delayed decisions on three important items — a controversial rezoning, borrowing more than $37 million and appointing new members to the county planning board — at its Oct. 7 meeting. The board also cancelled its Oct. 21 meeting, meaning that the commissioners will take up all the items at their meeting on Nov. 4 — Election Day.
After much controversy, the Buncombe County Commissioners will appoint five new members to the powerful county planning board at their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 7, according to the agenda.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will interview applicants for an additional open seat on the county Planning Board — the one currently occupied by landscape architect Jay Marino representing the city of Asheville school district.
Local activists are asserting that the interviewing process for open seats on the county Planning Board lacks transparency and is tilted towards developers, after the county disqualified a number of applicants based on an unwritten rule. WNC Alliance is meeting tonight to plot strategy about the board, while the county has announced that it may also interview for a seat representing the Asheville City school district.
The past few years have been busy ones for the Buncombe County Planning Board, as the county’s seen the advent of zoning, record growth and more than one controversial development-related issue. During that time, four board members simply stayed on after their three-year terms had ended, despite not being formally reappointed (members can serve up […]
