Commissioners will consider updating Buncombe County’s land use plan when they meet Sept. 17.
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Commissioners will consider updating Buncombe County’s land use plan when they meet Sept. 17.
Yesterday, representatives for several local hotel chains dropped a lawsuit blocking the city’s sale of property near the Basilica of St. Lawrence to the McKibbon Hotel Group. According to interim City Attorney Martha Walker-McGlohon, the plaintiffs gave no reason for dropping the suit, and retained the right to sue over the matter again in the future.
In a pre-meeting work session Asheville City Council opted to let a community group take the lead on the creation of a North Asheville dog park. In the short meeting that followed, Council endorsed a staff recommendation to rezone some properties in the Kenilworth neighborhood.
Asheville City Council has a light agenda for its meeting tomorrow, Sept. 10, and an hour work session before the meeting devoted to discussing the proposed North Asheville Dog Park.
From Mission Hospital’s aging facilities to Charlotte Street’s troublesome traffic, proposed and potential development plans in two different sectors ruled conversation during a breakfast meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners on Friday, Sept. 6. (Photo of Mission Hospital’s Brian Moore by Caitlin Byrd)
Recently, more property owners are requesting inclusion in the city of Asheville’s downtown zoning, meaning that denser, taller development will be allowed in more areas in the future. This may also prove to be the trickle before the flood, as the city is already studying a major extension to downtown’s official borders.
The Eagle Market Place project, a major affordable housing, commercial and community space development in the heart of downtown’s the Block neighborhood, got the go-ahead for funding from Asheville City Council tonight. The city will contribute $3.3 million to complete the project, and construction is slated to begin in October.
Tomorrow night, Aug. 27, Asheville City Council will consider grants and a loan from its affordable housing trust fund for a project in the Eagle/Market Street area that includes 62 affordable-housing units along with business and community space. If the new funds are approved, the city’s commitment to the project could total $4.6 million.
It was a relatively short meeting for Asheville City Council tonight, but they managed to consider issues ranging from the role of rising rents in homelessness to landslides to a different location for Brewgrass.
Five Points Neighborhood would have loved to have an urban village built on the former Deal Buick site, and we tried to work with the developers to come up with a plan that wouldn't impose excessive costs on the neighbors [“Ruffled Feathers,” Aug. 7 Xpress]. But the 2007 proposal had two main problems, both of […]
Three recent community meetings gave Buncombe County residents a chance to raise concerns with the Board of Commissioners.
Residents raised a variety of issues and concerns with Buncombe County commissioners during a July 16 community meeting in Swannanoa, including zoning, development and pedestrian safety.
In what could be a good sign for the local economy, retail space at the Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville is on the verge of being fully occupied for the first time since 2007.
After a season of uncertainty, Asheville City Council unanimously passed a budget tonight that includes the city’s first major property tax increase in more than a decade. Most of the increase will go to fund improved road maintenance and a wish list of projects intended to spur economic development. Photo by Max Cooper
At the end of a rollercoaster budget season marked by dire predictions, unpredictability at the state level, and Asheville City Council members trying to find the cash for their own plans, there’s finally a vote on the budget this evening. For the first time since 1995, city residents could see a major tax increase, intended to pay for an “aspirational” list of major projects.
New parking decks, affordable housing, a renovation to the Asheville Art Museum, and pedestrian improvements. All these and more are the goals of an $11.6 million fund the city of Asheville’s government wants to set up in an attempt to spur economic development. With planned savings from state legislation looking increasingly unlikely, the city may use a tax increase to make the projects a reality.
The public got a chance to weigh in on the city’s proposed $143 million budget at tonight’s Asheville City Council meeting. Some were critical of the priorities laid out and a proposed 1 cent tax increase. But during Council’s discussion, members revealed yet another budget plan may be in the works, with higher taxes, as they believe state legislators are unlikely to allow Asheville and Buncombe County to form a Culture and Recreations Authority that could save millions for the local governments. Photo by Max Cooper.
The perfect storm of revenue overhauls in Raleigh, a property revaluation and a major reorganization of city departments make this year’s city of Asheville budget complicated, to say the least. Here’s some important things to know before tonight’s public hearing.
An unassuming patch of ground on East Chestnut Street embodies a critical debate confronting Asheville: How does a rapidly changing city balance the unique virtues of local character and the pressing need for more housing?
It’s commonly said that housing’s hard to find in Asheville. Numbers from the U.S. Census and elsewhere shine a light on exactly how hard.
In discussions about housing in Asheville government officials, developers, neighborhood activists, and even non-profit representatives are featured in the media. But there’s another group that’s not heard from: people who work in the city and are trying to find a place to live. Xpress wants to hear your stories about that search and its challenges.