Since 2021, 13 hotel projects have gone through the by-right process, with 11 committing more than $2.7 million toward city priorities, according to a newly released City of Asheville public dashboard.
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Since 2021, 13 hotel projects have gone through the by-right process, with 11 committing more than $2.7 million toward city priorities, according to a newly released City of Asheville public dashboard.
Four hotel projects, sized between five and 115 rooms, are still waiting for review under the new standards.
The approval allows the existing Four Points by Sheraton hotel to more than quintuple its current size with a mix of uses including apartments, condominiums, extended stay hotel rooms, parking and ground-level commercial space.
“Before we go hog wild on marketing Asheville to the world, can we pause (or at least more slowly ramp up) to consider what’s best for the city and its inhabitants?”
Asheville, home to more than 8,465 hotel rooms and counting, is providing a pathway for hotel operators to rack up some major brownie points by incorporating sustainable features and practices in plans for new hotel construction.
The new regulations allow hotels with 115 rooms or fewer to avoid a Council vote if they meet a series of design requirements, are located in a newly approved overlay district and contribute to equity-related public benefits.
Hoteliers and hotel opponents alike have waited since September 2019 for Asheville City Council to reach a decision about future lodging development within city limits. On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the countdown clock finally hits zero.
After months of discussion, two Council work sessions and multiple opportunities for public engagement, frustrated residents told Asheville City Council the final hotel proposals did little to advance equity or support employees working in the service industry.
Members will discuss the final proposed guidelines to streamline future lodging development — and residents will have one last chance to weigh in — before the city’s hotel moratorium expires on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
As newly elected Asheville City Council members Sandra Kilgore, Sage Turner and Kim Roney embark on a new chapter of civic leadership following a close race, they inherit controversial priorities from the outgoing Council that will likely dominate the first few months of their term.
Two work sessions have brought Asheville City Council members a little closer to agreement on an approach to hotels. And with the city’s hotel development moratorium set to expire on Tuesday, Feb. 23, time is running out to craft a plan.
In its latest effort to promote affordable housing, Asheville City Council voted 6-1 on Sept. 22 to approve a $1.1 million Housing Trust Fund loan to the Juna Group to develop 11 single-family units in Oakley.
At its meeting of Tuesday, Sept. 22, Asheville City Council will vote on a budget amendment that would fund the APD at roughly $29.3 million, a reduction of $770,000 from a previous proposal. Many activist groups, including Black AVL Demands, have called for a 50% reduction to the APD and reinvestment in community services.
Members expressed unanimous support for extending the city’s hotel moratorium — previously set to expire later in September — an additional five months, giving Council and city staff more time to fully develop new standards for hotel development.
Before Asheville City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting of Sept. 8, the six members will interview six contenders to fill the seat vacancy left by Vijay Kapoor. Later in the evening, they’ll hear what the community thinks about another hot topic: hotels.
Asheville City Council will consider a number of items on its consent agenda for Tuesday, Feb. 11, including managing parking at the airport and setting a hotel development work session.
Representatives from the Urban Land Institute shared their recommendations during a Jan. 30 community meeting to aim to help city officials manage hotel development in wake of the one-year hotel moratorium.
Xpress staffers share their tongue-in-cheek prognostications for the coming year. Asheville-area conspiracy theories, complaints of the gentry, uses for the sinkhole and creative panhandling pitches are all on the list.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if our city saw its master plan as an integral one with environmental stewardship at the center, human sustainability, human mobility and infrastructure coming after? “