“By failing to include a professional property manager on the task force, the county risks creating regulations that lack a full understanding of the practical realities of this market.”
Tag: short-term rental
Showing 1-21 of 35 results
County to appoint members to short-term rental committee
The committee will help sculpt countywide regulations of STRs, which were put on hold by the Buncombe County Planning Board in April.
Letter: More regulation needed for short-term rentals
“I’d be in favor of any regulations and especially the ability for neighbors to have some say in the number of people staying and the noise level permitted beside their homes.”
Letter: No more rules needed on short-term rentals
“There are already zoning regulations in place, and further regulation of owners’ property rights in regard to STRs is not needed.”
Letter: The ups and downs of tourism
“The drop in tourism should not alarm anyone.”
Letter: Keep government’s hands out of short-term rentals
“I am concerned with the ‘power’ that the government would have to ‘regulate’ Airbnbs.”
Commissioners to consider tax changes; higher STR rates off the table
Proposed changes on the agenda for the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, Oct. 18, include adding staff and improving software to make the county’s assessment of home values more accurate, asking state legislators to expand a tax break some homeowners get under state law and increasing efforts to tell homeowners how to challenge their tax value.
Council OKs Ramada proposal despite transparency concerns
With only Antanette Mosley opposed, Asheville City Council members voted Dec. 14 to approve the conversion of an East Asheville Ramada Inn into permanent supportive housing for at least 100 homeless residents — a project first floated to the public less than two weeks earlier.
What happens to short-term rentals in the long-term?
The amount of money brought in by these short-term rentals in Buncombe County during the first half of this year was up 131% compared with STR revenue for January through June 2019. Consumer preferences — and choices to be made by government officials locally and in Raleigh — will affect the size of that gravy train and who will benefit from it in the years to come.
New TDA boss sketches post-pandemic tourism plans
Victoria “Vic” Isley, the new president and CEO of the Explore Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, says new paid advertising for Asheville, an expansion of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority board to include short-term rental owners and changes to occupancy tax allocation are all on the table in 2021.
Short-term rentals lead Buncombe tourism recovery
While overall hotel revenue was down more than 27% year-over-year in September, the latest month for which data is available, overall vacation rental sales that month increased by about 55% year-over-year, according to Explore Asheville interim CEO Chris Cavanaugh.
Kitchen rules, transit adjustments on Council agenda
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 struggles to rein in illegal short-term rentals
Despite relatively restrictive ordinances prohibiting the rental of entire houses for stays of less than 30 days — and a $500-per-day fine for violators — hundreds of illegal rentals still operate throughout the city of Asheville.
RADTIP environmental plan to be heard at Feb. 26 Council meeting
Funded by a $60,000 grant from Duke Energy’s Water Resources Fund and developed by city staff in conjunction with Asheville GreenWorks and RiverLink, the plan lays out environmental and aesthetic projects such as stormwater control, invasive species removal, wildlife habitat construction and an ecological mural.
City could face equal protection suit after short-term rental vote
Reid Thompson has lost the most recent battle in his 13-plus-year fight with the city of Asheville. But the war, suggested Thompson’s representative and urban planner Joe Minicozzi, is far from over. “He’s got to file a civil suit to get his civil rights upheld,” Minicozzi said. “You can’t enforce the law on one side of the street and not enforce it on the other.”
Council to decide on Maxwell Street rentals at Oct. 9 meeting
Reid Thompson, the owner of 28 and 32 Maxwell St., seeks to rezone those properties from residential to lodging expansion, thereby allowing their short-term vacation rental use — because the activity of Greenlife Grocery, he says, has made it impossible for him to keep long-term tenants.
City Council talks tough on short-term lodging
Asheville City Council appears committed to holding the city’s line on any potential expansion of short-term rentals. Council members put the kibosh on a proposal to allow short-term rentals on a stretch of Haywood Road in West Asheville, while also instructing city staff to explore banning the practice in all areas of the city, including the River Arts District and downtown. Homestays, a type of accommodation where the primary resident is home during a guest’s short-term stay, would remain legal.
Race, housing take center stage in Council candidate forum
Who can afford to live here and how can we all live together? Those questions formed the crux of the conversation among Asheville City Council candidates at a Sept. 18 forum where two issues garnered strong and varying viewpoints: the lack of affordable housing and persistent racial tensions in Asheville.
Letter writer: Housing for citizens, not tourists
“Every unit not used as an STR is one more potential unit of housing for a citizen to call home. We need to enforce the rules in place today or we will end up losing hundreds of homes converted to sheltering tourists.”
Letter writer: Hidden writer with not-so-hidden agenda
“Deplorably, the writer supporting short-term rentals is ignorant about what the untold value of a good neighbor is, the immeasurable effect a close neighborhood has on one’s quality of life, and how short-term rentals contribute to anxiety, malaise and most likely to lowering home values in the area.”
Letter writer: Allow and regulate short-term rentals
“Consider the ‘erosion of the fabric of our neighborhoods’ argument frequently cited to uphold the ban on STRs. Are we talking about borrowing a cup of stevia, sharing limited parking and trading garden flowers? Let’s stop envisaging the Portlandia version of Asheville neighborhoods.”