Asheville City Council Passes Positive Housing-Related Zoning Changes

The Asheville City Council took several positive steps forward in its March 11 meeting to start addressing the Asheville area’s housing crisis.

New Zoning Rules Aim to Boost Housing Access Across Asheville

As covered in the Mountain Xpress and other media outlets, the changes included:

• The Council approved several changes to city zoning codes that would make it easier to get housing built along certain major roads in the city.
  
  The changes involve eliminating some parking requirements, streamlining permitting for qualifying projects, allowing larger structures if
  they include residential units, and giving staff more leeway to approve certain projects.
  
• Also approved were changes to allow cottage developments and so-called “flag lots” in some areas of the city. The changes allow smaller,
  single-unit cottage developments to be built around common open spaces, and for “flag lots” that allow two homes to share the same street
  frontage, with one behind the other.
  
  These changes will not go into effect in some neighborhoods after concerns were raised about the changes potentially displacing longtime residents. In actuality, “flag lots” have been shown in cities like Durham to help residents stay in their homes by carving out part of their lots for a second dwelling that could be sold or rented.

“We are pleased to see progress on steps to facilitate more housing options for Asheville,” said Megan Carroll, Executive Officer of the Builders Association of the Blue Ridge Mountains. “We are confident that both of these initiatives will lead to positive outcomes for the city, and we hope they are a sign that our city leaders are ready to take meaningful action.”

The Builders Association was actively supportive of these changes, and we will continue to advocate for moves by our area governments to facilitate more housing – a chronic need for our Western North Carolina communities.