|
Tuesday, 01 May 2007 18:17 |
From Staff Reports
Despite vocal opposition from many residents, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on April 24 voted 3-2 to pass a countywide zoning ordinance. Chairman Nathan Ramsey and Commissioner Bill Stanley voted against the measure.
The vote eliminates the countyís distinction as the largest county in the state without countywide zoning. All but 24 of the 100 counties in North Carolina have zoning.
Years of heated public debate preceded the boardís decision. In a 1999
nonbinding referendum, 55 percent of county residents opposed zoning, a
point that was repeatedly raised by zoning opponents during the
three-and-a-half-hour public hearing that preceded the vote. More than
400 people attended the hearing at Asheville-Buncombe Technical
Community College and most speakers expressed opposition to zoning. To
accommodate the overflow of people at the schoolís auditorium, TVs were
set up outside the room to show the proceedings.
Before the ordinance can be passed, a second vote is required, which was scheduled for this past Tuesday.
The commissioners also expressed a willingness to amend the ordinance later to lift restrictions on mobile homes.
Specifically, the board instructed the county staff to rework the
document so that mobile homes would be allowed in two of the countyís
residential districts where they would not be permitted under the
current version.
Though mobile homes are allowed in 90 percent of the county under the
new guidelines, two districts ó R1 and R2 ó would prohibit them.
The board decided to move towards lifting that restriction after
appeals by Pisgah Legal Services and others who argued that the limits
could hurt efforts to promote affordable housing in the county.
While the commissioners had considered making the changes prior to the
vote, they reconsidered after County Attorney Joe Connelly said that
such significant alterations would require another public hearing, or
else the new regulations might be vulnerable to a legal challenge.
Most speakers at the public hearing expressed concerns that zoning would infringe on private property rights.
However, advocates of the measure said zoning is necessary to protect property owners from undesirable development.
The proposed ordinance was inspired by the zoning plan that the
Limestone Township passed in 1982. It divides land into nine zoning
districts comprising commercial, residential, industrial and
public-service uses on the 19 percent of Buncombe County land served by
the Metropolitan Sewerage District. These areas are the most likely to
be developed.
The remaining 81 percent of the land would be largely unaffected and
considered an Open Use District, in which only chip mills, mining
operations and asphalt plants would be regulated.
The primary areas that will be affected include the Averyís Creek area,
the Swannanoa Valley, some sections of Candler along U.S. 19-23 and
parts of the Deaverview and Erwin Hills areas.
Each designation has its own set of rules about what types of
development are permitted. Certain conditional uses are regulated,
which can only be approved by the county Board of Adjustment.
Furthermore, the new rules would restrict multifamily housing developments above certain elevations.
|
