By JIM GENARO

WEAVERVILLE ó A proposal for the Town of Weavervilleís Alcoholic Beverage Commission to join forces with its Asheville counterpart is temporarily on hold while the two municipalities wait to work out some details.

Though Town Council had planned to vote on the possible merger at its meeting last Monday night, Town Attorney Sara Bryson urged the board to wait as more details get worked out.

ìIt seems like it would be better to wait and have things fleshed our,î she told council, adding that the current proposal by the Asheville board was ìpretty vague at this point.î

Councilman Al Root asked about the projected proceeds from the store, which he noted are significantly lower than projections made by the Town of Woodfin about its new ABC store.

He noted that Woodfin Town Administrator Jason Young, who also is the general manager of the Woodfin ABC store, has projected that it will generate $250,000 in annual revenue for the town.

Town Administrator Michael Morgan responded that he had looked at revenues from every ABC board in the state and that Woodfinís projection ìis extremely aggressive for a municipality with one store.î

He noted that the Weaverville projections were much closer to the state average.

ìI canít answer for how Woodfin has come up with those numbers,î Morgan added.

Morgan said that Young had approached him recently about a possible merger between Woodfin and Weavervilleís ABC boards. Youngís proposal was that Weaverville would get one-third of profits from the combined system, with the assurance that Weaverville would get a second store built within a a few years.

However, Morgan noted that this split was considerably lower than the 80 percent Weaverville would get from its storeís proceeds in the proposed deal with Asheville.

Furthermore, he said, he could not ìenvision for a long time that Weaverville would need more than one store.î

Bryson asked council to wait until its next meeting to address the issue. Among the disputed details is what process would be incorporated for Weaverville to leave the agreement with Asheville if it decides to do so in the future.

If Weaverville agrees to the merger, it will still have to be approved by the Asheville ABC board and Asheville City Council, Morgan told the council members.

In other action, the board:

ï Amended its zoning regulations to only allow conditional zoning along the townís major thoroughofares.

Specifically, the change ensures that properties zoned R-1 residential cannot be switched to conditionally zoned commercial zoning unless they are continuous to either Weaver Boulevard, Main Street or Merrimon Avenue and only have access from those streets.

Root, who introduced the measure, said it was inspired by a fear of ìwhat a rogue council might do.î
The amendment was passed 4-1 with Councilwoman Marcie Nesbeth dissenting.

ï Unanimously granted a sewer system easement to the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County.

ï Reappointed Jim Rogers and Charley Hamberger to the Tree Board.

ï Reappointed Zane Cole and Ann Franklin to the Planning and Zoning Board.