From Staff Reports

Asheville City Council on Jan. 22 changed the city’s zoning ordinances to lower the maximum building height allowed within urban-village districts.

The new rules, which lower the height limit from 150 to 100 feet, were passed 5-2, with Councilmen Carl Mumpower and Bill Russell opposed.

Under the new ordinance, developers could still appeal to council if they wanted to build a structure in an urban village that would be higher than 100 feet.

The change could have an effect on the Horizon urban village planned for Merrimon Avenue. Those plans call for two 120-foot towers, which many neighbors have argued would block sunlight to their homes.

Councilman Brownie Newman initially had proposed an 80-foot cap on building height, but acquiesced to Vice Mayor Jan Davis’ proposal of 100 feet.

Since 2001, five urban villages have been planned or approved. Of those, three include buildings that are 10 stories or more, including Horizon, Biltmore Town Center in Biltmore Park and Main Street at Biltmore Lake in Candler.

Developers of the latter two projects have said they will cut back to six or nine stories. A story is roughly 12 feet.

Many of Horizon’s neighbors have objected that the two towers are out of proportion to the rest of the neighborhood, which contains mostly single-family homes.

But developers have argued that the height is necessary to make the project affordable, and that building taller buildings prevents urban sprawl.

Supporters of the height reduction said it fits what residents want and corresponds to the size of most of the buildings in the urban-village developments.

In other action, council voted 5-2 to reject a proposal by Councilman Carl Mumpower to request a change in state law that would have required that Asheville Board of Education members be elected.
Currently, council appoints board members, making Asheville one of only two districts in the state to choose them by appointment, rather than election.

Councilman Bill Russell joined Mumpower in supporting the change.