Asheville City Council Passes Steep-Slope, Viewshed Regs. PDF Print E-mail
Written by J.W. Williamson   
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Joel Burgess, in the Asheville Citizen-Times, 11 July 2007:

ASHEVILLE — The City Council passed a set of mountainside building restrictions Tuesday intended to protect views, prevent landslides and avoid problems with infrastructure.

The council has been working for nearly a year on beefing up rules to keep houses from creeping up hillsides.  The new ordinance cleared on a 5-2 vote supplements recently passed building restrictions above 2,220 feet in elevation, the elevation of City Hall. They would kick in above 2,350 feet.

As an example, planning staff said homeowners with property above that elevation with a slope of 33 percent could have graded about 60 percent of their property. The new rules would let the homeowner grade only 30 percent.

Voting yes were Vice Mayor Holly Jones, Brownie Newman, Bryan Freeborn, Jan Davis and Robin Cape.

Mayor Terry Bellamy and Carl Mumpower voted no.

Mumpower and Bellamy said the rules were too complicated and would only cause more problems. The old rules also allowed the owner to build about one and a half housing units per acre. Now only 0.6 units would be allowed per acre Residents and environmentalists said mountainside development risked marring views, causing landslides and adding expenses to city services including maintaining water lines and roads.

Resident Joel Bassett said the council needed to act soon. “I feel like it is going to keep coming, people coming in every year and saying, ‘Why didn’t you protect these mountains?’” Bassett said.

Opponents said there are few dangers to building on hillsides and more regulations would increase housing prices and cut into property rights.

Mike Butrum, a spokesman for local builders and Realtors, said that ordinances would make building even more expensive. “The ordinance will create costs, I think everybody probably understands that.” How much, is the issue,” Butrum said. State officials said $6,000 to $10,000, he said.
 
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