Hotel Development Study Happening Now Last fall the Asheville City Council imposed a hotel moratorium to allow the city time to rethink hotel policy and regulations in the city. Based on recommendations from the Urban Land Institute, the Department of Planning & Urban Design is in the process of drafting a new ordinance to guide hotel development. This survey is being conducted to engage the community in this process. Please follow this link to participate in the survey. Timeline Background Asheville has experienced an influx of new hotel development over the past few years and community concern has been mounting over the impacts resulting from this influx, represented by projects that are currently both under construction and in the pipeline. Concerns include the geographic clustering of development downtown, the quality and design of the construction, the effects on the land use mix, the impacts to City infrastructure and services and a general concern about the impacts of tourism on the Asheville community. The city currently lacks concrete policies, strategies and tools to effectively manage or regulate hotels. The lack of clear direction in the Asheville City Code and the Living Asheville Comprehensive Plan has resulted in uncertainty for developers, staff and community members. Consequently, on September 24, 2019, the Asheville City Council approved a hotel moratorium, pausing hotel development in the city. The moratorium will allow the city time to undertake a professional planning analysis with the help of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) with the purpose of developing recommendations for enhanced land use policies and improved tools and strategies to better plan for and regulate hotel development, and to provide clearer direction to the development community. Utilizing a Technical Assistance Program Panel (TAP) process, ULI evaluated the issues associated with tourism and hotel development, with the goal to quantify the impacts of new hotel development and obtain a better understanding of all the concerns before presenting their findings on best practices tools and strategies to deal with the issues. The TAP process was kicked off with a visit from the ULI panel who toured Asheville before holding a series of listening sessions with the public and stakeholder groups on January 9, 2020. City staff also prepared the following briefing book to familiarize the panel with the issues. The panel returned on January 30, 2020 to present their findings and recommendations. Below is a recording of the presentation: City Council held a work session on February 25, 2020 to discuss the ULI recommendations and provide staff with direction on the next steps. Below is a recording of the work session: The final ULI TAP report is now available with some follow-up thoughts from the panel in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. Supporting Documents Hotel Study Background Video Please review this video to learn more about the proposed hotel development regulations. Hotel Study Map Proposed hotel overlay map for public comment. To comment on this map please take the survey at the top of the page. Final ULI Tap Report Post TAP Panel Comments Staff Presentation – February 23, 2020 Staff Presentation – January 30, 2020 ULI TAP Recommendations – January 30, 2020 ULI Presentation – January 9, 2020 Hotel Development Briefing Book ULI Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) Process Moratorium Ordinance Presentation to Planning and Economic Development Committee – August 29, 2019 Contact Information Stacy Merten, Principal Planner Updated 8/4/2020 Related Services Learn about large-scale development Keep up to date on current projects and applications. Explore city data Public datasets and maps are available on the open data portal at data.ashevillenc.gov. Schedule a mandatory Technical Review Committee pre-application meeting Schedule your required pre-application meeting for Level II, Level III, Conditional Zoning and Major Subdivision reviews. Apply for a homestay permit Apply for a new homestay permit or apply to renew your existing permit. Look up information about a permit Use online tools to look up information about permits Check whether your address is within city limits Search to see if it is within the City of Asheville's permitting jurisdiction. Find what permits and licenses you need for your business Use Asheville's Open for Business wizard to find out what permits and licenses you will need and an estimate of permit fees. Find location and zoning information Find the zoning information for your project. More Related Services Hotel Development Study News City of Asheville shares FAQ about hotel development revisions Posted on July 30, 2020August 3, 2020 by Polly McDaniel Thanks to everyone who has participated in the Hotel Development Survey. We appreciate your Input! Here are the answers to many of the questions that were raised in the survey. Frequently Asked Questions Can the city ban hotels permanently? If someone does not like a particular land use or perceives a use to have negative impacts this does [...] City of Asheville launches online survey to guide drafting of hotel development regulations Posted on July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 by Polly McDaniel The City of Asheville Department of Planning & Urban Design is in the process of drafting a new ordinance to regulate hotel development, based on recommendations from the Urban Land Institute through a technical assistance panel public process and ongoing analysis. As part of the public process, the City is conducting an online survey to engage [...] Asheville City Council to hold a work session on hotel moratorium Posted on February 18, 2020March 3, 2020 by Polly McDaniel Archived stream of the work session: Original post: In September, Asheville City Council approved a temporary moratorium on the approval of new hotels, which means that no hotel development applications will be approved for a year. The purpose of the moratorium is to allow the City time to further study the issues surrounding tourism and assess the [...] More Hotel Development Study News
Explore city data Public datasets and maps are available on the open data portal at data.ashevillenc.gov.
Schedule a mandatory Technical Review Committee pre-application meeting Schedule your required pre-application meeting for Level II, Level III, Conditional Zoning and Major Subdivision reviews.
Check whether your address is within city limits Search to see if it is within the City of Asheville's permitting jurisdiction.
Find what permits and licenses you need for your business Use Asheville's Open for Business wizard to find out what permits and licenses you will need and an estimate of permit fees.
City of Asheville shares FAQ about hotel development revisions Posted on July 30, 2020August 3, 2020 by Polly McDaniel Thanks to everyone who has participated in the Hotel Development Survey. We appreciate your Input! Here are the answers to many of the questions that were raised in the survey. Frequently Asked Questions Can the city ban hotels permanently? If someone does not like a particular land use or perceives a use to have negative impacts this does [...]
City of Asheville launches online survey to guide drafting of hotel development regulations Posted on July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 by Polly McDaniel The City of Asheville Department of Planning & Urban Design is in the process of drafting a new ordinance to regulate hotel development, based on recommendations from the Urban Land Institute through a technical assistance panel public process and ongoing analysis. As part of the public process, the City is conducting an online survey to engage [...]
Asheville City Council to hold a work session on hotel moratorium Posted on February 18, 2020March 3, 2020 by Polly McDaniel Archived stream of the work session: Original post: In September, Asheville City Council approved a temporary moratorium on the approval of new hotels, which means that no hotel development applications will be approved for a year. The purpose of the moratorium is to allow the City time to further study the issues surrounding tourism and assess the [...]