A task force has been created to review the city’s open space zoning regulations and to consider amendments to update the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). These regulations relate to the open spaces that are required primarily for new development projects, not to be confused with larger public open spaces of city parks and greenways.
This project area includes Old Shoals Extension, Monte Vista Place, Downing Street, Frederick Street, Britt Drive, Hilltopia and Plateau Road, Pine Tree Drive, Livingston Street and Depot Street.
This project area includes Brevard Road, Brookwood Road (North Asheville), Greely Street and Cove Lane, Joe Jenkins Road, Hazel Mill Road, Muirfield Subdivision, South Tunnel Road, and Swannanoa River Road.
The housing focus of the Community & Economic Development Department is to partner with area non-profits, agencies, and for-profit developers to produce, preserve, and protect affordable and mixed-income communities in Asheville.
Since June 6, City Council has voted to remove or repurpose the Vance Monument, passed a resolution supporting community reparations, and passed a budget that only funded departments for three months so that City staff could work with the community to reimagine public safety.
Funding from the bond referendum passed in 2016 was used to renovate and replace playgrounds at Herb Watts Park in Southside (Park District: South Central), Leah Chiles Park in Kenilworth (Park District: East Central), and the Augusta Barnett Playground in West Asheville (Park District: West).
Outdoor sport court replacements with enhanced features such as new retaining walls, new fencing, new lighting, and improved ADA accessibility were completed at Murphy-Oakley Park (Park District: Southeast), Malvern Hills Park (Park District: West) and Montford Park (Park District: West Central).
With consideration for physical distancing and other safety measures implemented by public health officials, the City has launched new ways to use outdoor spaces - like streets, sidewalks, parking areas and parks - differently, to support economic recovery and other community and business needs.
The City of Asheville’s Water Resources Department has been proactively preparing for changes to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lead and Copper Rule since early 2019. Now that the changes have been finalized, the City of Asheville has a strategy in place to meet three key mandates of the revised rule: the creation of a Service Line Inventory, lead testing in elementary schools and daycares, and Lead and Copper Rule sampling.
The City is committed to environmental, economic, and social justice. With our Equity and Inclusion Office's help, the City of Asheville will apply an equity lens to the work we do in every department.
The City of Asheville is in the midst of a large project to update the City’s Greenway Plan, ADA Transition Plan, and Pedestrian Plan.
Affordable housing has become a serious issue in Asheville, but the City is working to increase the number of affordable homes. The Neighborhood Lots for Affordable Housing project is smaller in scope but still an important part of the larger goal to develop more affordable housing options in the City.