Visit the revised Asheville hotel overlay map at this link: https://bit.ly/3abB4zn.
Over the last year, the City of Asheville Department of Planning and Urban Design has been developing revisions to the City’s hotel development standards, based upon recommendations from the Urban Land Institute and public input. This week, staff will begin presenting the revised hotel overlay map to members of the community. In concert with new proposed hotel zoning regulations this map will guide the future of hotel development in Asheville.
The revised hotel overlay map reflects changes that include:
- A significant reduction to the areas where small hotels are proposed;
- A reduction to areas where both large and small hotels are proposed.
The proposed hotel overlay map is intended to:
- Direct future hotel development to appropriate areas of the city and away from residential neighborhoods to help preserve neighborhood livability and quality of life.
- Encourage historic preservation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
To learn more about the hotel study project, the public is invited to attend and listen to a staff presentation during the following meetings:
Although there is no opportunity for public comment on this topic during the above meetings, any further comments can be provided by email to hotels@PublicInput.com. Public hearings on the topic will formally begin when the project is presented to the Planning & Zoning Commission on Sept. 2.
Staff would like to thank the public for participation in our recent online survey. The City received more than 2,000 comments on this topic. For more information on this project, visit the Hotel Development study project page on ashevillenc.gov.
Project background
In September 2019, Asheville City Council passed 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 City staff time to further study the issues surrounding hotel development and assess the impact to the community. Before the moratorium expires, the Asheville City Council intends to adopt new regulations for hotels that will guide future hotel development in the city.