Buncombe Comprehensive Plan heads to final vote; Will guide county growth, development
ASHEVILLE - After nearly 200 input sessions and thousands of public comments, Buncombe County's 2043 Comprehensive Plan has cleared its penultimate hurdle — clinching a recommendation for approval from the Planning Board May 2 — a document that will guide future development and conservation for the next 20 years.
Final adoption rests with the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners May 16.
About 30 people came out to the special called meeting in downtown Asheville, and though the 215-page draft document spans a vast array of topics, the issue of housing dominated the morning's public hearing.
More: Buncombe County Comprehensive Plan 2043: Input from kids to seniors shapes next 20 years
At its center were concerns from the Pinners Cove and Beaverdam Valley neighborhoods, where some residents feared proposed land use designations that would identify portions of their communities as areas suited for "mixed use neighborhoods," would result in "high density" development without the proper infrastructure.
"It's a hammrer blow to one of the most natural, iconic and bucolic neighborhoods in the county" said Reb Haizlip, president of the newly formed Beaverdam Valley Neighborhood Association.
The Beaverdam Valley neighborhood, located both in the city and county, is an area in North Asheville, bordered to the north by Elk Mountain Scenic Highway and to the south by portions of Town Mountain Road.
Other residents stressed the importance of identifying new county land as potential sites for more housing.
"By doing so we can take a meaningful step in addressing our housing crisis,” said Matt Allen, who works at a local realtors association. "We have a severe lack of housing," he said, and while there's no "silver bullet or panacea," the proposed Growth, Equity and Conservation Framework Map is a way forward.
Previous coverage: Buncombe County land use map: Over next 20 years, what land will be developed, conserved?
'We are just getting started'
Planning Director Nathan Pennington said that any plan adopted does not "expand, diminish or alter" existing regulations.
Though the plan, and accompanying map, would guide the county's decisions on development proposals, such as rezoning requests, it does not rezone any areas when approved. Additionally, Pennington said it would not remove any existing overlays, such as the protected ridge and steep slope overlays, which "cover entire swaths" of Pinners Cove, Beaverdam Valley and other county coves.
"Think beyond, think future, think expansion of public services, think about the valley floors itself," Pennington said. "The (Future Land Use Map) is not a zoning map, It does not rezone properties, it does not assign new zoning districts."
The comprehensive plan is intended to guide growth, conservation, economic development and other related elements within the county over the next 20 years, which includes overarching goals, policy guidance and specific actions — including regulatory updates to the Buncombe County zoning ordinance.
Find a draft of the 2043 Comprehensive Plan at https://bit.ly/3NELUDw.
“After this process, a lot more work takes place,” Pennington told the Planning Board and assembled public. “This is a long-range planning document. We are just getting started.”
More: 252-unit development in Bent Creek area approved by Buncombe Board of Adjustment
More: Potential Deaverview Mountain park gets Buncombe Commission OK; 343 mountaintop acres
More highlights of the plan
Although housing needs and future development frameworks are often a focus of Buncombe County and its commissioners, particularly amid an ever-growing housing crisis, "growth, equity and conservation" are only one piece of the plan's nine central planning topics:
Transportation and connectivity
Farms, forests and environmental conservation
Economic development, education and jobs
Health and recreation
Hazards and resilience
Infrastructure and energy
Implementation of the plan
Within each topic is a branching list of goals, policies and actions, each anchored within the plan's overarching vision themes.
All told, said Leigh Anne King, director of Denver-based Clarion Associates, the consulting firm chosen to help guide the process, the plan contains 35 policies and 41 actions, plus a range of new planning tools and performance metrics.
Planning Board Chair Nancy Waldrop said she was among those "skeptical" at first that such an expansive process could truly be guided by public input, but "through this whole process that is what I have seen happen in terms of the planning and what actually got put into this draft."
“I couldn’t be more thrilled with what this has turned out to be,” Waldrop said.
“Growth happens, whether any of us want it or not," she said. “This plan is not a zoning ordinance, it is a guide for that growth, and I think the worst thing we could do as a community ... is to not look at the potential for what that growth is going to be and act on it."
She hopes the plan leads to "smart growth" for the entire community and a county that is anticipated to grow by 20-30% by 2045. Buncombe’s 2020 population was 269,452, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
More: Belongings, trash pile at Craven Street bridge: Who is responsible for cleanup? Housing?
More: Jubilee! to sell its downtown building, home since 1989; temporary move to Rainbow school
'We're not finished'
While many residents left the meeting likely glad for the outcome, such as Tommy Seijo, who also spoke in favor of the draft Comprehensive Plan, specifically the necessity for more housing, which has become "increasingly difficult" to find, or Dee Williams who said "the NIMBY-ism had to be limited," members of the Beaverdam Valley Neighborhood Association were not pleased.
The vote to recommend approval passed unanimously by the six Planning Board members present, and did not include the neighborhood's requested amendment to re-designate all land within the bounds of the neighborhood to "rural community."
“We think it was a foregone conclusion," Haizlip said of the vote. "But we feel like it’s important that we get the information out to the board, as well as the county commission and the residents of Beaverdam Valley.”
"We're not finished," he added. He and other members of the association plan to be at the Board of Commissioner's meeting May 16 at 5 p.m. for the public hearing and final vote.
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: A 20-year view: Buncombe Comprehensive Plan heads to final vote
