Asheville City Council, concerned over the economic losses local businesses have suffered due to Hurricane Helene, is considering new strategies to boost downtown activity. One of those ideas — relaxing part of the city’s noise ordinance — is now slated for a vote at Council’s next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Mark Matheny, Asheville’s director of development services, first presented the idea to Council’s Planning, Economic Development, and Environment Committee in August. The law currently allows music venues to receive a special permit, granting them permission to be louder than usual for certain performances. For the largest venues, those “sound exceedance events” are capped at 30 per year. The proposed ordinance change would raise that cap to 50 events over a year-long pilot program.
That tweak would directly impact just one existing business: Asheville Yards, formerly known as Rabbit Rabbit, a 4,000-person capacity outdoor performance center on Coxe Avenue. The venue maxes out its quota, hosting concerts by nationally touring artists such as Willie Nelson, Chappell Roan, and Father John Misty…