ASHEVILLE – The city of Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission will soon play an important role in guiding a major update of land use and development regulations. It comes as city staff and commissioners have called Asheville’s nearly 30-year-old Unified Development Ordinance “broken.”
During the commission’s Jan. 7 meeting, city staff and commissioners discussed the multi-year process where they will help rework development regulations as part of updating the city’s 2018 comprehensive plan. The update is set to begin in mid-2026.
Since the 2018 plan, titled “Living Asheville: A Comprehensive Plan for Our Future,” was adopted, COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020 and then Tropical Storm Helene devastated the city in 2024, causing $60 billion in damages in Western North Carolina and killing over 100 in the state. But even before Helene and the pandemic, few updates had been made…