By way of good news, the City of Asheville’s attorney, Bob Oast, informed council tonight that state law requires persons appealing design reviews to be aggrieved parties with standing. At least a couple members wanted everybody to be able to appeal. Mayor Terry Bellamy explained an aggrieved party is not somebody who shops downtown and doesn’t like a building. Members of council were also swift enough to realize people protesting development either don’t like buildings or don’t like developers.
On the green initiative, Bellamy, Bill Russell, Jan Davis, and Esther Manheimer all supported having staff do a rough feasibility study. However, they argued the city had a finite amount of money and it had already committed to more plans and other niceties than it could afford.
Also as a pleasant surprise, council remanded the stormwater ordinance for further ironing. Russell said he couldn’t do due diligence on a 91-page ordinance plus a PowerPoint presentation in four days.
