If that last one didn’t get your goat, consider this. Asheville wants to subsidize the provision of new or upgraded waterlines to affordable housing developments. To assess a project’s merits, a point system was developed. Points are awarded for compliance with “the kind of development this council wants.” Criteria include proximity to transit, grocery stores, schools, or business districts; protection of natural habitat; percentage of housing units that are affordable; implementation of a plan to preserve affordability long-term (rent control, land trust, equity sharing); provision of wireless internet; stormwater mitigation; outfitting with Energy Star features and appliances; use of compact fluorescent lighting; and participation in green certification programs.

On the bright side, as city staff indicated in their report, the regulation will drive up the cost of home prices. This will help eliminate the middle class in Asheville, an objective implicit in many of council’s visionary goals. It will also transfer the responsibility for basic subsistence from currently self-sufficient low-income members of the community to government, another insidious and all-pervasive objective.