This afternoon, Asheville City Council held a joint meeting with the P&Z board. It could have been over in twenty minutes if people had listened to P&Z guy Joe Minicozzi. But such is not the way of meetings. Usually, somebody has a great idea they say early on, and then it gets repeated two or three times before somebody in charge has an epiphany of said repeated idea. It’s not about business, it’s about relationship-building.
Anyway, the problem was that building is booming in Asheville, even though stats showed it boomed more last year, and the city can’t keep up with regulating it. Council, city staff, and the planning board have desires to master-plan and micromanage suggested projects. Presenter Cathy Ball argued there wasn’t enough staff. The Planning Department has been without leadership and is in involved in an executive search. In the meantime, P&Z folks are frustrated because certain portions of the municipal code are unworkable, and they have to keep meeting to waive requirements. It was suggested that the routine of waiving become standardized, as opposed to just obliterating the impossible commandments.
Minicozzi suggested having the P&Z board meet twice a month. The first meeting could be for zoning issues, and the second could be for planning. The board is not paid, and they’d be doubling up on their time. The conversation went round and round, and Councilman Jan Davis remarked the words that had been multiplied were very nebulous. He didn’t see the point in making a big plan when developers were bottlenecked and chomping at the bit. Eventually, everybody came around to Minicozzi’s proposal, and further agreed that UDO amendments would be handled on a complaint-driven basis, rather than being brainstormed.
The good news is, the city is working to facilitate business. May they take the approach of eliminating unnecessary hoops for all instead of setting up cozy hurdles for those who would rankle special interests.
