Summary: The owner of the Asheville Mall is asking Council to rezone approximately 41 acres from Urban Place to Regional Business without presenting a specific redevelopment project. The change would weaken mixed-use, walkability, and transit-supportive development requirements while allowing unrestricted drive-throughs and broader automobile-oriented commercial uses.

The facts: The property contains an approximately 198,000-square-foot mall building and extensive surface parking. Current zoning is intended to transform sites like this into mixed-use town centers containing housing and commercial space. Regional Business zoning would still allow multifamily housing, but it would remove requirements intended to produce a walkable, connected development—such as standards governing building placement, block size, street-facing buildings, internal sidewalks and trees, and the location of drive-through lanes. Planning and Zoning recommended denial 4–3, and staff recommends denial.

Our Assessment: We are marking this “problematic” because by approving this request, the City would surrender leverage over one of Asheville’s largest redevelopment opportunities without receiving a site plan, housing commitment, affordability requirement, street network, transit improvement, or other enforceable public benefit. Council should deny the straight rezoning and invite the owner to return with a conditional, mixed-use proposal.

Things to do: Residents who contact City Council (AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov) may wish to emphasize:

• Council should reject the request to replace Urban Place zoning with Regional Business zoning.
• The owner has not presented a specific redevelopment plan or offered enforceable commitments involving housing, affordability, transit, walkability, or other public benefits.
• The current zoning preserves the possibility of transforming approximately 41 acres of mall and surface parking into a mixed-use, transit-supportive town center.
• Rezoning now would give away the City’s leverage while permitting more automobile-oriented development, including drive-through businesses without the current requirement that they have only one lane located behind the building..
• When the owner has a viable redevelopment proposal, it should return with a conditional rezoning application that allows Council and the public to evaluate the actual project and secure enforceable community benefits.
  

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