Government Accountability Project of Asheville

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• Asheville’s rezoning decisions must address displacement (new)
• Buncombe County is growing tourism while working families are still waiting (report back)
• Buncombe County is allowing more density without ensuring affordability (report back)
• Buncombe County funds schools without knowing who is being left behind (report back)

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New Item: Asheville’s rezoning decisions must address displacement

The Asheville City Council will consider a proposed rezoning of 13 Baldwin Street (in the Oakley neighborhood) from a Neighborhood Business (NB) zone to a Residential Single-Family High Density (RS-8) zone, which presents an important test of City policy on housing growth, equity, and displacement. Oakley has been identified by the City’s own Missing Middle Housing (MMH) Study as one of the neighborhoods most vulnerable to displacement due to rising land values, cost-burdened residents, and redevelopment pressure. While the rezoning could add housing capacity, it also removes space for neighborhood-serving commercial uses like small businesses and lacks any mechanism to protect long-term residents from displacement pressures. While we don’t recommend that the rezoning request be denied, we think it could be amended and improved. More broadly, we think it’s time for the City to adopt an explicit anti-displacement analysis and mitigation policy applicable to this rezoning and all future zoning or ordinance changes that increase development capacity. Such a policy would ensure that growth does not come at the expense of the people who already call Asheville home.

1/5/2026’s GAP Report items regarding rezoning of County property, tourism development, and school funding have all been updated below, and a template to apply continued pressure on the County to continue to center equity in each of these issues is provided.