City Council regular meeting — September 8, 2026

Background:

• After a competitive selection process, City staff negotiated a contract with Opticos Design, Inc. to serve as the primary vendor for the Comprehensive Plan Update and Development Code Rewrite project.
• Scope covers project management and inclusive community engagement through a data- and trend-driven update to the Comprehensive Plan, a comprehensive review and redrafting of the Unified Development Ordinance, and a comprehensive review of the Standard Specifications & Details Manual.
• The contractor's schedule, including implementation/training after code adoption, is 2.5 years; work on the comprehensive plan and UDO concludes in October 2027, and the initial SSDM update will be completed in March 2028.
• To align with available funding, three tasks were moved to optional additional tasks (adoption and implementation support; updates to Downtown and River District Design Guidelines; creation and publishing of draft and final SSDM documents), which would require a contract amendment.

Fiscal Impact:

• Total contracted cost not to exceed $1,403,000: $1,200,000 from CDBG-DR award funds and $203,000 from the City's Stormwater Enterprise Funds.
• Associated budget amendment (Ordinance 5258) transfers funds to the Special Revenue Fund for the contract.

Background:

• N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 18B-300(c) authorizes the City by ordinance to regulate or prohibit the consumption and possession of open containers of malt beverages and unfortified wine on public streets and City property, including streets temporarily closed for special events; City Code Section 11-11 allows Council to make other provisions by resolution for a special event or community festival.
• The Asheville Downtown Association requested permission to serve beer and/or unfortified wine at Oktoberfest on October 3, 2026, on Coxe Avenue, and to allow consumption at the event.
• Alcohol boundaries are defined per the accompanying event site maps; approval allows fundraising opportunities for the sponsoring nonprofit organizations.

Fiscal Impact:

• No negative fiscal impacts identified.

Background:

• The City has and will continue to incur expenses related to TS Helene disaster recovery and response.
• To date City Council has approved Helene-related budgets totaling $219.5M, used for initial response costs, ongoing staff expenses, permanent work projects and the contract with Hagerty Consulting.
• Spending authority from prior Helene-related budget amendments is nearing full utilization, so additional budget is needed to meet State Statute requirements for pre-audits and budget authorizations.
• The City received a $105,000 donation to support temporary recreational facilities after TS Helene, originally budgeted in the Special Revenue Fund; this action moves it to the General Capital Projects Fund for materials for the temporary skating rink project.

Fiscal Impact:

• Helene budget increased by $4.2M, funded with FEMA and state emergency management reimbursements, for upcoming expenses such as a temporary bridge for Gashes Creek, Parks content replacements and grants management costs.
• $105,000 in donations transferred from the Special Revenue Fund to the General Capital Projects Fund.

Background:

• The City owns a 21-acre property at 65 Ford Street and a 16-acre property adjacent to Pisgah View Road; the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville (HACA) owns about 20 acres at 275 Deaverview Road, home to the 160-unit Deaverview Apartments public housing development built in 1971.
• HACA wishes to replace Deaverview in a way that requires residents to relocate only once; PEAK Academy wishes to develop a community-centered public school on a suitable site nearby.
• The City, HACA and PEAK executed a Memorandum of Understanding for joint planning of the combined 50+ acres; the master plan is to include a mixed-income housing strategy (affordable and market rate, rental and homeownership), educational and recreational facilities, and wellness/supportive services.
• Implementation (property acquisition or disposition, infrastructure, development team selection, funding agreements) remains subject to future approval by City Council, the HACA Board and the PEAK Academy Board.
• Following a competitive RFP (June 16
• July 16, 2026; 10 proposals received), scoring and interviews, City Collective, LLC was selected; the planning process is expected to run in phases over 18 months with stakeholder and community engagement throughout.

Fiscal Impact:

• Contract not to exceed $399,800, funded with CDBG-DR Planning funds from the City's $225M Tropical Storm Helene CDBG-DR award.

Background:

• The City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (CAYLA), established in 2007 and supported by Buncombe County and the City, is a high school program focused on career exploration, leadership development and 21st-century job skills, providing work experience in Asheville.
• CAYLA provides each graduating student a $2,000 scholarship for continuing education, disbursed by the Asheville City Schools Foundation (ACSF), a partner since 2016.
• The ACSF agreement, which has operated under a five-year term, will transition to a one-year contract to streamline the process.
• Buncombe County separately provides $65,000 toward the scholarship program; that funding is transferred to ACSF via this agreement.

Fiscal Impact:

• City commits $54,500 for $2,000 scholarships to qualifying graduates plus a 5% administrative fee for the Foundation, not to exceed $54,500 total.

Background:

• Public Works applied for and was awarded $25,000 via the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's FY2024 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP), administered by NC Emergency Management (Grant #EMW-2023-SS-00034; MOA #24HSGP034).
• Shortly after the award, the September 25, 2024 Tropical Storm Helene state of emergency shifted focus to response and recovery, so the funds were not used at that time.
• NCEM confirmed the period of performance extends through February 28, 2027; reimbursement requests are due by March 31, 2027.
• Funds will purchase a Multiple Event Response Trailer (MERT) and barricades for emergency management
• closing roads, diverting traffic and establishing perimeters.
• Because the internal grant process changed since the original application, Public Works requested ratification of the application and award acceptance before using the funds.

Fiscal Impact:

• Budget amendment (Ordinance 5260) adds the $25,000 grant award to the Special Revenue Fund.

Background:

• The State Maintenance Assistance Program (SMAP) is a non-competitive annual formula grant for eligible municipalities operating a fixed-route transit system in a designated urbanized area.
• Funds are restricted to operating and maintenance expenses, cannot exceed total local operating contributions, and cannot be used to match other state funding programs.
• The City annually receives SMAP funds from NCDOT to support maintenance of the ART transit fleet, equipment and facilities.

Fiscal Impact:

• $1,104,732 in SMAP grant funds for FY2027, a 0.59% increase over the $1,098,253 FY2026 allocation.

Background:

• The FTA announced approximately $589 million in competitive grants for the FY2026 Low or No Emission Grant Program, which funds capital projects supporting reduced carbon emissions, including new transit operations and maintenance facilities.
• The existing transit maintenance facility at 360 West Haywood Street is over capacity per the 2021 ART Maintenance Programming Report and Site Analysis Study, and expansion there is neither feasible nor cost-effective.
• The 2021 study identified the 8.76-acre City-owned property at 224 Louisiana Avenue, less than three miles from the downtown ART Station, as a strong candidate site.
• The application will include a scalable, phased plan; pursuit of the grant does not authorize final design or construction. The grant deadline is September 21, 2026, and HDR, Inc. is assisting with the application.

Fiscal Impact:

• Estimated total project cost of $60 million; the City will request $48 million in federal funding with a required 20% match of $12 million.
• A significant portion of the match is already in the General CIP Fund in FY28 and FY29 ($300,000 and $4,800,000, respectively). If awarded, staff would return to Council to budget the grant and remaining match.

Background:

• The Dogwood Health Trust Leverage Fund provides eligible public and nonprofit entities in Western North Carolina with grant writing assistance to pursue competitive federal, state and private foundation grants.
• Under expanded Hurricane Relief eligibility rules, municipalities with operating budgets over $5 million in the 12 counties most impacted by Hurricane Helene (including Buncombe) are eligible; the City's annual operating budget is approximately $275,700,000.
• The application window runs January 20, 2026 through 5:00 PM ET on October 2, 2026 on a rolling basis.
• The City seeks grant writing support to prepare complex federal applications such as FEMA HMGP and to pursue funding for unmet recovery needs such as debris removal, infrastructure and parks.

Background:

• City Attorney Branham recommended adding "and upon the issuance of an order prepared in accordance with Section 4-217(b)" to the end of the proposed Section 4-209(c), so the ordinance is triggered only after a City inspector issues an order following a notice of violation and opportunity for the landlord to cure and be heard.
• Staff noted state law largely preempts local regulation of residential rentals and provides that a tenant may not unilaterally withhold rent before a judicial determination.

Background:

• The Asheville Area Tenants Union requested an amendment to the Asheville Housing Code making it unlawful to collect rent when a dwelling contains a life safety/unsafe condition.
• The ordinance adds heightened protections for tenants exposed to unsafe conditions, intended to help tenants stay in their homes while ensuring dwellings are safe and fit for habitation, and directs code enforcement to give priority enforcement to dwellings covered by Section 4-209.
• Four other North Carolina municipalities (Charlotte, Pineville, Pittsboro and Durham) have enacted similar housing-code amendments.
• The ordinance was not staff initiated and staff made no recommendation.
• Adopted as amended to apply upon issuance of an inspector's order under Section 4-217(b); Council discussed but did not add mold as a condition, since there is no state or federal legal standard for unsafe mold levels.