New STR Restrictions Coming for the Asheville Area

[Mitch Davidson]

As you may be aware, the City of Asheville (about 2/3 of Asheville is in city limits; the rest is under county jurisdiction) has had strict STR regulations in place since 2016. Basically, you can't STR an entire home here, or even an ADU, and can only STR out a portion of a home that you reside in. Recently, Woodfin, which is just North of Asheville, under the leadership of some of the people that formerly lead Asheville's STR initiatives, adopted similar restrictions.

Last month, Buncombe County, which Asheville sits in the middle of, published plans to disallow STR's throughout the rest of the County. Property owners can apply for an STR permit now, before the effective date of the new plan, and can operate thereafter (i.e., be grandfathered). Their permit will not be transferable when they sell though, according to the draft plan. And commercial districts will be excluded from the restrictions, as will parcels in open use zoning (with a special use permit). The County is holding what will be their second public meeting on the topic this Monday, from 5:30PM until 7:30PM at AB Tech (and online).

Here is a link to the meeting: https://www.buncombecounty.org/countycenter/news-detail.aspx... 

And here is a link to the plan the County presented in the first meeting, last month: https://engage.buncombecounty.org/DownloadFile/ImportFile_00...

[Zach Edelman]

This is nuts considering how hot Asheville has been for STRs. 

[Joelle B.]

Thank you for all this information. New here to the BP forum and to investing in Asheville also. Next week we will close on some property (with an old house in need of fixing or tear down tbd) in Buncombe Co currently with unrestricted zoning. Our immediate plan is to get some STRs going and mix in some mid or ltr, and in the future a few other possibilities to bring in income. 
I have been burned in Charleston Co SC and Folly Beach SC by changes in the STR laws after purchasing so obviously I'm very nervous to have this happen again. Where can I find when the STR application opens up? Is there a limited number of licenses? Can the zoning change after the fact?

Just wanted to express gratitude for providing this important information for out of town owners like us as we move forward. 

Thanks 

[Mitch Davidson]

Quote from @Joelle B.:

Thank you for all this information. New here to the BP forum and to investing in Asheville also. Next week we will close on some property (with an old house in need of fixing or tear down tbd) in Buncombe Co currently with unrestricted zoning. Our immediate plan is to get some STRs going and mix in some mid or ltr, and in the future a few other possibilities to bring in income. 
I have been burned in Charleston Co SC and Folly Beach SC by changes in the STR laws after purchasing so obviously I'm very nervous to have this happen again. Where can I find when the STR application opens up? Is there a limited number of licenses? Can the zoning change after the fact?

Just wanted to express gratitude for providing this important information for out of town owners like us as we move forward. 

Thanks 

@Joelle B.: Buncombe county paused their plans for now. I believe the threat of lawsuits scared them off. And perhaps they realized that they couldn't staff permitting and enforcement for the program. 

[Joelle B.]

Good to know, thanks Mitch. Maybe Folly Beach can take a lesson from that…. 

[Dito Calderon]

Quote from @Joelle B.:

Thank you for all this information. New here to the BP forum and to investing in Asheville also. Next week we will close on some property (with an old house in need of fixing or tear down tbd) in Buncombe Co currently with unrestricted zoning. Our immediate plan is to get some STRs going and mix in some mid or ltr, and in the future a few other possibilities to bring in income. 
I have been burned in Charleston Co SC and Folly Beach SC by changes in the STR laws after purchasing so obviously I'm very nervous to have this happen again. Where can I find when the STR application opens up? Is there a limited number of licenses? Can the zoning change after the fact?

Just wanted to express gratitude for providing this important information for out of town owners like us as we move forward. 

Thanks 

Obviously can't guarantee anything. What they have spoken about is changing what's allowed in each zone as opposed to changing the zoning of an individual property. So, for OU (open use) they have gone back and forth whether they would or would not allow based on lot size or otherwise a STR in that zoning.

They have paused for 100 days until they reconvene to re assess and study more the impact. I think that first 100 days is up in July if I remember correctly. So, as of now, there are no permits or applications or anything. 

[Jae Jun]

Has there been any new update on this? I'm considering staying in Jackson, Haywood or McDowell county because of this.

Sounds similar with what Highlands has been trying to do. Wilmington lost the fight which helps the court case if Asheville decides to pursue. At a county level will be an uphill battle imo, but I'm not a local so I'm going off what is out there in the public docs.

But really think Black Mountain will be the right place for what we are trying to do. The uncertainty makes me uneasy though.

[Dito Calderon]

Update: It looks like the county has appointed an 11 person short term rental committee to review the work, investigate more, and provide a recommendation and will be disbanded by November 30th.  It is expected to propose text and regulation in October and host a special planning board meeting October 28th to review with the planning board.  That board would then approve or deny which would send the bill to the councilpersons for an official vote to put into effect.   Here is the link to the home page which includes the video and notes of bi-weekly meetings of this committee:  https://engage.buncombecounty.org/d1035

After reviewing the minutes, it seems very much to be in exploratory. The next two meetings are on Oct 2 and Oct 9th.  It does not seem to be close to final by any stretch. The sentiment seems mostly in line with previously proposed terms - allow for grandfathering, Basic requirements including permits, impact based on different zoning, size, parking, septic, trash, parking etc.  The one thing I found possibly concerning is a restriction of 2 people per BR according to the septic of the house.  That point was pretty neutral when polled so it is something to watch for.  

Feel free to track on the site above or if not, I'll post again with an update in a few weeks time as they get closer to some sort of proposal.  

[Dito Calderon]

@Mitch Davidson - are you hearing anything different or more detailed locally? 

[Mitch Davidson]

@Dito Calderon: Thanks for the update. I haven't kept up on the most recent happenings. I have been assured by the head of the planning group that the restrictions regarding bedrooms, parking, etc. will not apply to anyone grandfathered in. @Jae Jun: Although the conversation has changed much, and toned down regarding proposed restrictions, the plan from jump has been to allow anyone with an existing STR, so far defined as a place that's been rented STR at least 2 consecutive days in the last 6 months, to get a permit and be grandfathered. And recently, after much pushback, they backed off the plan to not let you transfer the permit to the next property owner when you sell. So I wouldn't be concerned about buying quite soon, as things are moving in a good direction...and all the more now that they've assembled a committee that reportedly includes some people who are both more experience with and favorable towards STR.

[Jae Jun]

Thanks @ditoc!

From the looks of it, I agree that the sentiment does look promising and much better than the initial conversations. The more they go into the details of permitting and what is/isn't allowed, that's good news.

Having some regulations is a good thing. I'm totally on board with permits and # of people per bedroom and parking spaces.

My search moves forward!