Ask City Council: Vote NO on New Hotel Development Policy

City Council is proposing a new hotel development policy that would allow hotel developers to bypass City Council and get approval to build in Asheville with no public comment and insufficient benefits or protections for the communities where they build. While the policy has some requirements of hotel developers that might result in some benefits to our communities, the requirements don’t do enough to actually advance racial equity, a stated priority of the City.

At City Council’s February 9th meeting, several Council members expressed these and other concerns with the proposed policy. We ask that Council members back up those concerns by voting NO on this new policy.

Council will vote on this item on February 23rd, and the proposal that is voted on could look different from the one we saw on February 9th.

It’s critical that Council hears from us before February 23rd.

Email or call our City Council members:
Mayor Esther Manheimer – esthermanheimer@avlcouncil.com; 828-259-5604
Vice Mayor Sheneika Smith – sheneikasmith@avlcouncil.com; 704-401-9104
Sandra Kilgore – sandrakilgore@avlcouncil.com; 954-540-5593
Antanette Mosley – antanettemosley@avlcouncil.com;
Kim Roney – kimroney@avlcouncil.com; 828-771-7265
Sage Turner – sageturner@avlcouncil.com; 828-423-0621
Gwen Wisler – gwenwisler@avlcouncil.com; 828-333-1767
To email all Council Members at once – AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov

There’s more information and even suggestions for what you can say when you reach out to City Council members on Racial Justice Coalition’s Call to Action page.