Asheville council weighs affordable housing project, data center moratorium

Asheville City Council approved a temporary skating rink at 50 Asheland Avenue, giving the city a stopgap after Hurricane Helene knocked out the Carrier Park rink and cut off family skate nights, youth hockey and recreation programs. The new rink is planned for a municipal parking lot next to the ART Station, and the project was awarded in a $682,157 contract with B. Allen Construction, Inc.

The housing fight stayed just as concrete. Council’s agenda included a development-and-sales agreement with 29 Oak Hill LLC for 42 affordable townhomes for home ownership on 3.72 acres of city-owned land at 29 Oak Hill Drive off New Leicester Highway, with $1.6 million in 2024 Affordable Housing Bond funds proposed for a construction loan and down payment assistance. City staff issued the request for proposals on June 2, 2025, and the project has already drawn pressure for deeper affordability and a closer look at traffic on nearby streets in West Asheville.

The same meeting also pushed forward the long rebuild from Helene. Council approved three city-wide landslide recovery resolutions totaling more than $9.5 million in engineering and design work, along with a contract for roadway and sidewalk repair meant to restore transportation links and improve safety in storm-damaged areas. Public Works Director Amy Deyton framed the work as part of a longer recovery that is also meant to leave Asheville more resilient when the next storm hits.

Growth management landed on the agenda as a more forward-looking fight. Council held a public hearing on a proposed moratorium on data centers after the Planning, Economic Development and Environment Committee unanimously recommended a pause of up to one year so the city can write rules first. City staff have pointed to electricity, water and land-use concerns, and the city currently lacks specific policies for data centers, making the moratorium a test of whether Asheville wants to slow a new kind of development before one arrives.

The June 23 meeting, held at 5 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 70 Court Plaza, also included proposed changes tied to federal disaster recovery funding for housing. Taken together, the decisions showed council choosing among immediate neighborhood impacts: a rink families can use now, affordable ownership homes on city land, storm repairs on roads and hillsides, and a possible pause on industrial-scale development until Asheville writes the rules it wants to live with.