Staples BOA appeal.pdf (20.13 KB)

 Prudential BOA appeal.pdf (15.38 KB)

ASHEVILLE — The Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods is trying to turn the heat up on the city Planning Department to enforce development rules more strictly, sponsoring two appeals filed Thursday by city residents seeking to overturn department decisions.

The city on Thursday issued an order stopping work on another project CAN threatened to challenge, saying construction must cease on a Merrimon Avenue building planned to house a Walgreens drugstore because it is not compliance with city rules.

The appeals filed by residents say the department erred when it approved the location of the Staples building on Merrimon Ave. and the size of signs on the Prudential Lifestyle Realty building, between Tunnel Road and Interstate 240 on the eastern edge of downtown. They will go to the city Board of Adjustment.

The timing of the appeals means they may face uphill battles. The Staples and Prudential buildings are already completed and occupied and city rules say such appeals must be brought within 30 days of the contested action.

The appeals will nonetheless draw more attention to what CAN, a nonprofit comprised of neighborhood groups across the city, says is a pattern of city staff not forcing developers to adhere to the Unified Development Ordinance.

CAN president Chris Pelly likened the appeals to “putting a line in the sand.”

“We’re just looking for the Planning Department to play by their own rules here,” he said.

City Planning Director Scott Shuford said he had not read the appeals and could not comment on their specifics.

Shuford said that department staffers “are indeed enforcing the UDO” but he can understand that residents have concerns.

“When things start to change in Asheville, and they are changing … people are going to pay attention and be interested in that development,” he said.

The Staples appeal, brought by neighborhood resident Heather Rayburn, says the department should not have allowed the building to be constructed less than 15 feet from the Staples property line and that the Staples signs are too large and too tall.

The Prudential appeal, brought by Kimberly Hodges, says signs on the building are too large and too tall.

The Staples building, especially its large wall on Merrimon, has been widely criticized and the company has initiated a process to discuss community concerns.

Kathi Petersen, Staples’ local spokesman, said the company complied with city ordinances when constructing the building, which opened for business in December.

Mike Bagley, broker in charge at Prudential Lifestyle, said signs on the building, completed in October, are within city guidelines.

“It’s a beautiful sign. It’s clean, crisp with nice corners on it,” he said. Changing the signs “would be very costly.”

Richard Ducker, a professor who specializes in zoning issues at The School of Government at UNC Chapel Hill, said the time period for appeals generally begins running when a person might reasonably be expected to become aware of a project.

Joe Minicozzi, a CAN board member working on the appeal, said Rayburn and Hodges became aware of the interpretations of the UDO they are appealing during a Jan. 11 meeting with city officials.

Shuford said the stop work order was entered on the Walgreens project, located where Citizens Ace Hardware once stood at 841 Merrimon, in response to citizen complaints.

Zoning for the site requires that new buildings be located next to the sidewalk, Shuford said. An existing building can be renovated even if it doesn’t comply with that requirement, he said, and that’s the course Walgreens opted for when applying for city permits.

The city’s position is that so much of the building has been removed that the project is now considered new construction, he said.

A Walgreens spokeswoman did not have an immediate comment.