North Carolina Construction News staff writer
Asheville City Council has approved a $1.403-million contract to update the city’s comprehensive plan and rewrite development regulations, including the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).
The contract with Opticos Design Inc. is part of a plan to align Asheville’s land-use regulations with the updated Living Asheville Comprehensive Plan and the city’s recovery and resilience priorities following Tropical Storm Helene.
The project is funded with $1.2 million from Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds and $203,000 from the city’s Stormwater Enterprise Fund.
The work will include a data- and trend-driven update to the comprehensive plan, a comprehensive review and redrafting of the UDO, and a review of the city’s Standard Specifications & Details Manual.
Planning and Urban Design Interim Director Chris Collins said the storm highlighted the need for development regulations and planning documents to be flexible and aligned with recovery priorities.
The project is expected to take about 2.5 years, including implementation and training following adoption of the new regulations. Work on the comprehensive plan and UDO is scheduled to conclude in October 2027, while the initial update of the Standard Specifications & Details Manual is expected to be completed in March 2028.
The UDO rewrite will be part of a broader review of the regulations governing development in Asheville, including how the city’s land-use policies support housing and resilience goals outlined in the updated comprehensive plan.
Three components have been moved to optional additional tasks because of available funding: adoption and implementation support, updates to the Downtown and River District Design Guidelines, and creation and publication of draft and final versions of the city’s Standard Specifications & Details Manual.
Those additional tasks would require a contract amendment if funding becomes available. The contract follows a competitive selection process conducted by city staff.