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12 hours ago
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West Asheville homeless shelter, community space seeks rezoning to become permanent
ASHEVILLE – A West Asheville homeless shelter is one step closer to securing the needed zoning to allow its building to operate permanently as housing for some of the city's most vulnerable residents. The 20-bed shelter — dubbed Safe Shelter — moved into its Haywood Road space in October after a year of rotating locations. It is housed in the former educational building of Trinity United Methodist Church, which sits behind the church. Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Aug. 6 to recommend approval to conditionally rezone the property to allow permanent use of the site as a nightly shelter with a maximum of 35 beds. The space also encompasses other uses, including a community center, barbershop, consignment shop, preschool, K-12 learning community and gathering place. Final approval rests with City Council Aug. 26. A building and zoning review will follow. Safe Shelter, a partnership of three Asheville churches and Counterflow LLC, first opened in November 2023 as a year-round shelter with a six-month lease at downtown's AHOPE Day Shelter, before rotating between its partner churches. It eventually landed in Trinity's education building, formerly home to PEAK Academy, an area charter school. The school announced in August that it would relocate to the Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center. The intention was always for the space to be Safe Shelter's permanent home, but it has been operating under a temporary use permit. Safe Shelter Director Christian Chambers said he was glad to see the rezoning moving forward, which would mean 'solidifying' the work of the shelter. He said the shelter has done extensive outreach with neighbors and surrounding community, including meetings and ongoing weekly clean-ups. 'I appreciate the commitment to make this sort of a permanent setup instead of under an emergency allowance, I think that shows commitment to provide this much needed service to the community,' Commission Chair Geoffrey Barton said at the evening's meeting. Since its inception, the shelter has specialized in providing space for families and underserved communities who might face barriers to entry at other area shelters. It receives referrals daily and is consistently full, Chambers said. Its primary goal is to connect residents with permanent housing. Additionally, it supports them in areas including employment, education, childcare, transportation and mental health, according to its website. Safe Shelter partners with other tenants in the building, like Home Base Barbershop, Good Vibes Consignment, mutual aid groups and a clinical social worker. Strong community is key to sustaining housing, Chambers said. Across Haywood Road from Trinity, down State Street, Asheville Poverty Initiative operates 12 Baskets Café, which serves free meals to people from 'all walks of life.' It rescues and redistributes over 16,000 pounds of food a month — 1,100 meals a week. The initiative also operates a free store and an education program that centers the voices of people who have experienced homelessness or poverty. Executive Director Ben Williamson told the Citizen Times Aug. 8 that Safe Shelter has been an incredible partner as both groups share in the work of daily services and meeting the needs of those seeking shelter, food and other support. 'We're honored to be in the work with Safe Shelter and the team there, and just really grateful that they are across the street and now, potentially, there permanently,' he said. More: Asheville's unsheltered answer: What do you wish our community understood about homelessness? More: Asheville Citizen Times staff recognized for journalism excellence in Helene coverage Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@ or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville planning board recommends approval for area homeless shelter Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
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Why do Palm Beach Town Hall staff want to limit code-variance requests? Here's the scoop.
In Palm Beach, aging zoning regulations have led to a redevelopment environment in which code-variance requests have become commonplace. A variance is a request to allow a redevelopment project to deviate from the 'literal interpretation' of the zoning code, according to the town's code of ordinances. During the Planning and Zoning Commission's June 26 meeting, Town Hall staff said Palm Beach receives an average of 150 variance requests annually. That's an obvious sign that the code needs to be reworked, the commission was told. As part of that effort, town staff are crafting a new "waiver" system to combat the prevalent use of variances. But why is Town Hall trying to curb variance requests? And why are they often at the center of redevelopment drama? Here's a breakdown. What does a variance allow a property owner to do? Variance requests must be approved by the Town Council, which has the right to approve them with conditions or other safeguards. And while a variance allows a project to deviate from the zoning code, it's not a blank check. The request must 'not be contrary to public interest' and stem from a special condition that would result in 'unnecessary and undue hardship' were the property owner required to follow the code faithfully. The code's criteria for what constitutes an appropriate variance request requires: that the special condition fueling the request must be unique to an applicant's land or building, and not applicable to any other property in the same zoning district; that the hardship was not created by the applicant; that approval of the variance would not grant the applicant special privileges not afforded to others in the same zoning district; that denying the variance would deny the applicant rights afforded by others in the same zoning district; that the variance requested is the minimal deviation possible from the zoning code; and that granting the variance would not create any detrimental impact to the public. In other words, a North End homeowner cannot apply for a variance request to convert part of the property into a commercial business, as that scenario is explicitly prohibited in the area's zoning code. Property owners or their representatives also must request a separate variance for each aspect of a project that deviates from the zoning code. For instance, if a project exceeds limits on building heights and elevation, those deviations would each require a variance request. Who reviews variance requests? While the Town Council has the final say on variance requests, Palm Beach's volunteer design boards — the Architectural Commission and the Landmarks Preservation Commission — get the town's first look at the issues involved. But those commissions cannot approve or deny a variance request. Instead, when either commission votes on a project's design, they also hold a vote on whether to recommend the Town Council greenlight the requested variance or to dissuade the council from approving it. Why do Palm Beach planning staff want to reduce variance requests? Though the Town Council's approval of a variance is meant to be based on the code's criteria, requests are sometimes granted because they are deemed "de mininis," or a small deviation to the code. But making that evaluation can lead to legal trouble, since a true hardship is one of the defining criteria a variance request must satisfy, Peter Henn, an attorney for the town, told the Planning and Zoning Commission in June. Just recently, a group of residents sued Town Hall and the Palm Beach Synagogue after the Town Council voted to approve an expansion project that included nine variance requests. The lawsuit claims the council granted the variances without the synagogue proving they were needed to overcome a significant hardship. Complicating the issue is the fact that a hardship is not defined under the code, staff noted during the June meeting. Town staff is proposing a waiver system for minor projects, historic buildings To curb the number of variance requests, town staff recently proposed rewording the zoning code's definition of a variance, so that any request must highlight a hardship. The new code also will feature a clear definition of a hardship, Town Planner Jennifer Hofmeister-Drew said during the June meeting. But town staff also is proposing the creation of a "waiver request" process to help ensure property owners would still have the flexibility to pursue projects that do not involve a hardship and slightly deviate from the town's zoning code. 'If the Town Council is going to approve 95% of the variances requested, we would like them to do it in a legal fashion, by calling it a waiver and not a variance, and we want to save (the granting of) a variance for those tough times when it truly is going beyond the guardrails we will set up for the waiver criteria,' Henn told the planning board. Recently, planning staff have tapped the town's Design and Preservation staff and the nonprofit Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach to help draft the criteria for the waiver program. That's because landmarked and historically significant building comprise a large portion of variance requests, said Planning, Zoning and Building Assistant Director James Murphy. "We're really looking for joint collaboration in (this process), so we're very excited about that," he said. But residents will have to wait a while before they get their first look at the new variance and waiver program, Murphy added, because those proposals are not expected to be presented anytime soon. Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Learn about the divisive zoning request Palm Beach is trying to curb Solve the daily Crossword
