STR ban in Woodfin NC
Hi all, I have a friend and fellow investor in NC who has a STR in Woodfin, NC (North of Asheville), he called me today and said there was a town hall meeting last night and the town is going to ban all STR's in Woodfin. He has his highest producing unit in Woodfin and is concerned for sure; my concern is if this idea spreads as we have a property in Fletcher, which is south of Asheville. Any thoughts on ability to fight changes like this or are we stuck with the outcome? He said there was some pushback from a few owners and contractors so they have given a 30 day window to apply for a STR license, but they gave no criteria. The main complaint was from residents and typical, noise, unknown visitors, property values hurt, etc...
Would love not know opinions, especially from anyone local.
No chance of stopping it. A new council was elected last November that is decidedly less "grow at all costs" and they are going to put the kabash on it. I spent 20 years working here and there is a real battle going on between the people that have been here all their lives (Woodfin has a lot of legacy families) and outsiders that brought their money here and drove the prices of everything up.
Where is his property? My best guess is that they are going to prohibit it in the traditional old part of town and allow it in the newer annexed areas like Leisure Mountain, Reynolds Mountain, etc. Not sure what the reference is to the permitting part, as NC prohibits cities from requiring STR owners from getting permits. No way do I see the prohibition of anyone owning multiple units surviving any kind of legal challenge. A lot of these things end up getting worked out once legal counsel has a good chance to take a look at it. On the other hand, there's always been a lot of "Fire, Ready, Aim" in Woodfin.
Here's a link to the actual story on the meeting:
https://www.citizen-times.com/...
Here's a good link to NC's rules on STRs, which essentially says they can zone them in/out and regulate them like any other business but cannot require permits or licenses:
If you search "NC H.B. 829 short term rentals" you can read about what the legislature is considering vis a vis a city's ability to ban people from renting homes on a nightly basis in NC. The bill is based on a successful court challenge to Wilmington's efforts to limit STR'.
It's nuanced, and frankly not entirely clear what the outcome could be. But the gist is, should it pass: a city would not have the right to force people to register/seek a permit to rent their homes nightly. However, they could still limit STR use by enforcing existing zoning laws that, for example, might not allow a "commercial operations" like an STR in neighborhoods with specific zoning.
This is one of the more detailed explanations I found on the subject.
Great info I will pass this on to him. I have been pushing him to join us here.
I am not sure of this exact address but he did say he is in the prohibited area, so im guessing near the old part.
My worry is the whole area will react to this and affect our property in Fletcher. I can go LTR as we have had it for some time but prefer to have the choice.
Also a good example, from Highlands NC.
@JD Martin, I believe the issue is charging for permits, not requiring permits. After the Wilmington lawsuits, Asheville, for example continued permitting but ceased charging for such.
@Kenneth Woodruff, for what it's worth, the Town Manager in Woodfin, Shannon Tuch, rather started and designed Asheville's STR restrictions and homestay program long ago. So it's not too surprising that a similar approach is being adopted there. That said, with Fletcher bordering Asheville as Woodfin does, it's possible that the town management could someday become interested in a similar approach. Asheville's program has been in place for a long time though, and Fletcher hasn't copied it or adopted something similar yet, so perhaps it's unlikely that they will.
I believe @Jordan Lockaby attended the meeting and can provide a summary catered to our concerns as investors.
Quote from @Mitch Davidson:
@JD Martin, I believe the issue is charging for permits, not requiring permits. After the Wilmington lawsuits, Asheville, for example continued permitting but ceased charging for such.
@Kenneth Woodruff, for what it's worth, the Town Manager in Woodfin, Shannon Tuch, rather started and designed Asheville's STR restrictions and homestay program long ago. So it's not too surprising that a similar approach is being adopted there. That said, with Fletcher bordering Asheville as Woodfin does, it's possible that the town management could someday become interested in a similar approach. Asheville's program has been in place for a long time though, and Fletcher hasn't copied it or adopted something similar yet, so perhaps it's unlikely that they will.
I believe @Jordan Lockaby attended the meeting and can provide a summary catered to our concerns as investors.
The legislature specifically prohibited cities from requiring any kind of permit or permission, so it's not just a fee issue:
"The key statutory language now states that local governments may not “require any owner or manager of rental property to obtain any permit or permission under Article 11 or Article 12 . . . to lease or rent residential real property or to register rental property with the local government.”
I know Shannon (not real well, she just started over here) and I know she came from Asheville planning so I'm sure their zoning might look similar.
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This is a cool place. Just sayin'!
Quote from @Michael Baum:
This is a cool place. Just sayin'!
Yeah, kind of interesting when you see things on here that you're involved with in real life - matter of fact I just spoke with Shannon today about an unrelated matter and thought about this discussion.