ASHEVILLE – A city resident fined more than $ 1 million for illegally renting short-term vacation rentals should appeal to city council.

Reid Thompson asks council to change the rules on his properties north of downtown to allow him to rent units for less than 30 days, a practice popular with online companies such as Airbnb, but banned in most cities in Asheville because of possible side effects. effects on affordable housing.

Thompson, who was fined $ 1,500 a day for two years, or $ 500 for each of his three units, said he would not rent in the short term, with the exception long-term tenants who would not stay.

In fact, truck traffic and other incursions into its residential street through a Merrimon Avenue Whole Foods grocery store have made life difficult for those who wish to live there, said Thompson and other residents of Maxwell Street. They say the city is partly responsible for the problems, as it will not repress the store that was originally a Greenlife grocery store built in 2004.

"If I have to stop renting in the short term, I will go bankrupt in 60 days," said Thompson on Friday, a few days before the October 9th council meeting, where elected officials would review his application for rezoning properties at 28. 32 Maxwell.

Board members will not make a decision on his estimated fines of $ 1.1 million, although the penalties are recorded in a report from city planning staff to elected officials.

Thompson, whose long feud with the city led to being banned from municipal buildings, did not pay the fine, claiming that he ignored the city's mail. The city sued Thompson on March 22, 2017, when the penalties reached $ 232,500. Thompson against.

The city has not yet counted the fines, but added that they continue to accumulate at a rate of $ 1,500 a day.

The October 9th planning report indicated that the amount "was close to $ 1 million". According to a calculation by the Citizen Times, they would be $ 850,000 in May and $ 1,075,500 on Friday.

The parties held a mediation session on September 5 when Thompson said that city officials had proposed to cut the amount by half. Thompson said that he refused because it was still too much.

Several municipal officials did not respond to an email late Friday afternoon asking for comments on the mediation.

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It is unclear how the fines will affect the council's decision to change the zoning of properties, which Thompson wants to further divide, thus increasing the number of units in the interior from three to six.

An organ below the council, the Planning and Zoning Commission, has been well founded. At a meeting held on July 19, the commission voted by 5 votes to 2, recommending that the council modify the zoning of properties, remove them from the multi-family, medium-density residential neighborhood and place them in a neighborhood. in expansion.

President Laura Hudson said that there was "an intrusion of commercial activity" because of the way the city allowed the construction of the grocery store 14 years ago and in the way which it worked, according to the minutes of the meeting.

The police are responsible for enforcing rules prohibiting entry on trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds, with the exception of garbage trucks and recycling trucks. Officers also respond to complaints from trucks blocking roads or sidewalks while using the loading dock, said a spokeswoman for the Asheville Police Department, adding that, if warnings are not being heard, quotes are given to drivers.

Hudson, the president, said that the planning commission could not deal with law enforcement or solve other problems, but that short-term tenure seemed to be the only way to go about it. one of the least intrusive commercial uses.

The commission's vote was motivated by objections from city planning staff who stated that the short term rentals were not compatible with the surrounding residential areas that surrounded it. . The properties were small and there would be no place for hedges, fences or other buffers, staff said. No additional parking area would be created, which could lead to more traffic problems, they said.

Asheville's director of planning and urban planning, Todd Okolichany, took note of these criticisms in the report to the council, questioning the idea that the properties could not be rented out. other.

"Although the plaintiff stated that he was unable to retain a long-term tenant, the properties immediately adjacent to Greenlife on Maxwell Street are still leased at at least $ 1,250 per property management group," said Okolichany. in the report prepared by the city. Urban planner Jessica Bernstein.

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