Asheville Bans Gated Communities

In an attempt to make the city of Asheville, NC more open to traffic and an attempt to make the city available to all classes of people, they have banned the use of gates and security at the front of new neighborhoods. Do you see this as a good thing or a restriction of choice? Builders want to provide gates because this is what home buyers want -to feel safe or at least have the appearance of safety. Opponents to the ordinance also feel that this will contribute to urban sprawl, just pushing development outside of the city. Just on the surface, using the law of supply and demand, the current owners of homes in gated communities just received a huge increase in their property values as the ordinance does not affect current gated or already approved communities.

by Joel Burgess, JBURGESS@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM
published June 13, 2007 12:15 am
ASHEVILLE — The City Council voted Tuesday to forbid new gated communities, following through on concerns the developments make the city less of a community.

The ban passed by the council on a 5-2 vote applies to future developments, which would no longer be allowed to restrict access to only residents and their guests, done usually with gates or security workers

“I’m not for them because I think it is segregation by class,” said Heather Rayburn, one of two people speaking at a public hearing before the vote. Both spoke for the ban.
Rayburn, the president of the Five Points Neighborhood Association, said developments with gates offer good things, such as green space and a sense of security.

But they also hamper “social connectivity” and traffic flow and rarely have affordable housing, she said.
The council action also forbids new gated developments just outside municipal borders where Asheville exercises zoning control.

It does not affect existing gated developments or those already approved by the city.
Voting to approve the ban were Mayor Terry Bellamy, Vice Mayor Holly Jones, Brownie Newman, Bryan Freeborn and Robin Cape. Jan Davis and Carl Mumpower voted no.

Supporters of the ban have said it would keep Asheville from fragmenting along class lines and would help traffic flow.
Gated developments add cars to access roads without adding to the overall traffic grid, they said.
“I just don’t want Asheville to become a series of gated communities, especially with the more high-end neighborhoods as they continue to be developed,” Mayor Terry Bellamy has said.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Cape and Davis tried to insert an amendment to allow gates in rare cases.
Reasons could have included stopping speeding traffic through residential areas and protecting poor high-crime neighborhoods.

“The developments will move outside the city to take advantage of what Asheville has to offer but also that exclusivity,” Davis said.
The Rev. Christopher Chiaromonte, a City Council candidate and the other person to speak for the ban, said gated communities were based on fear.
“Gated communities are just a manifestation of our own fear and fear breeds fear,” Chiaromonte said.