Old Edwards general manager sends letter publicly announcing support of STR's
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On Sept. 3, the attorneys representing the opposing group sent a letter to Highlands town manager Josh Ward and Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor requesting several documents, meeting minutes from past meetings and conversations between the Town, Mayor, commissioners, planning board members and attorneys in regard to short or long term rentals in town.
In a special called meeting on Aug. 24, the Town of Highlands Board of Commissioners reached a verbal consensus to enforce all its residential ordinances, which bans short term rentals in R-1.
Since that time, a group opposing the verbal consensus, has raised $108,940 for legal funds to take action against the town. The group has retained the Asheville-based law firm Allen, Stahl, and Kilborne, with Derek Allen serving as lead council.
Recently, the Highlands town attorney Jay Coward released a statement summarizing the decision to ban STR’s in R-1. His full statement is below:
“At the reconvened August 24 meeting where Short-Term Rentals (STRs) were the topic of discussion, the Board reached a majority consensus to direct staff to enforce all its residential ordinances with the implementation to begin on January 3, 2022. Commissioner Calloway dissented. The discussion covered a lot more than that narrowly focused consensus stated just before adjournment, however. The full discussion should be taken into consideration because the clear implication is that STRs will not be allowed in the R-1 District beginning in January. To make that point clear is the purpose of this memorandum.
The Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) states at §6.1.C “any use not specifically set forth in the use category is expressly prohibited.” §5.2.1 Residential District R-1 is a “low-density residential district for single-family dwellings” only. Since it does not permit STRs, they are prohibited. On the other hand, R-2, a medium-density district, allows “tourist homes” with a special use permit. A tourist home “includes bed and breakfast homes or inns…where sleeping accommodations of not more than four (4) rooms are provided for occasional transient paying guests.” R-3, a high-density district, does not allow overnight accommodations at all. It should be noted that tourist homes and bed and breakfasts, like hotels and motels, are overnight accommodations and are classified as “commercial uses” in §6.5, thus the requirement of a special use permit.
Therefore, enforcement in January means issuing a notice of violation to all R-1 owners who use their homes as STRs. STRs are not defined in the UDO, and perhaps they should be. The Board expressed interest in reviewing STRs in light of the special use permit opportunity in R-2 (and maybe in R-3) because the use is so similar to a tourist home or bed and breakfast. It requested that I employ an expert to guide it in further discussions this fall. I have already taken steps to do that.
- J.K. Coward, Jr.”
On Sept. 3, the attorneys representing the opposing group sent a letter to Highlands town manager Josh Ward and Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor requesting several documents, meeting minutes from past meetings and conversations between the Town, Mayor, commissioners, planning board members and attorneys in regard to short or long term rentals in town. The full letter is below:
This letter is being submitted pursuant to N.C.G.S. §132-1 et seq. to request that the Town of Highlands (“the Town”) produce and/or permit Allen Stahl + Kilbourne to inspect and/or copy all non-privileged documents constituting public records described below. In lieu of production for inspection and copying, the Town may produce certified copies of the documents to Allen Stahl + Kilbourne at its office located at 20 Town Mountain Road Suite 100, Asheville, NC 28801 or via first class mail. Allen Stahl + Kilbourne will pay all reasonable copy costs associated with the production of the requested documents.
For purposes of these requests, please produce the following documents:
1. All meeting minutes from Board of Commissioner meetings held in 2020 and 2021.
2. The closed session meeting minutes held on August 24, 2021, pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-318.10(e).
3. All meeting minutes from Planning Board meetings held in 2020-2021.
4. All meeting minutes from Land Use Committee meetings held in 2020- 2021
5. All meeting minutes from the Zoning Board meetings held in 2020-2021
6. All completed short term rental registration forms submitted over the last five years.
7. The current Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Highlands (“the Zoning Ordinance”).
8. Previous versions of the Zoning Ordinance.
9. Records showing any time the Town has enforced or attempted to enforce the Zoning Ordinance for renting property in alleged violation of the Zoning Ordinance.
10. Communications to and from the Town’s zoning administrator regarding short and long rentals in the Town.
11. Records showing the amount of occupancy taxes the Town has received each year over the last 10 years.
12. For the last 24 months, all communications – whether by email, text message or other means – between the Town (including its employees, Mayor, Commissioners, Planning Board members, and/or attorney(s)) and the following persons and entities regarding short- or long-term rentals in the Town:
1. The UNC School of Government.
2. Dog Mountain HOA.
3. Little Bear Pen HOA.
4. Any other Home or Property Owners Association.
5. A hotel or motel as defined in Section 508 of the Zoning Ordinance.
6. An owner of property in the R1, R2, or R3 zoning district.
7. Any person or entity that rents or manages the short- and long- term rental of real property in the Town.
8. A member of the media.
i. Any other person or entity.
13. All non-privileged communications within and between the Town and its employees, Mayor, Commissioners, Planning Board members, and/or attorney(s).
14. All communications between Commissioner John Dotson and anyone else regarding the sale or potential sale of the hotel commonly known as Mitchell’s Lodge located at 264 Dillard Road, Highlands, NC 28741.
15.All records showing the amount of money – such as real estate agent commission – Commissioner John Dotson or his company would, will, or has received for the sale of the property referenced in the previous request.
16.All communications between Commissioner John Dotson and potential purchasers of property in the R1, R2, and the R3 zoning districts regarding short- or long-term rentals during his tenure as Commissioner.
The General Assembly has stated that “public records and public information compiled by the agencies of North Carolina government or its subdivisions are the property of the public. Therefore, it is the policy of this State that the people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free of charge or at minimal cost unless otherwise specifically provided by law.” N.C.G.S. § 132-1(b).
Please feel free to contact me at the above telephone number should you have any questions regarding this Request. In the event that, due to circumstances beyond your reasonable control, you are unable to produce and/or permit inspection and copying of the requested records before September 13, 2021, please provide any and all documents as soon as they become available and advise me of the reasons for any such delay.
Old Edwards general manager Richard Delany sent out a letter publicly announcing support of STR’s, outlining the immediate detrimental impact a ban will have on the town’s small businesses and the local economy.
Delany's full letter is below:
“Old Edwards Hospitality Group is totally supportive of STR’s in Highlands, and we always have been. There are simply not enough hotel rooms in town for the volume of visitors that have discovered Highlands and love visiting Highlands with their families. Banning STR’s in Highlands would have an immediate and drastic negative impact on us and all businesses in town that have come to rely on that additional room inventory over the last 20+ years. How can you allow STR’s to grow and prosper for the last 40 years and openly take the occupancy and sales tax revenue for the town, and then suddenly declare them illegal? In my estimates you could be talking about well over $10-$15 million spent in Highlands’ businesses annually by STR guests and that is a conservative calculation. We have well over 100,000 visitors annually staying in STR’s. How will all of us that have businesses in town replace that revenue? Not to mention the revenue for the STR owners and occupancy tax and sales tax which also are in the millions of dollars. It appears to me that this was a knee jerk reaction to a vocal minority and there should have been a lot more discussion and an economic impact study done before any final decisions were handed down. Even if STR’s are not permitted by the UDO in R1 (which is still up for interpretation), the town has basically given their blessing of them by allowing them to grow and prosper for 40 years with no regulation or enforcement otherwise. And people have invested millions of dollars on dilapidated properties and renovations and locals have built their livelihoods on the perfectly good assumption that since the town did nothing for so long that they must be permitted. Shame on the town.”
- By Christopher Smith