Many communities around the nation have capped the size of new big box stores that can be constructed in their city limits. The idea is not necessarily to ban or discourage chain stores but rather to require new development to fit within the scale and character of the community.

Citizens in Asheville have asked me if I would support setting a cap on the size of new big box stores built in Asheville. As I did some research on the issue, one of the things I was most surprised to learn is that such a cap on the size of new retail stores already exists in Asheville. Unfortunately, the ordinance has a loop-hole in it large enough to fit a Super-Walmart through it.

Asheville’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), states that even in areas zoned Highway Business, which is our most intensive commercial zoning district, no single store can be larger than 75,000 square feet in size. However, there is a loop-hole that allows developers to circumvent this cap

By simply placing a small “coffee-shop” or other small boutique store inside the main store, the developers can classify their project as a “multi-tenant” store and circumvent the requirements of our city ordinance

I believe Asheville City Council should close this loop-hole in our ordinance that allows SuperWalmarts and other mega-retailers to circumvent the building cap in our ordinances. feet. If large retailers want to exceed our normal building size limits, there should be mandatory requirements for use of innovative design solutions and green building practices.  

For more information on this topic, here are some interesting resources: http://www.newrules.org/retail/http://www.ilsr.org/