Asheville City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday to end the city’s contract with automatic license plate reader provider Flock Safety, but it rejected calls for city government to stop all use of the technology.
Council also adopted changes to development rules to make it easier to build duplexes and accessory dwelling units in much of the city in an attempt to increase housing supply.
A stream of speakers asked Council to get rid of all automated license plate readers it uses in addition to the 11 cameras Flock provides for city government, arguing that the cameras are an invasion of privacy and the data they collect can be misused. The city also has dashboard-mounted cameras on police cruisers that collect license plate data. They are provided by a different company, Axon.
Ending the Flock contract is “a solid step toward protecting the privacy of Asheville residents,” Jen Hampton told Council before the vote. “But, let’s be completely honest with each other tonight. This move does look like a total bait and switch.”
Keeping Axon cameras results in “the same exact police state, just with a different corporate logo,” she said.
With license plate readers provided by for-profit companies in place, “We’re imprisoned by our watchers,” Sarah Kent said. “We can never know when or by whom our movements are cataloged and I don’t feel safe in my hometown anymore.”
Council members and two members of the public, however, said the plate readers have helped police solve several crimes and the city has procedures to prevent their abuse. Some on Council said any further steps should wait until after the city manager and staff study the issue further, as called for in the resolution Council approved Tuesday.
Member Bo Hess said the readers “serve legitimate public safety purposes” like tracking stolen vehicles, finding missing persons and developing leads in cases like a July shooting on Biltmore Avenue in which two people died and several others were wounded. He added sarcastically that some who spoke against the readers “apparently live in neighborhoods where they don’t need police.”
Hess said the city has “strong, enforceable safeguards” governing the cameras’ use and he cannot accept the idea that police “are the only people in our society that we cannot trust with technology.”
Asheville’s debate over Flock cameras and similar automated license plate readers mirrors those in communities around the country. City government’s 11 are only a fraction of the 86 Flock cameras deployed in Buncombe County by various entities, interim Police Chief Jackie Stepp told Council in a memo.
As several speakers noted Tuesday, they are also an issue in this year’s mayoral race. Mayor Esther Manheimer called for the resolution Council voted on but resisted the idea of taking further steps until Council gets the results of the planned staff study. Council member Kim Roney, Manheimer’s opponent for the city’s top job, favors doing away with all city-owned automated license plate readers.
The city’s nearly $73,000 contract with Flock was scheduled to expire at the end of January 2027.
Manheimer noted during Tuesday’s meeting that there are concerns nationally that a community cannot adequately control whether the data Flock cameras collect is shared with other governmental agencies. She said Axon operates differently and she knows of no issues Asheville has had with the company.
On social media last week, Roney said ending the Flock contract is “the first important step” but that more action is needed.
Council members Antanette Mosley and Sheneika Smith cast the two votes against the resolution, saying the city is taking a tool away from police without an adequate replacement.
“What do we do for people who feel vulnerable, who feel threatened” by crime, Smith said.
Duplexes, ADUs and parking
Council unanimously approved easing restrictions on duplexes and accessory apartments and homes and eliminating altogether minimum parking requirements for developments of all types.
The change means duplexes are now allowed in some areas previously zoned for single-family homes only plus some properties zoned for mixed use, Chris Collins, interim director of the city Planning and Urban Design Department, told Council. That increases the proportion of the city where duplexes are permitted from about half to 92%, he said.
Council also increased the allowable size of accessory dwelling units, typically garage apartments or smaller homes located behind or beside primary residences, and eliminated a requirement that they have off-street parking.
A state law that took effect last month prevents North Carolina cities and towns from requiring that new developments offer parking.
There has been some concern by neighborhood groups about loosening development rules, but there was no opposition to the changes approved Tuesday. Members of the public and several speakers said the changes will make it easier to find a place to live in the city.
“Building more infill, more housing, makes housing more affordable for everyone,” said Rachel Cohen.
East Asheville parks
Current plans for renovating the city’s Azalea Park and Recreation Park along the Swannanoa River in east Asheville call for removing Lake Craig Dam and moving the swimming pool up the hill and away from the river, a consultant working on the project told Council.
The dam supported the Gashes Creek Road bridge atop it before Helene extensively damaged the two parks, including the dam, bridge and pool.
The dam did not provide flood protection downstream and removing it should reduce flooding somewhat at the John B. Lewis Soccer Park upstream, said Michael Miller of Philadelphia-based OLIN design firm. A new bridge for Gashes Creek Road should be built a short distance upstream from the previous bridge, he said.
The pool will be about 10 feet higher than before, Miller said. He did not say when work might be completed but showed Council a timeline indicating that there will be an opportunity for public input this fall and design work will continue into 2027.
More
Video of Tuesday’s meeting is available here and supporting documents and presentations are here. Council next meets at 5 p.m. Sept. 8 on the second floor of City Hall.
