Sage Turner, Asheville City Council

06/10/2026

06/05/2026

Up next: data center moratorium.

The first step will be the Planning and Economic Development Committee June 16 2026, 1pm

That will be the first viewing of the proposal and include a presentation. From there, it will advance to the next Council meeting.

Asheville officials will hear about a "framework" to pause data center development during the Planning Economic Development and Environment Committee's June 16 meeting.

06/03/2026

"The City of Asheville and the French Broad MPO approached us about doing a partnership to try to improve some bicycle and pedestrian facilities while we were doing our resurfacing project," NCDOT deputy division engineer Chris Deyton said in part.
https://wlos.com/news/local/haywood-road-asheville-west-safety-bicycle-lanes-pedestrian-crossing-ada-ramps-traffic-patton-avenue-ridgelawn-road-paving-community-ncdot-north-carolina-department-transportation-wnc

05/29/2026

📣NOW ANNOUNCING: Asheville Recovers Together Small Business Grants!

To support continued recovery from Tropical Storm Helene, Asheville Recovers Together is launching a $14 million small business grant program to help local businesses stabilize, rebuild, and move forward.

💰 Grants from $5,000 to $75,000 will be available to eligible businesses located within Asheville city limits that experienced financial losses due to the storm.

📣 Applications will open June 15 at noon!

💫This program is funded by Asheville City Government and administered by Mountain BizWorks, Arts AVL, and Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation

Follow along for updates, eligibility information, and resources to help you prepare your application.

🔗 Learn more and get updates: ashevillerecoverstogether.org

05/29/2026

I took a group on a tour recently and we had great, frank discussion. It's a worthwhile opportunity if you are curious or concerned about the recent grant and crime response center (RTIC).

Also, expect us to release a copy of the draft contract in June. Council assigned parameters and limitations, the legal teams have been drafting, and I'll be posting it for input here.

Lastly, social media is not the only place to discuss this. You can always reach out to me directly via phone, text, email. A lot of the questions I get start with, 'i saw on Facebook...' and 'is what I saw online true?' And often, unfortunately, the info they received is not accurate.

I'll keep offering information here.
And answering questions as I can.
In the meantime, consider scheduling a tour!

We’re excited to begin offering bi-weekly Real Time Intelligence Center (RTIC) Tours & Education Sessions at the Asheville Police Department, starting Thursday, June 4th, from 2–4 PM over the next several months. These sessions will provide a behind-the-scenes look at our work and create opportunities for education and community engagement. If you are interested, please contact 828.259.5881 to schedule an appointment.

05/21/2026

05/19/2026

If you're into affordable housing and how it navigates through the city, Asheville For All has a good write up on recent projects. One made it through. One didn't.

Last week, two apartment complexes with 100% below market rate homes went to Asheville City Council. Only one survived the meeting.

Get the details in our recap: https://ashevilleforall.org/2026-05-16-city-council-recap.html

05/19/2026

CALCULATE YOUR TAX INCREASE

What started as a 30M gap is now a 8.9M gap. The proposed budget will be open for public comment at the next Council meeting on May 26. I'll post links to the document and meeting info in the comments.

I continue to work on cost savings and ways to reduce the gap. In the meantime, here's how to calculate the potential impacts to your tax bill if adopted as proposed. The city is looking at a $.0495 increase. That's 4.95 cents per $100 of value. I'll walk through the math below.

Step one: determine your recently appraised home value. it was mailed to you. You can also find it quickly by entering your address here: https://prc-buncombe.spatialest.com/

Math:
Your home value = 465,000 (median)
Your home value / 100 = 4,650
4,650 x $.0495 = $230 in new annual tax

The County is also proposing an increase of $0.043 and you can use the same equation: 4,650 x $0.043 = $200

Additionally, the city increased fees for solid waste, stormwater, and water, totaling an expected $67 per year, regardless of home value.

So, if your home value is $465,000 you are looking at a combined impact of $497 a year in increases. This is a significant number and doesn't reflect additional increases from widespread homeowners insurance increases post Helene.

If your home value is $300,000 you are looking at an increase of $345 / year

If your home value is $400,000 you are looking at an increase of $437 / year

If your home value is $500,000 you are looking at an increase of $529 / year

If your home value is $600,000 you are looking at an increase of $622 / year

What does "median home value" mean? Commonly and mistakenly thought to be an average, median is another term for 'middle point'. If median home value is $465,000 that means half the homes in Asheville are valued at below $465k and half the homes are valued above $465k.

The median home value in Buncombe is now $446,500 (post reval) and is $465,000 in Asheville.

Reach out to Council and County Commission with questions, concerns, etc. Public comment will be held May 26 but that is just one way to reach me. You can comment here, message me, and email me as well.

05/14/2026

New City Manager DK Wesley has been wonderful to work with in her first budget season with Asheville City Government.

05/06/2026

📣 FLOCK OFF

The proposed Real Time Intelligence Center contract has many layers, including combining software interfaces, building out a better facility, and consolidating 3 contracts into 1 for 180k in savings. Many of the pieces are needed and not problematic.

The majority of the upset I'm hearing is about Flock. Flock misuses data, Flock targets people, Flock has vulnerabilities. The ACLU is involved, and so on.

I'm hearing you. Currently there are 11 Flock ALPR (license plate reader) cameras in Asheville. With all the growing technology out there, it seems simple enough to move with intention and move away from Flock.

The proposal coming to Council is to reduce Flock cameras to 1, and potentially to 0 when another company can replace it next year. I am contacting staff to see if that can happen sooner.

I hope this can ease some of the concerns I'm hearing regarding Flock specifically.