Seeking to balance the economic benefits of short-term vacation rentals with the negative effects they have on housing affordability in a tourist-driven, service-based economy, Waynesville’s planning board has taken up deliberations on new regulations that could eventually be presented for consideration by Town Council. 

The Haywood County Tax Assessors Office is currently conducting a comprehensive reappraisal of all properties within the county for the 2025 tax year.

Raines Company can now move forward with plans to open up development for 13 custom-built single-family homes on 11 acres off Greenview Drive and adjacent to the rejuvenated Waynesville Golf Club and Inn after Waynesville Town Council concurred with a prior planning board recommendation. 

Critically low housing inventory has been steadily rising across the region since last fall and average sales prices have slipped slightly in some counties, but an uptick in pending contracts — signaling strong buyer demand — means relief from the soaring housing costs in the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area still isn’t on the immediate horizon for buyers. 

When Pactiv Evergreen announced it would close its Canton paper mill last year, Haywood County Schools was already facing a host of other challenges, among them a declining student population, costs incurred from damages caused during the Pigeon River flood in 2021, and the impending end of COVID-era relief funds. 

After deciding that the time is finally right, the owners of the Waynesville Inn and Golf Club are making good on a promise by asking the town for permission to develop 25 custom-built single-family homes on the outskirts of the revitalized course — continuing the rebirth of a storied local landmark — but Waynesville’s planning board has now put half the units in doubt. 

The Development Finance Initiative has conducted a housing needs assessment for Jackson County, and while the findings won’t be surprising to anyone living in the area, they do outline critical housing needs.

A relatively straightforward request to subdivide a single lot and build an affordably priced long-term rental duplex on it was withdrawn by the applicants after opposition from a lone member of Waynesville’s Zoning Board of Adjustment. 

Hear the case for building more housing from an environmental perspective with a webinar offered 5:30-6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, from MountainTrue. 

Three surveys from Mountain Projects that aim to help the nonprofit develop a housing plan, identify housing projects that will meet the community’s needs and provide information to pursue funding through state, federal and private sources is now open.