ASHEVILLE — It wasn't going to happen. At least, not on Tuesday night.

Amid mounting opposition from Asheville City Council, developers of a proposed 7-story, 103-room hotel on Biltmore Avenue withdrew their application prior to a vote to rezone the property for lodging use. Three members of council including Mayor Esther Manheimer spoke against Milan Asheville LLC's proposal, citing growing concerns about hotels and the lack of affordable housing options in the city.

Manheimer — who earlier this month suggested she's "toyed with" the idea of a temporary hotel ban — said she "doesn't personally feel comfortable" deciding on hotel projects until the city addresses its lack of "revenue diversity" to support local infrastructure improvements.

"We’ve got to make sure our house is in order," she said, "and that we’re balancing the needs of our community against a growing industry that brings a great deal of positives but also a great deal of challenges for us."

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Until Councilman Keith Young spoke Tuesday, it appeared the proposed project at 324 Biltmore Ave., between McCormick Field and Mission Hospital, would find enough support.

Attorney Wyatt Stevens addressed the council on behalf of Milan, a joint effort of local hoteliers Monark Patel and Pratik Bhakta. Stevens said developers had been responsive to neighbor concerns in three community meetings, even eliminating a driveway in the proposal from White Fawn Drive over traffic concerns.

In their proposal, developers also offered $125,000 to the Asheville Housing Authority to build new playground equipment at the nearby Lee Walker Heights neighborhood, $100,000 a year for five years to the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, job training for Lee Walker residents and "preferential pricing" to Mission patients and their families.

Stevens noted project developers are community residents who "care about the same things you care about" — and the proposal comes with a number of benefits to help its surrounding area.

"What they saw was there was, in fact, a need for not just a regular hotel but an Extended Stay Hotel, a hotel where doctors and nurses that travel to Asheville to spend weeks at a time as locum tenens would have a place to stay and a kitchen," he said. Stevens added it potentially also would be a place where regional HCA Healthcare executives could stay if its $1.5 billion acquisition of Mission Health goes through.

"And of course it’s a place for other business travelers and tourists to stay," he said.

The proposal was met with approval by council members Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield. Kapoor said he's "aware" of the sense of fatigue surrounding hotels in Asheville, but called the Milan proposal "a clear net positive." Several community members including Tom Scheve, general manager of the Noble Kava, a beverage dispensary, and Gene Bell of the Asheville Housing Authority also spoke in favor of the proposal.

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Young, however, wasn't so sure. He called out a so-called "McKibbon standard" — a reference to developer John McKibbon of McKibbon Hospitality — who pledged $250,000 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 2016 in conjunction with development of the former downtown BB&T building.

Young said there's "a greater conversation" that must be had about development in the city, and whether proposed projects ultimately are beneficial to community residents.

"It’s time for that work session the mayor spoke about," Young said. "It's time we start to look at these situations again and get that information through those work sessions on how it affects Asheville.

"I’m not going to support this (project)."

Manheimer closed her remarks saying she appreciated the package Milan put together, but ultimately she could not support it.

"I would hope if this doesn’t pass tonight — and I’m not going to support it — that they would consider coming back to us in a year’s time or whenever that might be so we, as a city, can reach a different place," she said.

Stevens pulled the proposal prior to a vote. Prior to its arrival to City Council Tuesday, it has passed previous city boards including the Technical Review Committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

It also had received support from the city's planning staff.