ASHEVILLE, NC - A residence in Asheville, North Carolina, that was reportedly a magnet for unsavory characters and alleged criminal activity was addressed earlier in August by local authorities through a rare but seemingly effective use of civil enforcement rather than the criminal courts, according to authorities.
Locals along Brookshire Street in Asheville are likely breathing a sigh of relief after a collaborative effort between local police, the fire department, the city’s Development Services Department, and North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement pursued a nuisance abatement case regarding the occupants at 710 Brookshire Street.
Earlier in August, a judge ordered the nuisance abatement action aimed at the Brookshire Street residence to move forward. That aspect of the state’s civil law affords authorities a wide variety of relief options regarding property owners and tenants who pose any number of dangerous or unsavory elements to the broader community.
Locals from the area described the tenants of the troubling household as creating enough fear that some residents were reluctant to even walk outside over concerns about what they might encounter or be exposed to, with one local claiming they’d seen the residents openly using their front yard as a restroom.
In the judge’s order regarding the property, the residence was ordered to be transferred to a responsible family member of the original owner, alongside mandates that the property be brought up to city code. In the weeks following the order, tenants inside the residence were removed, along with two campers originally parked behind the home.
One of the individuals removed from the residence was reportedly taken into custody on an outstanding warrant, according to authorities.
Asheville Police Department (APD) Captain Joseph Silberman described the matter as involving a well-intentioned owner who got caught up in inviting the “wrong” crowd to stay at their home, saying, “What really led up to this was a very sweet and well-meaning person started to let the wrong sort of people on that property and it snowballed absolutely out of their control.”
Further describing the circumstances surrounding the civil order, Captain Silberman added, “Besides there being a public health hazard and a persistent nuisance for the neighborhood, there was a lot of stolen property moving around there, a lot of drugs and the kind of problems that illegal narcotics, specifically hard narcotics like fentanyl, bring. It escalated beyond a tolerable point and beyond a point where we could really manage the problem. We ended up having to bring in a holistic team.”
APD officials credited their city and law enforcement partners who assisted with navigating the process to help restore order in the residential neighborhood, with Captain Silberman emphasizing, “We recognized that we’re not going to be able to arrest our way out of that situation. It really required a multidisciplinary approach.”
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