East Asheville 95-home development gets planning board OK; Haw Creek asks for more time

ASHEVILLE - With a long line stretching through the lobby of the Harrah's Cherokee Center, members of Haw Creek Neighborhood took the March 20 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting by storm, where the building's Banquet Hall hit capacity as the commission heard on a new housing project set to come to the East Asheville community.

Over 200 residents signed up to speak during the meeting, which was also attended by several City Council members as well as other Asheville staff who turned out to hear discussion on the 27-acre project, dubbed "Meadows at New Haw Creek," located at 767 New Haw Creek Road.

Many who gave impassioned public comment encouraged the commission to slow the conditional zoning approval process and allow the Haw Creek neighborhood to continue negotiations with the developer.

Both members of the neighborhood and the commission noted the difficulty of finding the balance between the demand for housing and meeting community needs.

The four-hour long meeting ended with a narrow recommendation of approval to rezone the area. The next hearing on the project will be during the April 9 City Council meeting.

If approved by City Council, 60 single-family homes and 35-townhomes will be built on the parcel, which sits along a road that has been described as one of Haw Creek's two main arteries.

Public comment on affordability, runoff

For the public comment portion of the meeting, the conversation was more nuanced than the late-November neighborhood meeting on the project, in which members of the civil engineering team and project developer faced stern neighborhood opposition to the project.

With public comment limited to an hour, only 17 of over 200 residents had a chance to address the commission.

Discussion ranged from pedestrian safety to housing affordability, and traffic and negotiating conditions for the project between the neighborhood and the developer, L. B. Jackson and Company.

Haw Creek resident and Buncombe County Planning Board member John Noor encouraged the commission to delay the vote to allow the neighborhood to continue discussions with the developer.

"Listen to the community tonight, but don't make a decision," said Noor, an Asheville-based land-use attorney. "Allow us to finish those conversations so that we can come back to you in April."

Stefanie Kovacs, whose home abuts the project property, was concerned about the loss of tree canopy on the site. Currently, 53% of the 767 New Haw Creek parcel is covered with tree canopy, some of those being matured trees on the east section of the property.

Kovacs also believes developer Kevin Jackson's current plan would lead to more flooding.

"His plan not only removes the majority of the tree canopy, but he is adding a large amount of pervious surface, which all slopes downhill into Haw Creek towards New Haw Creek Road and ball fields, which are already prone to flooding," Kovacs said.

While most of the speakers were opposed to the project, Haw Creek residents James and Amy Shelton spoke approvingly of the project, noting the City of Asheville's need to produce housing to address the area's affordability problem.

"Please do not delay. Please do not pause this effort. I don't understand how pausing or delaying is going to allow you all and the city to continue to develop housing," Amy Shelton said.

Community organization asks for time to negotiate

Former City Council member and President of the Haw Creek Community Association Chris Pelly spoke on behalf of the neighborhood organization. He said there is a need for housing and Haw Creek wants to embrace it.

"We did not come here to say no to this development. We recognize housing of all types is needed in all areas of the city, including Haw Creek," Pelly said. "We are prepared to do our part."

However, Pelly pointed to the Haw Creek Neighborhood concerns outlined in the neighborhood Plan on a Page, a tool designed by the city of Asheville during the 2018 comprehensive plan. Concerns included traffic, stormwater management, pedestrian safety and preservation of greenspaces.

Pelly said many of the issues currently addressed in the Neighborhood Plan on a Page still exist, where the project would currently "worsen them."

For instance, one of the recent projects lauded by the Haw Creek community is a $3.3 million sidewalk approved for New Haw Creek Road in 2022. With the construction timeline currently proposed to be between Summer 2023 and Summer 2024, the neighborhood is still waiting for the project to start construction.

Further negotiations would allow Haw Creek to address some of the project concerns or allow the addition of new elements to the project for which they have paid for studies to inform their requests, Pelly said. One of those requests is a wooded loop trail through the older forest on the property.

"The Haw Creek community is prepared to compromise and will not oppose a rezoning if Mr. Jackson also compromises. To date, this has not happened," he said. "For this reason, we respectfully request Planning and Zoning members oppose the conditional zoning request."

Project narrowly nets approval, with apprehension; City Council to vote

After four hours of deliberation, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4 to 3 to approve the project, with Commissioners Byron Greiner, Brenton Faircloth and Jason Seickel voting in opposition.

During the end of the meeting, Commission Chair Kim Levi spoke both as a voting member of the commission and briefly as a resident of Haw Creek.

Levi voted for the development, noting her own experience ended positively when a smaller Haw Creek infill development brought a neighbor who ended up becoming a good friend.

"You never know what's going to happen," Levi said. "I would encourage people to be open. We need housing."

Commissioner Susan Bean voted in favor of the project, but encouraged the developer to continue to pursue negotiations with the community and emphasized affordability within housing projects, where vouchers could potentially provide affordable options for those looking to move into the area.

Commissioners Seickel and Greiner raised questions of whether the developer would be willing to keep some of the older trees on the property, which would likely reduce the size of the development from 95 units — a major request from the Haw Creek community.

Developer attorney Derek Allen noted the developer would continue to with several parties to maintain the balance of housing and other needs.

"We continue to work with not just this voting body, but we have another we have to go to, as well as [the Technical Review Committee]," Allen said, who noted neighborhood discussions would continue.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: East Asheville, Haw Creek 95-home development OK'd by planning board