Former Asheville golf site to become new home development, provide public sewer connection

ASHEVILLE - A new South Asheville housing development will replace the old Brookwood Golf Club after it was unanimously approved during the May 8 Buncombe County Board of Adjustment meeting.

The new development, named Central Park, will bring 23 new single-family homes to the area alongside 185 new townhomes to 455 Mills Gap Road in Arden.

The 9-hole Brookwood Golf Club closed in 2008 after 30 years of operation. A 156-unit housing project was approved for the property in 2007, just before the Great Recession. The project was never built. The property is currently under contract with Ambach Communities, LLC, according to planning documents.

The development site includes a 20-acre conservation easement established by the Asheville-based environmental nonprofit RiverLink as the property "drains over 2,500 acres of land before it converges with Cane Creek," according to the nonprofit's website.

The plans indicate the developers will build around the easement, which had previously raised the concerns of a neighborhood group who sent representative James Foxx to speak on their behalf.

Because the board found that Foxx would not have unique damage to his property as a result of the project, his application for legal standing was denied during the April 10 Board of Adjustment meeting. Two other applications for standing were submitted, but neither applicant spoke during the May 8 or April 10 meetings. Developer Mark Ambach said he intends to maintain the conservation easement as the project is developed.

Neighbors to the property who are currently on private septic systems will have the option to join the public sewer system, developer Mark Ambach said.

"As we've discussed, we would hook them in," Ambach said, noting they would remove the septic system and pay for connection fees.

Senior Project Manager with Traffic and Planning Design, Inc. Colin Kinton performed a traffic impact analysis on the site, determining the new development would not adversely impact the health or safety of those working and living in the area.

Kinton's analysis was conducted in the summer of 2023 and predicted traffic based on 276 residential units, rather than the proposed 208. The analysis predicted the project would generate a total of 1,844 unadjusted trips a day and received approval from the North Carolina Department of Transportation in October.

Ambach had previously told the Citizen Times that the Asheville-area has a need for housing developments like Central Park. Ambach is also working on the Creekside Community housing project in Arden.

"We think there's a real need for housing of this type in the marketplace that's not available," Ambach previously told the Citizen Times.

The project was approved in a unanimous 7-0 vote, after board member David Weinstein proposed a condition that the developer must maintain vegetation that could block drivers' vision as they are entering or exiting the development.

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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]. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: New 208 home development approved for former South Asheville golf site