Weaverville – Last month, the Weaverville Town Council annexed four new housing developments that will bring hundreds of new houses to the town, but what effect will they have on the up-and-coming town?
The Tribune asked officials of the town what the initial impact would be of the most significant number of new houses the town has ever seen.
According to Town Planner James Eller, of the four annexations and initial zonings that were approved by the Town Council last month, “two of these annexations, 492 Reems Creek Road and Reems Creek Village recombination areas, did not propose new construction.”
While no new construction was proposed at this time, the one acre at 492 Reems Creek, which is owned by Kathy Amos (formerly Kathy Bullman), “adjoins the larger tracts at 480 Reems Creek Road that were recently annexed into the town with a townhouse project anticipated.” There are also five houses already at Reems Creek Village.
New Construction
“The other two, 300 Hamburg Mountain Road and Northridge Farms, do propose new construction, the details of which follow,” said Eller in an email.
A 35-unit single-family home gated subdivision is planned for 300 Hamburg Mountain Road. Eller estimated an annual property tax of $42,875 in income for the town.
The larger project, Northridge Farms, will bring in an estimated annual property tax of $413,623 from the 568 total dwelling units. The breakdown of the 568 units is 296 apartments, 65 townhouses, 100 duplexes, and 107 single-family homes. There are also eight lots that have been designed for future construction. What will be built there is unknown at this time.
While Northridge Farms states in its application with the town that it will be a gated community, 300 Hamburg Mountain had no indication whether it would be or not, so we asked Eller about it. “We are expecting the plans for 300 Hamburg Mountain to be submitted by the end of the week. While I do not yet have in hand, what I do know is that the roads are intended to be private. As such, they may install a gate if they wish. Public roads cannot be gated,” Eller explained.
What About Affordable Housing?
While hundreds of new houses are coming, neither 300 Hamburg nor Northridge Farms will do anything to alleviate the affordable housing crisis in the area. “While these two developments do not include affordable housing,” relayed Eller, “Town Council did approve a conditional district back in February for a 156-unit affordable housing apartment complex.”
The council also approved a 168-unit affordable housing development at 171 Monticello Road, which took center stage at the Weaverville Town Council’s August 2023 meeting.
Buncombe County Commissioner and Vice Chair Amanda Edwards, who represents Weaverville and the North Buncombe area, spoke in favor of the project at the August meeting. “Edwards spoke for the commissioners, saying they favored the project and had pledged $1.5 million toward the project in the form of a low-interest loan.”
However, many residents were against the affordable housing development at the August meeting. One resident, Ruth Smith, who said she was representing about 100 residents of the Pine Rose Home Owners Association, told the board, “This is an ill-advised project for several reasons.” She stated and then listed the reasons, as the area already has two large apartment projects and problems with a low-income project. She then cited the Maple Crest Project in Asheville, which she said has identical income requirements and where a person was recently murdered.
“Although only a year old, Maple Crest sees significantly more crime than surrounding apartment complexes,” she told the council.
Nonetheless, with the working poor and elderly on fixed incomes needing a place to call home as housing prices in the area continue to soar, the council approved the plan.
Is Weaverville Ready To Handle New Housing?
While adding nearly half a million in new revenue might sound like a lot of money for the town, when you add it all up, it will cost the town added infrastructure and employees, and the town is still determining if the juice is worth the squeeze.
Weaverville Fire Chief Scottie Harris was asked if he would have to add any personnel or equipment for these additional housing developments; he told the Tribune, “As petitions were submitted for annexation, the [town] manager did ask all department heads for feedback on the impacts of annexation. We are in the process of budget preparation, which always takes into account staffing, equipment, call volume, and response times when putting together our budget requests.”
Weaverville Police Chief Ron Davis said something similar in his reply. “…The town has been growing and continues to grow. In preparation for this continued growth, the town manager has charged all department heads to begin evaluating the impact of this growth and its implications on manpower, vehicles, equipment, and other operational expenses as we enter the next budget process, which will begin in January 2024. It is too early for me to respond with specificity to your request, as we have not spent enough time evaluating our budget needs at this point.”
Likewise, Weaverville Town Public Works Director was asked, “How much, in percentage, of the town’s currently available water supply will these new developments use, and what amount will be left for use? Will garbage pickup by the town take place on private roads? How many, if any, more employees will have to be hired to serve these new developments?”
He said that he hoped to get back to the paper by the end of the week with those facts. However, he did not reply.