Weaverville – Weaverville Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons sees only good things for the town as it grows into a powerhouse in Buncombe County. A new hospital, doubling the capacity of the water treatment plant, and other positive indicators point to a bright future, says Fitzsimmons.
“Weaverville is really at a pivotal point. If you look at what’s happening in the town of Weaverville, it’s going to change the town dramatically. For example, we’re getting a hospital in two years. We’re getting a water plant that’s going to double our water capacity. MSD is doubling its pumping capacity within the next two years. Our population is expected to double within the next two to three years. Duke Energy just opened a new substation, expanding electrical capacity in the area considerably,” explained Fitzsimmons. “All these things combined say this is going to be popular…it already is a very popular place and is going to continue more so.”
He went on to talk about the jobs and infrastructure the AdventHealth hospital should bring to the area. More than 1,000 jobs will be created at the hospital alone, not to mention the supporting businesses, doctors, and medical industries that will come, like imaging, specialists, and more. “The hospital will create its own economic development zone around it. Because companies that want to do business with the hospital will want to locate around it and guess what? Most of the companies will [provide] good jobs, clean energy, the kinda businesses you want.
Fitzsimmons hopes that will attract workers of a younger age. “Weaverville is a wonderful place, but the average age is very high, and we’ve been hoping some of our apartment complexes would lower the average, and to some degree, it has happened.” However, he said the number of children in the area has dropped, which could be bad for the town’s schools.
Besides delaying having babies, young people are delaying getting their driver’s licenses, he pointed out, which says we need to be focusing on people and not cars in our future, which brought up the Florida Ave. issue and what to do about it. “We need to be preparing for what we are doing in two years, not next week.”
He sees growth coming to the north side of Weaverville. “We need to manage what kinda of things we want to see in Weaverville. If we don’t create zoning categories and zoning structures to accommodate what we want, we’re going to get a bunch of Dollar Generals, self-storage units, and even more fast-food restaurants. All those things are okay, but they’re not what you want in town.”
Fitzsimmons points to the downtown area as what people expect from Weaverville. “For example, if you look at Main Street…every business on this street is a locally owned small business. That’s exactly the kind of economy you want and what makes it charming.” He said some of the owners are aging out, and that’s why the town has put a 5,000-square-foot limit on businesses, and similar limits can be used on any newly annexed areas. “Growth is not bad. Unmanaged growth is.”
That’s where a new town planner would come in, explained the mayor. Not to replace the current town planner but to focus on these types of issues. Fitzsimmons is just unsure if this would be a few years of consultation or a permanent position. “Council is very interested in someone who has got it, and we haven’t really defined exactly what it is, but we know it’s a city planner, urban designer, someone who can look to the future and design in a plan.” He even talked about multi-story buildings to deal with the space problem.
There’s one problem that’s out of the town’s control, and it’s a major one. That’s traffic, and drivers have already seen an uptick in traffic, but with Main Street in the hands of the state, the town has to rely on its liaison, Councilwoman Catherine Cordell, who’s on the Metropolitan Planning Organization, for any influence.
Fitzsimmons made it clear that a lot of towns are losing their population and tax base. “I’d rather manage a growing town than a dying one.”