Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies, and the real answers:

Question: After Ashville Watchdog broke the news Tuesday about Costco submitting plans to the city of Asheville for a store in the Enka Commerce Park, several of you good readers raised questions about traffic concerns on nearby roads. In the “full disclosure” department, I also wondered about something regarding this development: Wasn’t the Enka Commerce Park supposed to be an industrial park? Didn’t it get a bunch of taxpayer dollars on that basis? So I’ll take a look at that, too.

My answer: Folks, this is Costco. I’m pretty sure most Asheville residents would spend a few days stuck on local roadways for the privilege of getting stuck in the traffic inside a Costco. 

Real answer: First of all, it’s important to note that we’re very early in the development process, as the plans that were submitted went to the city’s Technical Review Committee first, and that body reviewed them Wednesday.

As I noted in The Watchdog’s story, the project “would require a conditional zoning since it is over 100,000 square feet,” according to Will Palmquist, principal planner with the city. “After the project is reviewed by the TRC, it would be reviewed by the Planning & Zoning Commission, and their recommendation would be forwarded to City Council for the final decision.”

So this project has a lot of hoops to jump through.

Christopher D. Medlin, district engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Asheville office, also noted that we’re early on in the development process.

“Currently, NCDOT has not received a site plan or traffic impact analysis from Costco,” Medlin told me via email. “Any development with a proposed site access to an NCDOT roadway must submit a driveway permit for site access.”

Medlin noted that depending on the development’s size, a traffic impact analysis may be required, too.

“The traffic impact analysis studies the need for roadway improvements to mitigate development site traffic,” Medlin said. “NCDOT’s TIA trip threshold is 3,000 daily trips. Many municipalities have more stringent trip thresholds, which can trigger the development to perform a traffic impact analysis for traffic impacts below NCDOT’s threshold.”

The Costco is proposed for a 25-acre site near the landmark Enka Clock Tower, not far from a recently completed spec warehouse built by Samet Corp. In mid-February, developers, elected city and county officials, and economic development officials attended a ribbon cutting for the warehouse and a bridge leading into the property — a somewhat infamous “bridge to nowhere” that was started a decade ago.

That bridge will provide key ingress and egress to the proposed Costco via Smokey Park Highway and the recently completed Enka Heritage Parkway. The area is also accessible via Jacob Holm Way off Sand Hill Road, which also leads to Enka Intermediate School and the Bob Lewis Ballpark. 

On school days, long backups are common when parents are dropping off or picking up students, a phenomenon I witnessed Wednesday. The intersection of Sand Hill Road and Sardis roads is another congestion spot.

Steve Cannon, a division project development engineer with the NCDOT’s Asheville office, responded this week to an Enka resident’s questions regarding the possibility that “the widening of Sand Hill Road has been permanently canceled from the State Transportation Improvement Plan?”

“The answer is no, not permanently canceled,” Cannon wrote. “The Sand Hill/Sardis Rd project, U-6047, has not been canceled, officially or technically.”

Recent news reports have noted that numerous projects in the STIP, the state’s 10-year planning tool, have been defunded or cut, and that apparently included the Sand Hill project.

Cannon noted that the “information released recently is the proposed STIP for 2026-2035,” which the state Board of Transportation will vote on this summer. If approved, it will become the official program, Cannon noted.

“Technically, preconstruction activities, design and permitting, are funded to continue on the Sand Hill/Sardis Rd project,” Cannon wrote. “It is the right-of-way acquisition and construction activities that are proposed to be defunded and no longer be included in the 10-year STIP budget. The project has not been technically eliminated, but delayed.”

The NCDOT notes that rising material and real estate costs and other expenses have increased project costs across the state, which results in project delays. 

Some work has been done at the key intersection, with plans to finish up a turn lane there.

“The remaining work at the Sand Hill/Sardis intersection will be completed spring/summer of 2025,” Cannon wrote. “Work was not completed in the fall due to rescheduling to balance resource needs for recovery efforts and temperature restrictions for the remaining asphalt work.”

The Costco plans include 839 parking spaces. I found varying estimates of daily traffic at Costcos, and it’s safe to say the place will draw customers from around the region and generate thousands of trips per day.

Clark Duncan, executive director of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, said the number of parking spaces alone “was pretty significant.”

“I would imagine that’s a much more impactful traffic count than the DOT had been contemplating for the current infrastructure,” Duncan said.

When the bridge and spec building opened, Duncan noted the bridge  would likely carry about 250 trucks per week from the Enka Commerce Park. This week he said that figure was from a pre-pandemic traffic study.

“So I’m imagining it’s probably more significant (than) that,” Duncan said.

Regarding the Enka Commerce Park being built for industrial uses, Duncan acknowledged that people love the idea of a Costco coming here, but he said final city approval for this site might prove more difficult than you might think.

“I personally think there’s a challenging path forward for them on that site,” Duncan said, noting that Costco has been looking in our area for about a decade, with potential sites rumored for Long Shoals Road and Airport Road, among others.

Meanwhile, Buncombe County has invested $10 million in the Enka Commerce Park, the NCDOT about $2.5 million and the federally funded Appalachian Regional Council $3.1 million.

“That’s a significant amount of taxpayer funding — and incidentally our last industrial park within city limits,” Duncan said. “We know the spec building is built, but there are two additional buildings of 235,000 square feet each that have been conditionally zoned already by City Council,” Duncan said. “And the owners, the developers, are actively pursuing letters of intent (from potential lessees) on those properties.”

The proposed Costco appears to overlap on at least part of those properties. I reached out to the developer, Martin Lewis of Fletcher Partners, as well as its partner on the project, Samet Corp., but didn’t hear back from either.

Ultimately, the rezoning will fall to Asheville’s City Council, which will have a lot to consider, including whether it wants the property to shift from manufacturing or industrial use, to retail.

“That’s a pretty big reversal from 10-plus years of planning on what was envisioned for that site,” Duncan said.

Duncan said other potential spots, such as commercial corridors or areas nearer to an interstate, would be “in most estimations, a better fit.” Duncan, who said he has not had any interactions with Costco, noted that the shift from industrial to retail did give him “a little heartburn.”

I’ve noted before that Costco is extremely picky in choosing locations, and developers have told me over the years that the company has rejected several sites around here. Costco does not comment on potential new stores until “until we are ready to share details about the new location — usually two to three months in advance,” a company spokesperson told me.

Assuming the proposal makes it all the way to City Council, members are going to have a lot to consider. People really want a Costco here and are sick of making the drive to South Carolina for their bulk purchases fix, but county leaders and others have stressed the need for high-paying industrial jobs for years.

“You know this area well enough to know that half a million square feet of industrial space is a unicorn, especially if you’re in a city facing economic recovery challenges,” Duncan said, referring to Helene damage.

He also noted that those potential spec buildings would likely bring a more significant tax base than a retail spot, as well as “a much greater density of high-wage jobs.”

Costco has a reputation for paying well, but industrial and manufacturing jobs typically pay more than retail.

The bottom line here is that the city is going to have a lot to consider, both on the traffic and land use sides. Remember: Nothing is ever simple in Asheville.

So don’t start counting your $5 rotisserie chickens before they’ve hatched.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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