If you’ve never driven Springside Road in South Asheville, it’s a bit of an adventure.

The two-lane road, a popular cut-through between Overlook and Hendersonville roads, is hilly in places, and a little curvy. You don’t want to stop in the road in one of those blind dips, and trying to exit one of the side streets that lead to it can be downright nerve-wracking.

Now a developer wants to put 37 homes on two lots at 93 and 95 Springside, totaling 5.82 acres. Ultimately, it will need a City Council-approved rezoning that allows more density than the current zoning designation. 

Not surprisingly, neighbors are not happy about this. About 40 residents filed written comments with the city’s planning and zoning board before its April 2 meeting, and a bunch turned out to speak about it in person.

Now, I know the first thought for some of you is going to be: “Well, there go the NIMBYs again, not wanting anything built in their backyards.”

I get that. We are a city that badly needs more housing, and infill projects where it makes sense. 

But what’s interesting to me on this one is this fact: South Asheville has really taken the development bullet for pretty much the whole city over the past decade or so. 

Thousands of apartments have gone up in Asheville during that time, as I’ve noted before, and South Asheville, Arden and Skyland have borne the brunt of that development. If you’ve ever had the joy of driving Hendersonville or Sweeten Creek roads at rush hour (which now seems to run from about 7 a.m.-10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.), you know what I mean.

It’s a crowded mess. 

At that April 2 meeting, John Maddux, whose backyard abuts Springside, put it nicely. Maddux is a deputy city attorney for Asheville, but he made it clear he was speaking as a resident, not in his official capacity.

“South Asheville has already absorbed multiple large-scale developments very close to the site,” Maddux said. “Hundreds of units are going up on Long Shoals Road. Drive down Sweeten Creek Road. Hundreds of units are going in down there.”

Maddux noted that all of this is since the data went into the city’s “Missing Middle” housing study that suggested Asheville needs much more housing, particularly dense types that include apartments, duplexes, townhomes and more.

His point was that “South Asheville is doing its part.

“The plans that we have put to the city all say that density should be distributed equitably around the city,” Maddux said. “It would be inequitable to keep pushing density into South Asheville. I know this is 37 houses, but this is 37 houses in an area that’s not supposed to take 37 houses.”

To me, that’s the gist here. It’s an already crowded area with a large population, not to mention four schools within a few miles and busy commercial strips nearby.

Residents’ emails repeatedly brought up safety concerns about the lack of sidewalks along Springside and how dangerous that road can already be. Quite a few also said they’re not opposed to development on the vacant, wooded site, but they just want it scaled back.

“I am not opposed to this land being developed, as I understand that Asheville is growing and housing is needed,” Barbara Reeves wrote. “But developing this land needs to be done reasonably, thoughtfully, and responsibly.”

She said she’s spoken with many community members who just want a chance “to work together with the city and with a developer,” so they can “propose a solution that is in keeping with the surrounding neighborhoods.”

That April 2 meeting lasted more than three hours, and when the planning and zoning board asked the developer to consider changes to the project, its lawyer asked for the meeting to be continued. The board voted to table the matter until the May 7 meeting.

Here’s an interesting point, though, as pointed out by one of the board members: By right and current zoning, the developer can build 31 units on the site “and doesn’t have to ask anyone’s approval.”

‘The balancing act’ and steadily increasing traffic

Planning and zoning board member Jason Seickel was pretty blunt in one other assessment. Regarding traffic, he said he and other board members have been going down to Springside to drive it, especially in the mornings when school traffic is hitting.

“And yes, I agree that it’s bad, but I mean, unfortunately, a lot of Asheville is bad,” Seickel said, noting that he lives in that part of town and lives the traffic every day. But he also mentioned the housing shortage.

“This commission, we have to balance the needs of individual communities with needs of the larger community as well, too,” Seikel said. “There is a housing shortage. There is a cost-of-living crisis that outside of this room, (the board) also has to deal with, too. So, I hope you understand this — the balancing act.”

Typically that balancing act favors development, partly because of the aforementioned ability to build “by right.” Some of this goes back to old English Common Law and property rights, which run strong in our country — you have a lot when it comes to your property.

Traffic in this area, like much of Buncombe, has only increased in recent years. The NCDOT traffic count map doesn’t provide a vehicles-per-day count for Springside Road, but Hendersonville Road just south of Springside carried 30,500 vehicles a day in 2022. That’s up from 23,000 a day in 2010.

Long Shoals Road, now another major corridor down south, carried 28,500 vehicles a day in 2022, up from 18,000 a day in 2010. 

Sure, adding 37 vehicles, or maybe twice that if each household has two cars, isn’t going to break the camel’s back. But it adds to the cumulative effect down south that has been building for more than a decade and has made life unpleasant, if not dangerous at times.

Honestly, if I’m in downtown Asheville after 4 p.m., I just opt to go home to Fletcher via Charlotte Highway and Cane Creek Road, which is five miles longer but 20 minutes faster. That’s mainly because I-26 remains a nightmare until you get to the newly opened lanes in Henderson County, and the other two north-south corridors, Hendersonville and Sweeten Creek roads, are parking lots.

The development does check a lot of the city’s goals

To be fair, it’s not like this proposal is some kind of monstrosity that would make people faint from shock. It is denser than the current zoning allows – it would come out to 6.4 units per acre – but it checks some of the boxes the city wants these days for infill housing.

The developer is listed as Sage Communities LLC of Hendersonville. I reached out for comment but didn’t hear back by deadline.

For the meeting, city planning staff provided a “proposed ordinance change” that states the proposal is consistent with the city’s plan called “Living Asheville — A Comprehensive Plan for our Future.” Staff determined the proposal “to be reasonable, and in the public interest for the following reasons:

a) Prioritizes greater densities of development overall, throughout the city as appropriate

b) Eliminates gaps in the sidewalk network

c) Maintains and enhances buffers and open space preservation along creeks, streams and rivers

The materials also note the subdivision would have three new access points off of Springside Road, and new sidewalks are proposed along the north side of Springside, as well as along both sides of a private road in the development. Additionally, a crosswalk is proposed across Springside Road, although neighbors questioned how safe this would be.

The city’s documents state the development “partially supports” several goals in the Living Asheville plan, including encouraging responsible growth “prioritizing greater densities of development overall,” as that helps achieve more walkable and efficient urban environments. 

Also, while the project does propose single-family houses ”at a higher density than the current zoning would otherwise allow, it could reduce the footprint of the development by exploring different building types such as duplexes, townhomes, and small-scale multi-family in order to provide the same number of housing units while disturbing less of the overall site.”

The proposed homes are consistent “with the land use of the surrounding residential neighborhoods,” although they’re more densely packed, the report notes. 

The report also says the development will, “Celebrate the unique identity of neighborhoods through creative placemaking — by supporting contextually appropriate infill development and a variety of housing types.”

OK, I coughed up a little lunch on that one. I mean, come on, packing in as many homes as possible is not all that creative. 

The planning report dinged the development for not supporting Living Asheville goals including increasing affordable housing, and minimizing the environmental Impact on steep slopes and mature forests and wildlife habitats. It also would increase impervious surfaces.

Further, the report stated: “The proposed project is partially compatible with the surrounding land uses, including: Existing residential neighborhoods to the north, east, and south zoned Residential Single-Family Medium Density District.”

Clearly, neighbors beg to differ on the compatibility issue.

The upshot here is that some version of this development proposal is going to pass, and I suspect it will be one very close to what the developers are pursuing.

Sure, the developer will make some tweaks — save a little open space here, add more buffering there — but the company can build a fair number of units any way you slice it. And will.

And the traffic and safety situation down south, not to mention livability, will get just a little bit worse.

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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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