Opponents of MHO’s Larchmont project gear up for March 3 P&Z meeting

Here’s the email that’s going around:

Proposed MHO Development at Old Naval Reserve site “785 Merrimon Avenue” Asheville, NC 

Come to the Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting, Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 1st floor City Hall (North Conference Room) and question the feasibility, the practicality, the appropriateness of the proposed DENSITY for our neighborhood!  To confirm the time and place, go to http://www.ashevillenc.gov/business/development_services/DevBoardsComm/default.aspx?id=1108 and double-click on “upcoming agenda(s). 

Mountain Housing Opportunities, Inc. (MHO) plans to build 60 units of affordable housing on 2.3 acres across from the North Asheville Fire Station on the old Naval Reserve site. This consists of two – three stories, 40 feet tall buildings sitting atop the hill off Merrimon Avenue.

Current zoning for the old Naval Reserve site, “Institutional” allows for 16 units per acre, or 32 units maximum.  Institutional zoning is an adequate buffer between the commercial traffic of Merrimon Avenue and the single-family residential homes. MHO is seeking to have the property re-zoned to “Urban Residential” that would allow a maximum density of 64 units.  It is widely believed by many area residents that the current zoning, “Institutional” should stand.  A 32 units maximum would better fit the site, the neighborhood, the current infrastructure, and the traffic patterns.  We all appreciate the need for affordable, work force housing.  MHO provides quality housing to a deserving and working public.  Still, we don’t need to be putting two pounds in a one pound bag! 

Do you travel Merrimon Avenue in North Asheville during the day? Do you use the North Asheville Grace Station Post Office?  If you answer, “Yes,” to either of these questions, the proposed 785 Merrimon Avenue development will directly impact you!  The main exit for the Grace Station Post Office is Larchmont Drive, with traffic on Larchmont having the right of way. Larchmont at Merrimon (the stop light at the post office) could get slammed with an additional 500 car trips per day generated from this complex, bringing traffic at the post office and Merrimon Avenue to a standstill. Are 500 car trips more important than the North Asheville Fire Department, the North Asheville public wishing to use the Grace Station Post Office, and the 18,000 cars traveling Merrimon Avenue per weekday? The only other egress for this project is Long Street that dumps INTO Edgewood Road. Edgewood Road already has 2100+ cars per day careening toward Long Street at an average speed of 32 mph. All of this screams of HAZARD! The old Burger King was denied a drive-through because of traffic concerns; the drive-through for CVS was stopped for similar reasons. This development involves our POST OFFICE and FIRE DEPARTMENT. How do we relocate a post office for a public who cannot get in or out of the parking lot?  Widening Merrimon Avenue to accommodate this and other added traffic would be cost prohibitive.

MHO has an established relationship with the City of Asheville and has worked on multiple redevelopment projects. It appears as though MHO has already gotten the bid to buy the land from the county.  They may have the votes. But, and it is a big BUT, DO THEY HAVE YOUR SUPPORT? If North Asheville stands up and gets heard, we will get back in the game!  This project is set to go before the Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission on March 3, 2010, with it going before the Asheville City Council as early as March 23, 2010.  So often, decisions are made that impact us and we only get to react to them after the fact.  Here’s an opportunity for us to weigh in on this issue before an outcome has been decided.  Let our public officials know your concerns!  The sooner the better.  If we wait until this goes to a vote, it may be too late.  Inform your neighbors!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?  Write, Call!  To e-mail City Council directly: Mayor Terry Bellamy, Brownie Newman, Cecil Bothwell, Jan Davis, Esther Manheimer, Bill Russell, Gordon Smith: mayorbellamy@gmail.com; newmanasheville@gmail.com; cecil@braveulysses.com; jandavis@main.nc.us; emanheimer@vwlawfirm.com; billrussell@charter.net; gordonsmithasheville@yahoo.com; AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov.  To e-mail City of Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission Members: Dhart06@aol.com; sws@northupmcconnell.com; tbyers@charter.net; cjerome@mindspring.com; ncannady@mbhaynes.com; gmjimbarkley@setdir.com; cindy@mtnhousing.org.  For other public officials go to: http://mvalliance.net/Toolkit.htm

To add your name to a PETITION go to: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/785-merrimon-ave/

Would you like to influence this project in a manner that better suits this neighborhood?  Send your e-mail address to North.Asheville@yahoo.com for future updates and information.  North.Asheville@yahoo.com will not share your e-mail address without your permission. If you send an e-mail associated with the proposed 785 Merrimon Avenue development to City Council, Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission, or other public officials, please copy North.Asheville@yahoo.com.

LEARN MORE

Nowhere in our neighborhood vicinity can you find 100+ people living on less then 2 ½ acres in 40 foot tall structures. This kind of density is common to urban centers not residential neighborhoods. Instead of a view of the western sunset and the hills on the other side of Merrimon Avenue, residents on Melrose Avenue will see rooftops and cars as well as hearing the life and sounds of more than 100 residents adjacent to them.  How do we force single-family residential homes to live next to such high density? 

MHO claims to be providing work force housing for 2800 jobs along Merrimon Avenue that pay up to $40,000 per year, retail, grocery, construction.  The Employment Security Commission of NC is not aware of this number of job openings available on Merrimon Avenue.  Accessiblity of jobs and available job openings are two different issues. 

MHO projects approximately 73 to 75 parking spaces for 60 units. NC DOT data indicates an average of 6.72 trips per day. The CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER stated about 500 trips per day would be generated from this proposed complex exiting Larchmont Drive to Merrimon Avenue or Long Street to Edgewood Road.  Edgewood Road is an access street to Kimberly Avenue or Merrimon Avenue.

According to the Asheville Planning Department, 60 units of one, two, and three bedroom apartments produce a minimum of 65 cars and a maximum of 125 cars. If there were a minimum of 1.5 cars per unit, there would be 90 cars (or 605 trips per day originating from this site). With only 75 parking spaces, where is overflow parking going to park? Will these cars find parking along Long Street and Larchmont Drive?  How might this impact the North Asheville Fire Department’s response time? 

The NC DOT conducted a traffic study in 2008 of traffic on Merrimon Avenue. At Gracelyn Road, there were an average of 18,000 cars per weekday and 21,000 cars per weekday at Edgewood Road. The Grace Station Post Office sits between Gracelyn and Edgewood. It is fair to say that traffic on Merrimon Avenue at the Grace Station Post Office is in excess of 18,000 cars per weekday.

The City of Asheville conducted a traffic survey in August 2008 on Edgewood Road (between Kimberly Ave. and Merrimon Ave.). The average number of cars, 2118 per day, traveled at an average speed of 32.1 mph. 

Vehicles entering Edgewood Road off Long Street cannot see oncoming traffic without pulling onto Edgewood Road. Long Street has a narrow width.  Passing is extremely difficult. 

Buncombe County allowed MHO to select their own appraiser in purchasing this site. MHO is being allowed to purchase the property for the lesser of $1,800,000 or the appraised value, with a $500,000 loan from the county to be paid back over 25 years (contract approved Nov. 17, 2009 at the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Meeting, 4:30 pm).

Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission members are Chair, Cindy Weeks of Mountain Housing Opportunities, MHO Manager of Community Investments, Vice Chair, Daryl Hart of Hart Funeral Services, Steve Sizemore Attorney, Tom Byers of Self Help Credit Union, Jerome Jones, Retired Air Force Officer; Nathanial Cannady, Pres. MB Haynes, and Mark Sexton of Jim Barkley Toyota.

Technical Review Committee, TRC Meeting February 15, 2010 at Public Works Facility, S. Charlotte Street, Room A109

Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting March 3, 2010 at City Hall, 1st Floor, North Conference Room. 

Asheville City Council Meeting – March 23, 2010 at City Hall, 2nd floor, Council Chambers. 

Questions to consider:  Do you think this project site is located in an underutilized area (post office, fire department, community center, recycling center)? Do you believe this increase in density and its resulting traffic will have a limited “direct or secondary impact on taxpayers?”  Are the secondary impacts such as noise and general congestion associated with 100 additional neighborhood residents and their guests and vehicles acceptable?  What will the cost to the taxpayers be to adequately update the infrastructure (water, sewer, sidewalks) for this project?  Refer to the http://www.ashevillenc.gov/business/business_in/economic_dev/default.aspx?id=5114 specifically: Guiding Principles and Goals for the Redevelopment Process expressed by members of City Council.