The controversial, 802-unit Crossroads at West Asheville apartment complex proposal has been pulled, meaning the project is "basically dead."
"We just got word that the Crossroads application has been officially withdrawn," said Nathan Pennington, planning director for Buncombe County, said Jan. 6. "The application as it stands in its current configuration is basically dead."
The Charlotte-based development company, Catalyst Capital Partners, had sought a conditional use permit for the 68-acre on South Bear Creek Road near the Malvern Hills neighborhood in West Asheville. Plans called for 802 total living units, mostly apartments, as well as 14,400 square feet of retail space, 50,400 square feet of office space and 64,000 square feet of self-storage.
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Neighbors complained that the project was too big and would cause serious traffic and safety issues, was likely to negatively impact nearby Hominy Creek and had the potential to cause flooding issues.
The Buncombe County Board of Adjustment had heard the case in quasi-judicial hearings that drew overflow crowds in October, November and December. The last meeting lasted so long in December it was continued to a specially scheduled meeting on Jan. 23.
"The Jan. 23 special meeting is completely canceled," Pennington said.
Kate Millar, incoming president of the Malvern Hills Neighborhood Association, which opposed the project, said their overwhelming reaction Jan. 6 was one of relief.
"I’d say we're relieved that the developer saw how unwanted and damaging their project was going to be," Millar said, adding that they really appreciate the support of neighbors and the public outcry "over what was proposed and how it was to be approved."
The Board of Adjustment would have had the final say on the project, not the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. As the project lay right outside the city limits, Asheville had no say in the approval process.
"I hope developments like this will be a big issue in the upcoming county elections and there will be more accountability for elected officials," Millar said. "I know a lot of people want to change the ordinance so a similar scenario doesn’t happen again."
The developers could resubmit a proposal for the site, but that would require a new permit to be submitted, with a new application and application fee.
"And it must restart the process, meaning it would have to go for a staff review and then on the Board of Adjustment agenda to be entirely reheard," Pennington said.
The Citizen Times could not reach Capital Catalyst Partners Managing Partner A.J. Klenk for comment Jan. 6. Asheville attorney Bob Oast, who represented CCP, referred questions to Klenk.
Plans called for 22 buildings on the site, a former dairy farm, with 655 "midrise" apartments and 147 senior units.
Millar said some residents have voiced concerns that the developer may try to bring the project back in a piecemeal fashion or a different iteration that would not require a conditional use permit.
But Pennington said that scenario is unlikely because the county's ordinance has a fairly low threshold for triggering a conditional use permit.
“If they came (back) with a project that didn’t meet the need for a conditional use review, it would trigger it once it met the threshold,” Pennington said. “It would take care of itself. I think the neighborhood is concerned that they'll find a way to piecemeal it, but our ordinance is set up to where it would basically, as soon as it hit that threshold, it would be required.”
Pennington read from the ordinance, which states a Planned Unit Development "means more than four principle buildings or uses on a single lot, and any principle building with a gross floor area of 25,000 square feet or more, any residential complex of more than eight units."
"When you’re dealing with a threshold that’s that low, they’re going to hit it almost immediately," he said.
A traditional subdivision would not require a conditional use permit, which is reviewed through the Planning Board.
"But honestly, I don’t see them ever pulling back and coming to us with a traditional subdivision," Pennington said. "The piecemeal concern I don’t really think — the threshold is too low to be worried they’re going to come in and do it on a per application basis."
Oast acknowledged that "anything like a mixed-use" concept would require a Conditional Use Permit.
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Crossroads West Asheville application pulled, project dead for now - Citizen Times
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