Last night, I delivered public comment in support of the development proposed for 767 Haw Creek Road on the east side of Asheville. This project has been a contentious one with a lot of opposition expressed by current residents of the Haw Creek Community. However, at last night’s city council meeting, a number of city residents also spoke up in support of the project and Council nearly unanimously supported it with a 5 – 1 vote in favor of it moving forward. In her remarks supporting the project, Councilor Maggie Ullman spoke to the need to balance environmental protection with welcoming new residents and she pointed out that this project creates more dense housing in this area while also preserving more tree canopy than would have been possible outside of this process. She also stressed the need to update our city’s unified development ordinances so that we can manage growth more wisely going forward to prevent continued sprawl across our beautiful mountains. I couldn’t agree more with her analysis of this project!
Mayor Esther Manheimer also spoke in favor of the project, pointing to “the number one factor for whether or not you are going to see people experiencing homelessness in your community is housing scarcity.” She referenced the work and recent local presentation by Gregg Colburn, co-author of Homelessness is a Housing Problem, whose data on homelessness as it relates to the housing shortage is compelling to say the least. “The data doesn’t lie.” We need more homes to address our housing crisis in this country, and I’m grateful that MountainTrue and Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC are willing to stand in support of projects like Haw Creek so that we can address our housing crisis in a way that also preserves tree canopy and reduces our community’s overall carbon footprint.
Here was my public comment from last night laying out some of the reasons that our organization supports this development:
My name is Susan Bean and I’m the Housing and Transportation Director for MountainTrue. On behalf of MountainTrue and Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC, I am pleased to express our support of the proposed Haw Creek development before you tonight. We commend the developer and the neighbors who support the current design for having been willing to come together and negotiate a compromise to result in a better project that each side can accept.
A site like 767 New Haw Creek Road is ideal for residential development for a number of reasons. Adding gentle density to this site creates more homes during our housing crisis to help meet the housing needs of our community. At the same time, by siting these homes near transit, schools, and other amenities, these residents will be able to use multi-modal transportation options and minimize vehicle miles traveled in their day-to-day lives, reducing our community’s carbon footprint. Adding homes in town also reduces some of the pressure on our outlying farms and forests which are critical to protect as those soils and trees are carrying a heavy load in mitigating climate change.
As our community grapples with the combined threats of climate change and a growing demand for housing, we hope more needed infill projects like this one can be thoughtfully designed in cooperation with existing residents so that our city can collectively address these dual crises.
Sincerely,
Susan Bean