Asheville City Council erred in approving the 60-unit Larchmont affordable housing project behind the Post Office on Merrimon Avenue.

This foolish project will disrupt the leafy neighborhood in which it will be located, congest an already-busy stretch of Merrimon and make it nearly impossible to exit the adjoining Grace Station Post Office.

The project’s residents will find themselves dodging vehicles when crossing traffic-clogged Merrimon to catch infrequent buses headed downtown. Few stores are located nearby.

Proponents of the project, including Councilman Gordon Smith, said placing the apartments off a main corridor with buses and sidewalks will actually reduce traffic while helping out working families. Moreover, he contended that the “broad benefits of this project far outweigh any downsides.”

The “in-fill” idea, which is certainly a hip and trendy idea, is billed as a way to avoid suburban sprawl and encourage the use of public transit.

However, we prefer the Detroit approach, which is to turn large swaths of the blighted city back into fields and farmlands.

With prospects for recruiting industry slim, Detroit planners are considering agricultural uses for the land.

Asheville’s prospects are a bit better than Detroits, but, with the United States government spending money non-stop, the nation is broke — and the situation promises to get worse.