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Tuesday, 19 September 2006 16:40 |
By DAVID FORBES
A proposal for an affordable housing development in East Asheville was withdrawn for more planning in the face of concerns raised from the neighborhood and members of Asheville City Council on Sept. 12.
"I very much like the idea of bringing affordable development to this property," Councilman Brownie Newman said. "But Iëd like to see a plan and some more details before we go ahead."
Conversely, Councilman Carl Mumpower said he felt that council was bowing to neighborhood pressure and micromanaging development.
"I
have some problems with what weëre doing," Mumpower said. "Iëve been on
this council five years and I canët recall many times anywhere in the
city where the neighborhood has without qualification embraced any
project. We need a lot of housing built in the next 10 years and if we
keep taking this attitude, developers are going to stay away."
Forty-five
residents in the Shiloh neighborhood had filed a valid protest
petition, asserting that the proposed project was too dense for the
neighborhood, and citing concerns about possible water problems in the
area.
"To us, this
means more houses on the land," Norma Baines, president of the Shiloh
Association, said. "We feel like you can develop affordable houses
there for the community. But weëre concerned that these are too many
houses to put on that many acres."
There are
currently no final plans for the property ÇƒÏ and the owner, Harry
Giezentanner, noted that to develop such plans would cost around
$50,000.
However, Giezentanner, whose family has owned the property for 40 years, did note that he wanted to build affordable housing.
"My plan is to
bring affordable housing to this area," he said. "But based on my past
experiences, I cannot bring affordable housing with the current zoning.
I need that extra density. There is a basin on the east side of the
property, but that is not a strain."
Later, however,
after hearing objections by some members of council, Giezentanner
offered to withdraw the project, develop plans, and return to council
at a later date.
In other action, council:
ï Voted 6-1 to accept a SAFER grant from the Department of Homeland Security for the Fire and Rescue Department.
The item had
originally been on the consent agenda, but citizen and journalist
Leslee Kulba said she was concerned about the city "accepting money
from the federal government for what used to be a local government
issue."
The funds will go to improve and maintain the cityës fire stations.
The lone dissenting vote came from Councilman Carl Mumpower, who agreed with Kulbaës concerns.
"Once again
weëre reaching for federal dollars with regards to local issues like
fire," Mumpower said.
"This seems like a real stretch of homeland
security dollars and at a time of record federal deficits I just canët
support that."
ï Announced the recognition of Asheville Fire Department Captain Mike Quinones as Firefighter of the Year for North Carolina.
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