Developers want to build affordable/workforce housing for Weibridge Village. They do not have the funds to afford it, so they are asking the City of Asheville for some corporate welfare, which would amount to relief from 50% of assessed taxes for five years. The developers are requesting an additional 20 bonus points to make up for the $1.2-1.5 million sunk into designing stormwater BMP’s based on bad science provided by the city.
Proceeding with construction, we are told, would create 90 permanent jobs plus more during the construction phase. The project would offer Energy Star certification, and 50% of units at workforce rates and 5% at affordable rates for ten years. Upgrades would be made to convert Racquet Club Road into a boulevard with paved sidewalks.
Plans for Employer Assisted Housing would help people working for participating employers with rent:
City of Asheville employees would also be given first preference to lease units at the start of the leasing period.
Attempting to earn more green points, the developers argued:
Weirbridge Village is located on Hendersonville Road, the main arterial road in South Asheville, and it is built to a residential density of seventeen units per acre. [It is also down one of of the long annexation arms of the city and not adjacent to a dense city center with the same population density.] The minimum density at which rapid transit can operate efficiently is approximately twelve units per acre (Pushkarev and Zupan, 1977). At seventeen units per acre, Weirbridge Village will support more efficient transit in South Asheville.
One can just imagine the little maglev whipping around the village.
