Chris Bauer, a Weaverville resident who occasionally comments at BlogAsheville under the name MountainStyle, had this to say about the town's planned megadevelopment:MtnX: "Let us stay Weaverville!
With the exception of Al Root, the rest of the Weaverville Town Council has sold out this quaint and peaceful hamlet to benefit the bank accounts of developers and to ensure the growth of unnecessary urban sprawl.
Reportedly, 1,500 jobs will be created by the building of the project the Council just approved. That's great, because with a town population of around 2,600, this shopping center should ensure employment for over 50 percent of Weaverville. And talk about convenience! The nine whole minutes it takes me to drive to work in Asheville every day is just wearing me down.
I can't think that 1,500 low-wage jobs will bring a lot of revenue to the town, especially when money made at the big-box stores will go into a bank pouch and then be whisked away to Arkansas or California or some other place far away from here, and never get spent in our town.
I'm sure the developers have shown that the effects of wiping out Weaverville's mom-and-pop stores will be minimal, at most, and with a population that small, there is no way a minimal effect will be that bad, right?Tax base? Let's see – great schools, wonderful Main Street, no crime, no litter. Obviously Weaverville needs more money because life here just isn't quite pleasant enough.
This is a prime example of a pristine little community about to shoot itself in the foot because a developer says it will feel good. It's like calling McDonald's and asking them if they would please come to our town because we can't find a tasteless hamburger. I highly doubt the founders of Weaverville ever thought 36 acres of parking lots just wouldn't be enough in one spot.
[Council] needs to remain true to the citizens: Stay Weaverville. Instead of giving tax incentives and other concessions to developers, support local entrepreneurs and ideas which keep the town unique and flavorful. The town could provide incentives and opportunities for local artisans and citizens to maintain the small-town feel and advance the unique creativity of the residents of Weaverville, instead of lining the pockets of a multimillion-dollar developer from Charlotte. There is an old community building at Lake Louise that is in dire need of sprucing up. Revitalizing it would create a hub for the town to center around.
The future of towns like Weaverville is not set in stone. The people always have a say in everything that happens in their town. I don't think the Council's decision was well considered, though, and I will do everything I can to stop this bland and faceless piece of tasteless stucco from becoming my neighbor. If you think the rezoning is a good idea, you are entitled to your (wrong) opinion, and in the meantime, you can drive six miles to the nearest big box. Or is it five? Just kidding.
And by the way, Mike's Main Street Grill in Weaverville has the best-tasting burgers in the world."
6 comments:
Mtnstyle, how long have you lived in Weavervegas?
I grew up there. Lived in a house on Main Street. Graduated N. Buncombe High School. I've watched the town grow and change. And I have no problem (well, one, which you didn't mention, which is the eviction of the trailer park folks) with the proposed development. That interchange is already clogged with a couple of grocery stores, a Mickey D's, and a strip shopping center. So I say, let there be a Lowe's, or whatever they want to put there. It's the perfect place for it.
Whatever small-town "charm" Weaverville's got (and it ain't much) is not threatened by yet another shopping center, situated with others, next to an Interstate.
ash,
Money flowing out of the community
Increased traffic
Unnecessary growth
Another frickin' Lowe's? Really?
why do you assume money is flowing out of the community? local workers will be paid, and spending money locally, right?
increased traffic in that area - yes. i think the interstate highway and the giant weaverville boulevard can handle it.
unnecessary growth - i guess you're right. all growth, by your thinking, is unnecessary, right?
i'm just saying that we should deal with reality. the reality is people are moving here in droves. the reality is there are no zoning rules outside the unincorporated areas of buncombe county. the reality is we're going to grow. the reality is people in weaverville need jobs, the town needs revenue to improve infrastructure to better serve all the people moving here in droves.
the best location for a new shopping center is that interchange.
stop whining (i don't mean you, in particular) about a new shopping center placed in the right location and start thinking about the bigger issue of how to properly plan for the growth explosion we're in the midst of.
ash,
i hear you, but i also think that planning for growth means looking at a picture which does not contain cheap energy resources. if that shopping center is suppose to service ashevillians, i highly doubt people will make the trip out there, 10 years from now when the price of gasoline is $9 a gallon. if it is service weaverville, a better argument i think, do they really have that big a need for those services? and do any of the products being sold at the shopping center, come from around WNC, or are they all hauled up the mtn.
i know im bringing a different arguement, but the growth explosion, from what i see, is completely planned around cheap energy, and the world is running around.
so what to do?
Ash,
You'd make a great spokesman for the Lowe's.
The jobs are crap. This area has the lowest unemployment in the state. Jobs like this we don't need.
Increased traffic through Weaverville's Main Street will not be sustainable without more construction. This construction wouldn't be needed otherwise.
Growth is fine. But to believe that "If the Lowe's wants to come, it's the way the world is. Why try and stop it?" school of thought is ridiculous.
The people of Weaverville ought to decide what happens in Weaverville. The multitude who showed up to voice dissent but were overriden by a hell-bent council are people whose lives will be directly affected by this radical growth.
Growth is going to happen. You're right. So maybe it's time, having seen thousands of examples nationwide of small towns eaten alive by bigbox development, to pay attention and notice that the bigboxers don't help communities.
The money doesn't stay here, Ash. It goes to corporate. The wages are so small compared to the amount of money that will flow into the bigbox and then leave this town forever, that to tout the wages as money that stays here is to willfully ignore the thousandfold amount that will go away.
This kind of development isn't inevitable, but it's interesting that you think it is. That means they've got you convinced it's inevitable. It's still a democracy, and this proposed development can still be derailed.
If, when you're shopping at bigboxes around town, you're gleefully thinking to yourself about how great it is that you're keeping your money in the community and how stupid all those small business owners are for even trying, then keep doing what you're doing. Otherwise, planning communities instead of letting outside corporate interests tell communities how to plan makes more sense for the quality of life of Weaverville's residents.
i dunno... i've already heard several people who live in and around that area saying that they're excited, and they can't wait for that huge l-shaped minimall to open up.
the public gets what the public wants...
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