News

Neighbors cast wary eye on Horse Shoe Farm plans

By Bill Moss, Published: October 3, 2016

HORSE SHOE — Ray Carter, a friendly guy who is retired from the postal service in Asheville, was planting a new azalea bush in his well-manicured yard on a gorgeous fall day last week. He described to a visitor how he got to Tamarac 13 years ago.

“I hooked up the horse and went 20 miles and when he got tired we settled down,” he said.
They settled in the stable subdivision of large brick homes and winding streets. Carter and others are casting a wary eye on a new development across South Rugby Road from the neighborhood.
John Turchin, a third generation developer from Miami, announced plans last week to build a 220-unit community of rental cottages and apartments on the rolling 85-acre farm that once was home to belted Galloway cattle and owner William Mullis’s collection of vintage Corvettes.
“We’re developing a lifestyle destination community that’s a cross between a 55-and-older and independent living,” Turchin said. “It’s a hybrid product” that offers “an alternative to a golf course country club” development.
The community of vegetable gardens, walking trails, a wellness center, lap pool and high-end restaurant would offer 1,200-square-foot cottages for $3,600 to $4,800 a month, with the rent covering amenities such as meals at the “farm-to-table” restaurant. The development would not include medical facilities.
Ray CarterCarter and his wife, Ruth, are more open-minded than some of their neighbors.
“The majority of 55-year-olds have raised most of their family so you’re not talking about an impact on schools,” he said. “Still, they’re working. There will be a traffic influx. I’m assuming that they will have to add water lines. One of the concerns is probably property values. I’m not sure what impact these type of developments have had on other places. My biggest concern is impact on property values.”
Ruth Carter said there’s clearly a market for more retirement-age housing.
“We do know people that are trying to get in the retirement areas around here and there’s a wait for two years,” she said. “They’re going out of state. They would prefer to stay here but there just wasn’t a place.”
In Tamarac, where you stand depends to some degree on where you live. Closer to South Rugby Road, residents may feel as if they’ll see the effect of the change more.
“I know that I’m not in favor of it,” said Phil Arrington. “There was something about five years ago where there was an attempt to rezone and it was defeated. I don’t think anything’s changed with regard to people’s concern about the high density…. I think the Planning Board has a history of ignoring the concerns of the neighborhood — especially this neighborhood.”
He cited the county’s approval of a U-Haul business at the corner of U.S. 64 and South Rugby Road. That case, though, was heard by the Zoning Board of Adjustment, not the Planning Board. The business closed several months after it opened.
Another resident, Jennifer DeBoy Stammer, also opposes the rezoning.

“My gut tells me they’re not going to find enough takers to pay $4,000 rent so our fear is that it’s going to be built and either foreclosed on or sold,” she said. “Young people aren’t going to pay that in rent. I would think people my age would either want to own or want it along the lines of Lake Pointe Landing or Carolina Village. I don’t understand the septic system they’re talking about because it is a floodplain.
‘We do have an annual meeting coming up week after next. I think we’ll at least find out when there’s going to be public meeting. It sounds like so much progress has been made from the point of view of the developer and the county planners that we didn’t even know was going on behind the scenes and that’s kind of disturbing.”
“The accidents on South Rugby are frequent and legendary. 225 rental units could easily equate to more than 400 additional vehicles — not to mention all of the employees and trucks associated with the restaurant, etc.,” she added in letter to the editor.
The anxiety over the proposal does not stop at Tamarac’s boundary.

Barbara Lea lives in West Wind, which is across U.S. 64 and borders Horse Shoe Farm. She said she and her neighbors plan to oppose the development.
“We are very concerned about what’s going on,” she said. “We bought the adjacent property 26 years ago and developed it ourselves into several different parcels” on large 4½-acre lots. “We all have quite a vested interest in this.”

Richard Fowler, president of West Wind Homeowners Association, also expressed misgivings.

“That’s a lot of units on that amount of acreage,” he said. “Some of it is in floodplain and it’s not zoned for that many units. I think they would have to apply for a variance and we would oppose that.
“South Rugby Road is the only through road between Hendersonville and Brevard between 191 and 64 and it already gets a lot of traffic. If you put that many units in it’s really going to be a mess. We realize something can be done there. I don’t think we can oppose one unit per acre. That’s a big difference from what’s being proposed.”
Carter sees a bright side. A 225-unit development of older people may benefit the economy.
“Retirees spend more money than you think,” he said. “It opens up the real estate market” if a couple sells a home to move into a rental cottage. “I’ve seen this before. What they’re doing is controlling the overall property, the concept … the overall concept doesn’t bother me. In the planning process, they’re going to be responsible for turn lanes and things like that.”
It would concern him, he said, if the property won rezoning that “is going to open up less desirable conditions.”
That’s not possible under the rezoning and development permit Turchin is seeking, said John Mitchell, the county’s director of business and community development. Under the terms of a special-use permit, the county would authorize only the specific development that Turchin spells out in a site plan.

The county’s Technical Review Committee, made up of county planners, NCDOT engineers and other regulators, will review Turchin’s application later this month. The zoning application will require the developer to submit a traffic impact analysis. If the planning department completes its review, the application would go before the Planning Board on Thursday, Oct. 20. The Board of Commissioners could take up the request on Dec. 5. Both the Planning Board and Board of Commissioners would hold public hearings.