Board approves 159-unit Mountain Housing Opportunities development with 45-year affordability and transit access conditions

The Buncombe County Board of Adjustment on Tuesday approved a special-use permit for Mountain Housing Opportunities (MHO) to construct a 159-unit, 100% affordable apartment development on Old County Home Road.

The board granted the permit after hearing a staff presentation, expert testimony, and public comment and after the project team agreed to conditions including a deed restriction that the units remain affordable for 45 years and a commitment to provide ADA-accessible pedestrian access to the nearest transit stop.

Jillian Phillips, long range planning division manager for Buncombe County, told the board the application proposes 159 units across three apartment buildings on a 7.44-acre parcel served by City of Asheville water and MSD sewer commitments. Phillips said the applicant requested deviations for building height — from 35 feet to 55 feet — and a parking reduction from 1.75 to 1.0 spaces per unit. She noted the project was submitted under the county’s Community Oriented Development (COD) density matrix.

Derek Allen, attorney for the applicant, described the proposal as a community-oriented development intended to address the county’s shortage of affordable housing. Warren Sugg, the civil engineer, described site features including building separation of at least 20 feet, retaining walls where needed, stream and wetland avoidance, on-site stormwater management, and pedestrian circulation connecting to Old County Home Road.

The board and the applicant discussed several concerns raised during the hearing. After a transportation study and an NCDOT final determination were presented — which predicted modest increases to delay (about one to two seconds during peak hours) — board members and neighbors pressed the applicant to assure transit access and ADA access for residents. Derek Allen said, "I just discussed it with the client, and we will commit to putting the sidewalk there provided that NCDOT allows us to do so." He and the applicant also agreed to pursue an internal pedestrian connection to the adjacent bus shelter if DOT maintenance/refusal made an in‑right‑of‑way sidewalk impractical.

Neighbors raised traffic, stormwater, and visual impact concerns during public comment. Several residents asked about emergency access, stormwater runoff into existing culverts, tree canopy loss, and first-responder capacity. Project representatives said they had held a voluntary community meeting and had sought to minimize grading and preserve stream buffers and woodlands where possible. The civil engineer said soils and wetlands had been studied and the layout was designed to limit disturbance.

In addition to the 45-year affordability condition and the transit-access commitment, the board adopted a condition requiring the applicant to provide an on-site, enclosed area for pet relief to be shown on the master site plan and to submit a final site plan and permits (grading, stormwater, water/sewer approvals) before land-disturbing activity. The board’s approval included the site plan as the controlling depiction of the project and required the applicant to secure any necessary NCDOT encroachment agreement for sidewalk construction.

The motion to approve the special-use permit was made and seconded during the hearing, and the board voted in favor. The board’s written order includes findings that the application meets the Buncombe County zoning ordinance PUD/COD standards subject to the conditions recorded in the order.

The project team said construction would require additional permitting steps (grading, erosion control, stormwater and utility approvals) and that final engineering, permitting, and any required encroachment agreements would be completed before site work begins.

The decision allows the developer to proceed toward final engineering and building-permit phases, subject to the conditions the board adopted.

Ending — The board’s action clears a key local provider to proceed with a large affordable housing project in Buncombe County, but the project remains contingent on final permits, NCDOT agreements where applicable, and the applicant fulfilling recording and site-plan conditions the board required.