Bell Buckle cool to developers' pitch

A pair of real estate developers met with a polite, but less than enthusiastic crowd at Bell Buckle's town hall Thursday night at the monthly planning commission meeting. Larry Collins and David Carroll presented an idea for developing The Hill district with a planned, village-style community that would include about 150-170 homes, a park with a pond, and an inn/convention center.

"It's an absolutely beautiful presentation, but the idea of 170 homes in a town that only has 122 to begin with?" questioned alderwoman Annie Rooney. She added that the water and sewer system was barely capable of serving the current population and wouldn't be able to handle that many more homes.

"This would not happen all at once," said Collins, "but we couldn't start until we knew it was going to happen."

Collins said he chose to address the town directly and ask its involvement in the proposed project instead of "playing sneaky-peeky" and setting up dummy corporations to start buying the land and going ahead with the project secretly.

"We want to simply just throw out a dream," he said, adding later, "If you do not agree, all I've spent is some time and I'll just move on to another opportunity."

The idea he and Carroll have in mind for The Hill would require all 50 acres, he said, and those buildings currently there would have to be moved or demolished. The current owners could sell, or participate in the project, or, he said, the town could use what tools were available to acquire the property.

"Eminent domain is our least favorite," said Carroll.

Resident Maggi Vaughn asked the men if they had looked into the current property ownership.

"I don't know if you've done any research, but God won't live long enough to get that sorted out," she said.

Mayor Dennis Webb said his biggest concern was for the residents of The Hill. As soon as the developers approached Webb about the possibility of a development there, he e-mailed Bell Buckle residents and invited them to the meeting. If the matter were to go forward, he said, there would have to be public meetings and the hill residents needed to be there.

The sheer number of homes proposed would also be a problem.

"I think, even if we had the money and even if we had the water and sewer, the majority of the people in this town would have concerns with the number of units you're wanting to put in, That will be a stumbling block," he said.

Collins' plan proposes that Bell Buckle get a bond to pay for the infrastructure work -- utilities and streets -- but the town would also profit from the "horizontal" sales. The money from sold lots would go to Bell Buckle while the money for the planning and building would go to Collins' company.

Alderman James Anderson had visited Highland Lake in Flat Rock, N.C., another development Collins built, but was not aware it was the same people involved. He was complimentary of the inn and development, but dubious about the town's ability to get bonds in the current market.

The development at Highland Lake, which can be seen at highlandlake.com, is similar to what Collins has in mind for The Hill, he said. Instead of "McMansions" on massive lots, the homes are narrower and range in size from 11,000 to 3,500 square feet, and are placed on lots less than 50 feet wide. Done in Arts & Crafts and Carpenter Gothic styles, the homes are unique and set in clusters, regardless of size or cost. The purpose, he said, is to create a neighborhood similar to those of the 1940s.

Collins gave a PowerPoint demonstration and said studies indicate America's housing needs are shifting as the Baby Boomers age and more childless families are looking for smaller, less expensive homes, as long as they still have a sense of space.

"The survey said they would gladly trade those big lots for a sense of place and open space," said Collins.

His design would have sidewalks down each street and alleys behind the homes to allow for rear driveways and utilities. Walking trails would be available, as well as a jitney to ferry residents to Bell Buckle to cut down on vehicular traffic.

The pocket community, he said, despite its density, would actually preserve the rural feel of Bell Buckle instead of diminishing it. To build 170 homes on the now-required 5-acre lots would take 1,000 acres, Collins said. Building them on smaller lots, but designed with privacy in mind, would take only 500 acres.

The two men fielded questions from the town, most dealing with the current residents of the hill, and said more than once that if the town wasn't behind the project completely, they would "pack their suitcases and look for other opportunities" with no hard feelings. But Collins warned them that as long as the Hill remained under county control instead of the town's, anything could happen up there. Although Bell Buckle will not issue taps to out-of-town lots that are less than three-fourths of an acre, many of the lots on the hill already have taps, said Anderson.

"I respect the fact that you like the town the way it is and you want it to stay that way," said Carroll, "but it's just not going to happen."

Webb plans

The planning commission approved a plan from Webb School to build a memorial plaza on the corner of Abernathy Street and Highway 82. The $30,000 open-air plaza will include benches and a walkway and is being paid for by a private donor. The school also has plans to install fiber optics over the summer for the classrooms.

Fence revisited

At the request of two Bell Buckle families, the mayor brought forward the possibility of amending the fence ordinance to allow chain link fencing in back yards, out of sight. Currently, chain link of any type is not permitted. No action was taken.

"We've been taking steps forward in our shared vision," said Katie Felices, a resident who attended the meeting. "Why take steps back?"