Letter: UNCA can help Asheville’s housing crisis and save the woods

When I was a biology student at UNC Asheville, I spent countless hours in the 45-acre forest south of W.T. Weaver Boulevard. Many of my classes held labs there — we learned to identify trees, recognize birdsongs and conduct mark-and-recapture experiments. That forest remains an educational treasure for students and faculty. It’s also a haven for wildlife and a cool, shaded refuge for locals that helps buffer North Asheville from the urban heat island effect.

So when I heard Chancellor Kimberly van Noort suggest that this land would be more valuable if the forest were removed, I was shocked.

Looking into it further, I learned that UNCA has lost 25% of its enrollment over the last five years. The UNC Board of Governors has barred tuition increases, while also designating campus land as a Millennial Campus, encouraging development with private partners. As enrollment drops and funding for public education declines, UNCA — like many schools — is in a tough financial spot.

Still, I was surprised to learn that UNCA’s dorms are currently at full capacity despite lower enrollment. Back when I was a student, a good portion of us lived off campus. I never paid more than $200 a month for a walkable place near campus. That more students now need to live on campus points to something else: Asheville’s housing crisis. Faculty and staff are struggling, too. Here’s where UNCA can — and should — help.

One of the most frustrating parts of the chancellor’s proposal is its lack of clarity. In a March op-ed, she wrote that development possibilities include “affordable workforce and student housing, educational facilities, entertainment and recreational facilities, sports facilities, research industry collaborations and child care facilities.” That list is vague, and frankly, Asheville doesn’t need more entertainment or sports venues. UNCA already spent $41 million on the Wilma M. Sherrill Center in 2011.

What Asheville does need is housing. The Bowen report found that Buncombe County needs nearly 8,000 more units. Hurricane Helene damaged over 9,200 residential units, worsening an already dire shortage. UNCA could help by building a few hundred dorms or workforce housing units — without cutting down the forest.

UNCA has better options. The university owns about 10 acres on Broadway at the old Health Adventure site and another 9.5 acres at Merrimon and W.T. Weaver Boulevard. Both are connected to city utilities, served by bus lines and walkable to campus. These sites are perfect for housing students, faculty and staff — and they don’t require destroying beloved green space that doubles as a public park.

Look no further than Warren Wilson College for a smarter approach. Its leadership recently placed more than half of its campus under a conservation easement. That decision not only generated millions through the sale of development rights — it also inspired a $10 million donation, the largest in the school’s history. UNCA could follow suit, conserving its forest while building on more suitable land. The result? Revenue, goodwill and a real contribution to Asheville’s housing needs.

UNCA is holding a public listening session on April 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Highsmith Student Union. At that meeting, the university should clearly articulate its needs. If the 19 acres more appropriate for housing development aren’t enough, then let’s have a solution-oriented discussion about what to do next. But don’t lead with bulldozing the woods.

UNCA has the chance to be bold and visionary — by conserving an irreplaceable forest, addressing the housing crisis and earning the community’s praise instead of its protest. I hope Chancellor van Noort and the board of trustees seize this historic opportunity.

— Josh Kelly
UNCA class of 2003
MountainTrue’s Resilient Forests program director
Asheville