In response to “Mourning the Mountain” submitted by Eva Scruggs of Leicester [Letters, July 11], I respectfully disagree with the statement that Rose Hill Plantation’s “developers are really just destroyers.”
On behalf of the Rose Hill Plantation development: We understand and sympathize with individuals who are concerned about good land management in Western North Carolina. And while we are aware that working construction sites are unsightly under the best of circumstances, we would like to point out that, unlike a “giant dirt racetrack,” residential-development-site construction is temporary. The end result is an eco-sensitive, landscaped environment for many who choose to live there.
On the valley property in question (elevation 2,200 feet, as opposed to ridge tops), all permits were obtained, and were legally reviewed by county officials. Furthermore, Rose Hill Plantation will—out of its total 58 acres—preserve 40 acres of open space, to include green space with walking trails and gardens. In addition, trees and vegetation will be replanted to visually enhance the property on more than two-thirds of the purchased site.
While we understand that the project is unsightly during the construction process, the end result will be a community in which over two-thirds of the property will be preserved for natural beauty.
Our only additional plan is to be a good neighbor in a growing market of supply and demand, in which more and more people wish to live in Western North Carolina.
— Jim Mease, Sales Director
Asheville
Jim Mease’s propaganda is like telling people of Jewish faith that the showers in the concentration camps were for their hygenic benefit. This development represents the worst kind of moronic reasoning possible. Permits may have been legally reviewed but obviously the mountain landscape needs more protection to keep this type of total land rearrangement from happening in Buncombe County. There is nothing preserved here – preserving is saving something that is present. Nothing is left at this site, no vegetation, no wildlife – even the original land contours have been so massacred as to be unrecognizable. Total greed and a serious lapse in any stewardship conscience. Any elementary school child could have done a better job in designing something that still made money and worked in harmony with the landscape. Try to sugar coat it any way you like – it comes down to making a buck at the entire communities expense.