The VA facility isn’t the problem; the planned entrance is

I am a resident of Grovemont, in Swannanoa, as well as my daughter, her husband and my four grandchildren [who] live on Northeast Avenue, which is the proposed route to the main entrance of the VA's future nursing home. I am very concerned about the threat of increased traffic in our neighborhood as a result of the new VA facility's planned entrance coming through our lovely neighborhood.

The facility itself is not the problem; it is the entrance and the increased traffic and the potential dangers that would pose to our families and properties. We wish the entrance to be moved to a safer nearby site by Lake Eden.

A small, comfortable, historic, family neighborhood, Grovemont was the first planned community in the U.S.! Dr. E. W. Grove purchased the land for Grovemont over a century ago. While building his famous Grove Park Inn in Asheville, he developed the Grove Stone & Company to obtain material for his hotel. He purchased land in Swannanoa and developed "Grovemont," the first planned community in the United States! (For that reason, I even think it should be on the National Historical Registry, but that is another story.)

In short, this was and is how Grovemont was conceived and meant to be, and I believe should remain. It was never intended to become a main thoroughfare and especially not when there is a better alternative location.

I am writing you, as we have been meeting and trying to get a voice to have our pleas considered to little avail.

— Judith L. Rinaldi
Swannanoa