From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE — UNC Asheville is continuing to push “toward developing its Millennial Campus properties,” a designation that includes a beloved 45-acre wooded area on south campus, community members still are rallying against future development — although “exact plans for that property and others remain unclear,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on April 18.

At an April 16 community input session in UNCA’s Highsmith Student Union, “the first public-facing meeting since excavators were spotted on the woods property, sparking fear from neighbors, speaker sign-up was cut off at 30 people,” the ACT noted. “The university said it was at ‘capacity’ for the event with the 150 people in the room — and more gathered outside. The line for entry stretched down the sidewalk”

Among the hearing’s speakers, Anne Walch, who lives adjacent to the woods and said she learned of the plans mid-January when she saw a multi-ton driller a few yards from her home, asserted the following: 

“We are stakeholders. Involve us, please.

“I’ve been very disappointed in UNCA’s lack of transparency and poor communication with the community who helped found it. It is disrespectful. 

‘There needs to be a charette with students, faculty and community versus this ‘check the box, we listened’ restrictive format.”

The ACT added, “No decision has been made about holding future input sessions about the university’s Millennial Campus properties, spokesperson Brian Hart told the Citizen Times April 17 via email.

“He said there is no timeline for future development decisions.

“In a March letter to faculty and staff, Chancellor Kimberly van Noort said the university is exploring opportunities to develop its Millennial Campus properties, a designation approved in 2021 for more than 200 acres of UNCA land.

“While options were being discussed, she said ‘it is clear that we will develop these properties,’ including the woods,” the ACT stated.