Buncombe County OKs 100,000-sqare-foot MANNA FoodBank warehouse in Swannanoa

MANNA FoodBank's plans to build a 100,000-square-foot warehouse on nearly 25 acres off Old Bee Tree and Warren Wilson roads in Swannanoa can move forward, thanks to a special use permit approved Dec. 8 by the Buncombe County Board of Adjustment.

The decision comes after neighbors have pushed back against the plans, mostly citing environmental and traffic issues.

Several spoke out at the meeting, sharing concerns about toxic materials in the soil and traffic for tractor-trailers and other vehicles coming and going from the site on the narrow Old Bee Tree Road and through nearby school zones including Warren Wilson College.

The site is just to the south of the Chemtronics Superfund site, but is not a Superfund site itself, said Asheville attorney Derek Allen, representing MANNA FoodBank.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Chemtronics produced explosives, propellants and more on the 1,065-acre site, resulting in disposal areas with spent acid and chemical waste.

Contaminants like trichloroethylene have been found on the site, a carcinogen that the EPA says can affect the central nervous system and cause developmental effects.

Residents who spoke shared concerns that any toxins on the site would be disturbed and reach nearby waterways and properties.

MANNA plans to utilize the EPA's Brownfields Program to develop the site, which provides grants to safely clean up and reuse contaminated properties.

Allen said the intent of the program is to put the cost of rehabilitating contaminated sites onto developers of those sites.

"This is how sites get fixed," he said. "They don't get fixed if someone doesn't come in to pay for those things."

MANNA CEO Hannah Randall told the Citizen Times in November that finding 10-plus acres of buildable, affordable land is a tall order.

She said MANNA's current warehouse is at critical capacity in its ability to acquire and store food, has serious safety concerns and has an ever-present flooding threat from its proximity to the Swannanoa River.

"Because the Swannanoa lot is 6.3 miles from our current facility and is a previous industrial site that is suitable only for industrial and commercial use, it is the best location that we have found to meet our top-priority needs," Randall said at the time.

More: Buncombe County Board of Adjustment approves 2 projects, 488 apartments in Arden

At the meeting Dec. 8, she reiterated the organization's extensive search process, calling this project a beneficial reuse and rehabilitation of a site that otherwise would be unable to be used.

"We would never do anything to compromise the health and well-being of people throughout Western North Carolina, and that includes how we construct this site," Randall said.

She said the state Department of Environmental Quality has indicated the brownfields letter of eligibility should be able to be released within four to six weeks, and if so, MANNA can close on the property and begin a yearlong period construction in spring 2022.

She said without that letter, the organization won't buy the property.

The plans on file with the county, show a single-story, 40-foot-tall warehouse surrounded on three sides by parking and loading areas.

Traffic engineer Jeff Moore said estimates show 204 trips per day, compared to the county's threshold to require a traffic impact analysis, which is 75 residential units that would generate an estimated 798 trips per day.

A 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, for comparison, would generate an estimated 476 trips per day, he said.

"It's not going to be what I would consider a lot of traffic impact compared to other types of uses," Moore said.

More: Answer Man: Is a new warehouse and office coming for MANNA FoodBank?

Allen noted the only reason the project needs a special use permit is to exceed 50,000 square feet, and if the building were under that mark it could be constructed by right.

"This property is sandwiched between 825,000 square feet of existing, real industrial use," Allen said.

Comparatively, he said a food warehouse to feed the less fortunate is "about as low-impact and passive as it gets."

Engineer Chris Day showed those nearby industrial uses, including Tandy Electronics, Hearts With Hands and National Wiper Alliance.

One change made after meeting with neighbors was to move one driveway farther north along Old Bee Tree Road to provide further vegetative buffering along the road, he said.

Randall noted other changes, including night-sensitive lighting and pushing the building as low as possible so not to obstruct views from nearby homes.

She said the seller is dedicated to selling the property for an industrial use one way or another.

"MANNA is not an asphalt plant," Randall said. "It's a community organization that's full of people that really care about their neighbors."

Two projects, 480 units pushed to Jan. 12

Having to end the meeting at 3:45 p.m. Dec. 8, the board moved to continue two other hearings for special use permits, both for new apartment complexes, to its Jan. 12 meeting.

The first, Crescent Hill Apartments, was continued by the board in July before being continued again, to the Dec. 8 meeting.

Totaling 252 new apartment units on 25 acres between Watson and Crescent Hill Roads in Arden, neighbors shared concerns over traffic and other development impacts, and argued they hadn't had enough time to review the project and prepare for a hearing.

More: Buncombe Development: Townhomes get OK, 252 apartments on hold in Arden

Eleven residents are seeking standing in the quasi-judicial hearing, now set for Jan. 12.

The second hearing was for developers Hall Group LLC of Dothan, Ala., which is seeking a special use permit for 228 apartments on just over 23 acres in two parcels at 41 McIntosh Road near Interstate 26 and Hominy Creek.

Plans show 14 buildings, eight three- or three-to-four-story split-level buildings and six smaller, two-unit buildings around 2,100 square feet each.

Both projects are located in areas zoned R-2, which county code says is "intended to provide locations for residential development and supporting recreational, community service and educational uses in areas where public water and sewer services are available or likely to be provided in the future."

Derek Lacey covers health care, growth and development for the Asheville Citizen Times. Reach him at DLacey@gannett.com or 828-417-4842 and find him on Twitter @DerekAVL.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe County OKs 100,000-square-foot MANNA FoodBank warehouse