An 80-foot retaining wall? That should have been the first red flag to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners back before they gave approval for it [“House and (Affordable) Home,” Jan. 12 Xpress]. Or, if a developer says, "We have to scalp the mountain and move thousands of tons of dirt to build an apartment complex," [that should raise] another red flag. Maybe [some] property is best not developed?
For the past two years, I have watched [construction of] the Berrington Village apartment complex move dirt, forever scaring the mountainside — and then they build an 80-foot retaining wall? I thought that is exactly what the “Asheville vision” was against letting happen (the Save our Slopes campaign, for example).
What happened to the Board of Commissioners? Did they lose their "commonsense” values? Did they not learn from a half-mile back on Highway 74A where a developer "tried" to cut a road up the side of the mountain only to fail and now leave a gouged mountainside that will never be repaired?
China has the Great Wall; then there was the Berlin Wall. Asheville now has The Great Wall of Stupid.
My vote: Mr. Commissioner, bring that wall down!
— Timbo Wilkins
Asheville
