The vacant land at the corner of the busy intersection of N.C. 107 and North Country Club Drive across the four-lane from Western Carolina University’s Ramsey center doesn’t look like much.

The flat area adjacent to the highway, North Country Club Drive and the frontage road is a mixture of multiflora rose, blackberry brambles, weeds and grasses. The topsoil has been scraped away in a couple of places leaving orange-red scars trailing up to the ridge line. The hills that meet this flat land and circle around behind the Summit Apartments are a dense early succession mix of primarily pine.

On paper, though, the parcel looks quite different.

On the hill behind Summit Apartments is a 60-room hotel and conference center. Cox Center Pavilion sits among the multiflora rose and brambles along North Country Club Drive. The plan also calls for a restaurant with outside seating, an extended stay facility, condos and townhouses, a park, gas station, grocery market and two acres of parking.

Jim Dukes of Dukes Planning and Environmental Inc. in Sylva and James Hooper of Sevierville, Tenn., are partnering to create Cox Center LLC and the Cox Center development. Dukes said the development will be a walkable community very connected to Western Carolina University.

The Trestles at Cox Center will provide 60 one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Dukes said reports show Jackson County ranks in the top 10 counties across the nation where the majority of household income goes to pay rent or mortgage. He said the Trestles would benefit the county by providing affordable housing with great amenities. The units would be geared to professionals and compliment developer James Epley’s 144-unit Catamount Hollow apartment complex.

Dukes said, because of existing power lines, two acres of Cox Center are suitable only for parking. Developers envision parking areas using environmentally friendly paving blocks that could serve Cox Center, Forest Hills and WCU. According to Dukes, overflow parking could be provided for WCU. Students, faculty, residents and visitors from Forest Hills, Cox Center and the surrounding area could walk, ride their bikes or drive to the parking area and be shuttled to WCU.

Dukes admits shuttles at Cox Center are simply ideas at this point, but he notes the concept is nothing new. He said he has worked on similar projects in Cary, Apex and Columbia, S.C.

Cox Center development and sediment and erosion plans have been on file with Jackson County since June 2001. Hooper and Dukes said the first phase of development would be the Trestles, followed shortly by the pavilion. Other phases would be “market-driven” they said. “These things don’t happen fast,” Dukes said.

And it looks like there will be at least a six-month delay on any building permits at Cox Center. The Village of Forest Hills voted unanimously Monday, Jan. 14, to enact a six-month moratorium on any building permits in their newly established extraterritorial jurisdiction — which includes the 13-acre Cox Center.

Dukes has previously said that Cox Center “is not a Forest Hill’s issue. It’s a regional growth issue that dovetails with the county’s Smart Growth plan.”

He said that he has worked closely with county officials and the Economic Development Commission with regards to the development. Dukes and Hooper say they hope to work with the community of Forest Hills and WCU to provide service and amenities for both communities.

“We’re in the business of helping communities plan for growth in an environmentally and socially responsible way,” Dukes said.