When Legasus developers agreed to hold a community meeting to talk about the impacts of their 3,500 acre development in Jackson County, upset neighbors hoped the developers would alter the plans based on their concerns, perhaps reducing the number of lots, nixing the golf course or taking down the symbolic gates from the entrance.

But when nearly 100 people packed into the Tuckasegee Baptist church last week for the long-awaited meeting, their expectations fell short. One resident after another stood up and expressed concerns over the 1,700 homes, two golf courses and five separate gated subdivisions that comprise the River Rock development, stretching from Tuckasegee to Glenville. Legasus developers, while amenable to listening, weren’t willing to tailor their development plans and instead spent their time reassuring the community that the impacts wouldn’t be as bad as residents thought.

“We believe that development and environment can c-oexist,” said Jim Pitts, the president of Legasus. “I have spent my entire career as a land planer trying to figure out what that balance looks like.”

Jeanette Cabinis-Brewin, a Tuckasegee resident, disagreed.

“We are concerned about killing the goose that laid the golden egg, covering every ridge top and valley with McMansions,” Cabinis-Brewin said.

Cabinis-Brewin had a seat in the panel-style meeting and served as a spokesperson for the host of fears residents have over a development of this size. Cabinis-Brewin talked about the loss of farmland, the loss of open space, the loss of culture and community identity.

The forum was organized by the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River. Roger Clapp, the director of WATR, hoped bringing the developers and residents together in a positive discourse could influence the developers’ plans.

“The Watershed Association frankly is concerned,” Clapp said at the forum. Clapp cited sediment and erosion from construction and chemicals from the golf courses among those concerns — both of which Legasus had an answer for.

Pitts said the golf course will use the latest environmental practices. As for erosion, utmost care will be used during construction, Pitt said. One precaution is that once homeowners buy lots, they will have to use Legasus for any grading work.

“What we’ve seen over and over is that these developments can be done very well, but a lot of time you have a dozen or two dozen different homebuilders that come in with different crews,” said Gabe Quesinberry, the director of engineering and construction for Legasus. That’s where sloppy erosion control can occur. Instead, Legasus will control that part of the construction, Quesinberry said.

“Our crews will actually go in and do the clearing before the contractor comes in to do the home construction,” he said.

Clapp, along with several other residents, questioned whether the ground water table could support so many homes without depleting the underground aquifer relied on by everyone.

“That is tough issue we all dealing with,” Quesinberry said. “The nature of our fractured aquifer system in the mountains makes it difficult to draw any straight-line conclusions that ‘if my well goes dry is it my neighbor’s fault.’”

That’s exactly what has residents concerned.

“The thing is we really don’t know do we?” challenged Jim McCarthy, a Jackson resident. “Why don’t you come back in the future then?”

Also on the environmental front, developers want to bury nearly 4,000 feet of streams in pipes underground, most of which are in the way of the fairways and greens for the golf course. The alteration will permanently destroy critical stream characteristics, said Bill Lyons, a Jackson County resident.

“You are going to lose the collection and exchange features of that stream if you encase it and that will lead to a change in the hydrostatic pressure to the surrounding soils,” Lyons said.

Legasus needs a state and federal permit to pipe the creeks, but the permits aren’t coming easy, suggesting the state and federal agencies won’t give Legasus everything they want. Representatives with the Amry Corp of Engineers were in the audience at the meeting.

Can Legasus make it?

Several residents pursued a line of questioning related to Legasus’ finances. They wanted to know whether Legasus could weather the rough economic times, citing bridge loans and operating loans the company has recently taken out.

In the past 18 months, Legasus has sold less than 20 lots, giving it little incoming revenue to make payments on the land purchase, to launch construction of the roads and golf courses or generally keep operations going.

Carl Iobst, a Jackson resident, said Legasus had turned to a known “lender of last resort” for a $30 million dollar loan this year, and asked Legasus point blank if they had enough money to pull off the development.

Pitts agreed times were tough, but found nothing problematic with taking out a loan to get through those tough times.

“They are considered a hard money lender,” Pitts said. “These are tough time in the development and real estate business.”

Pitts wouldn’t say when that loan, or any other loans being questioned, were due.

“That is proprietary information and we aren’t going to share that information,” Pitts said. “I am not willing to explain or describe what any of our financial dealings are.”

That didn’t stop more residents from asking.

“We really do have the interest in understanding whether this company is appropriately capitalized,” Cabinis-Brewin said. People fear a bankrupt project would leave a scar on the mountain, Cabinis-Brewin said.

More to come

The meeting last week was far from Legasus’ last appearance before the people of Jackson County. Legasus will be subject to public hearings before the county commissioners as it goes through the process of crafting a “development agreement” with the county.

While Jackson County passed a rigorous set of development regulations last year, Legasus was among dozens of developers who were exempt. Developers who were mid-stream in a project legally couldn’t be made to back up and start over in order to comply with the new rules. Dozens of developers were granted “vest rights,” Legasus among them. Although Legasus got vest ed rights, their plans largely comply with the county’s ordinances.

There’s a catch: the vested rights run out after five years. Legasus has four years left to sell or record all the lots in its development before the vested rights run out.

Instead, developers can enter a development agreement with the county, akin to a mini-ordinance that applies to their property. The county and developers work together in deciding what the development agreement will look like, presumably with give and take.

Residents will likely put pressure on county commissioners to exact compromises from Legasus when crafting the development agreement.

“There is a lot at stake here. The future of development in Jackson County will hinge somewhat in the precedent set forth in this Legasus development agreement,” said Gary Smith,

retired Western Carolina University professor of environmental health. “I think we need to insist our elected officials make critical and responsible decisions to protect this beautiful watershed we live in.”

Commissioners Tom Massie, William Shelton and Mark Jones all attended the meeting last week.