Asheville, Henderson agree on property, firing range

ASHEVILLE – An agreement announced Wednesday could give city police a more convenient — and much less expensive — place for target practice and eliminate a longstanding bone of contention between city and Henderson County officials.

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday morning approved a deal with Asheville to sell 137 acres of land in Bent Creek once considered as a location for a sewage treatment plant. It also provides that law enforcement officers in Buncombe County will get access to a firing range planned in Henderson County.

The wooded property adjoins the southwest side of Interstate 26 and the northwestern banks of the French Broad River. A motorist traveling from Asheville to Hendersonville would see it to their right immediately before crossing the river south of the Brevard Road interchange.

People involved said they see no immediate impact from the agreement on the ongoing tussle over the Asheville water system, although state Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, said disposition of the property could help improve relations between officials on either side of the Buncombe-Henderson line.

An earlier version of this story, based in part on a press release issued on behalf of Henderson County Commissioner Mike Edney, said Buncombe County government is involved in the agreement. That’s incorrect, Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene said Wednesday afternoon.

Buncombe has been involved in discussions but is not a party to the agreement, she said. The county could end up using the firing range if the site is in a location that would work for county sheriff’s deputies, Greene said.

The agreement calls for Henderson County and the city to split proceeds of the sale, expected to be $2 million or more, and for both shares to be used toward construction of a law enforcement training facility in Henderson County that will contain a firing range open to law enforcement officers from both agencies and possibly others.

Firing ranges that had been used by law enforcement agencies in Buncombe County have closed. Asheville Police Department officers travel to Edneyville in eastern Henderson County and Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office deputies go to a range in southern Madison County travel to target shoot.

Buncombe County commissioners considered last year spending $10 million to build an indoor firing range in Woodfin but backed off the idea because of citizen concerns over the price that surfaced after a Citizen-Times story about the project.

Henderson County got the property from Asheville in 1999 as part of an agreement with the city that allowed establishment of a water intake for the Asheville water system on the Mills River a short distance upstream from its confluence with the French Broad River.

The terms of the deal required that the property be used for water or sewer purposes within a period now scheduled to expire this summer or else the property would revert to Asheville. The property had been considered as a possible site for a sewage treatment plant to serve northern Henderson County, but Henderson officials have deemed that idea impractical.

Sewage from northern Henderson County is now treated at the Metropolitan Sewerage District plant in Woodfin.

Several manufacturing plants that were among the largest users of Asheville water closed, meaning the Asheville system has had relatively little need for Mills River water except to serve customers in northern Henderson.

Asheville and Henderson officials have clashed over water issues, control of Asheville Regional Airport and other matters.

“This development today, while in some ways relatively minor, is a very good step in the right direction,” McGrady said. He said the future of the property has been “a festering issue.”

Read Thursday’s newspaper or return to CITIZEN-TIMES.com for more on this story.