Developer to build homes, golf course on Sugar Loaf

By Lisa Majors-Duff

Chaffin/Light Associates, developers of Spring Island, S.C., near Beauford, purchased the former Champion International property in September for about $9.5 million. In announcing plans to develop the area, company President and Chief Operation Officer Jim Anthony said Tuesday that the new Balsam Mountain Preserve "will become more valuable every year" because it "will never be timbered again" and "homesites will be constructed with minimal impact."

Access previously enjoyed by area residents has been halted since the sale of the property. Hunting and motorized vehicles are no longer allowed, said Anthony.

Fearing limited access, a group of outdoor enthusiasts joined in an effort to preserve the land, thinking it might make a nice addition to the state Forest Service. They received support from Jackson County commissioners, who adopted a resolution in March calling for preservation of the tract.

The reason for the restriction, Anthony said Tuesday, is to allow the area to continue to evolve and develop with the least amount of disturbance. While hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders are still welcome, they should call ahead before planning a trip to Sugar Loaf, he said.

Access to the area will not be completely closed off to the public, even after the project is complete, said Chris Marsh, executive director of Spring Island. Instead, it will be regulated.

As was the case in Spring Island, plans call for Balsam Mountain Preserve to be fully developed in 10 years or less, Anthony said. The gated community will include lots ranging in size from 2 to 30 acres, a club house, fitness center, indoor swimming pool, an equestrian center, amphitheater and community garden. The owners also plan to stabilize and preserve the ruins of the 100-year-old ruby mine on the property.

Balsam Mountain Preserve will take advantage of the 30 miles of primary and 70 miles of secondary roads already cut on the property. Few additional roads will be added and almost no paving will be done, Anthony said. All utilities will be placed underground.

The company plans to spend about $70 million in the first five years of development. The first home, which could be completed by mid-2002, will serve as the sales office. Lot cost are estimated to run between $250,000 and $750,000.

As in South Carolina, a non-profit trust will be established to manage the property with several objectives in mind. The Balsam Mountain Trust, which will be funded in perpetuity with a percentage of lot and home sales, will establish a nature center and hire two naturalists to care for the land and administer a community outreach program, Marsh said. Some 1,500 acres will be set aside as a permanent preserve.

"I can't overemphasis the word 'education' enough," Anthony said. "It will be the naturalists job to educate us as developers, the property owners and the outside community about the treasures of the area."

The Balsam Mountain Trust will be structured identically to the Spring Island Trust, which won six state and federal environmental awards in the 1990s. Through memberships from within and without the development, the trust serves to connect the development with the larger community, Marsh said.

"When someone buys at Balsam Mountain Preserve, they are buying into the entire region; they should be concerned about what happens to the people in the area," Anthony said. "We don't want the development to be socially isolated from the larger community."

Restrictions and covenants will guide house construction, Anthony said. Such guidelines as square footage, height, color and outdoor lighting will be established. Houses will be hidden from roads and from each other to discourage "competitive and pretentious" building practices, and there will be no minimum size of homes, he said.

"There's a very specific compliance procedure during construction, with periodic inspections," said Anthony. "Builders who fail to meet guidelines face fines and can be removed from our list of builders."

The people who will most likely be interested in purchasing property in Balsam Mountain Preserve are very successful and share the vaule of Chaffin/Light, Anthony said. They'll come to Jackson County because it represents what they can't find in the metropolitian area of the U.S. and Europe. When they are not taking advantage of the pristine mountains, they'll visit the downtowns of Sylva and Waynesville and Dillsboro.

"Balsam Mountain Preserve is essentially a green industry," said Anthony. "It'll add an enormous amount to the tax base, without adding much stress to the county infrastructure." The roads are privately maintained, security will be on-site and homeowners do not normally add children to the local school system.

As an example of the potential tax revenue, Anthony cited the fact that one homeowner on Spring Island now pays more in taxes than was collected off the entire island before it was developed.

In addition to hiring "mountain-trained" naturalists, Anthony said local businesses will be called upon first when it comes to construction needs. "It only makes good sense to hire locally," he said.

Chaffin/Light officials had been looking for about a year for a mountain area to develop as a complement to their beach property, said Anthony, who first saw the property in March of this year. In addition to Spring Island, Chaffin/Light has developed communities in Basalt, Colo., Amelia Island, Fla., Blaine, Wash., and Lake Arrowhead, Calif.

Read earlier Sugarloaf Articles

Sugarloaf I

Sugarloaf II

Back to Archive: 10/19/00.