This can't be good...

A developer has proposed a plan to build 86 houses in an area surrounded by the Pisgah National Forest and only accessed by way of the North Mills River Recreation area through the middle of a campground. The North Mills River is home to a beautiful delayed harvest river that actually requires a bit of hike to access.

The location of a development next to a campground and along a forest road assures there will be access issues. Homeowners would have to drive through the campground and over a half-dozen speed bumps to get to their houses. The concrete bridge over the North Mills River would also have to be replaced, something Smith says his company would do. The development could not put up a gate on Yellow Gap Road, but most likely would gate the roads running to the clusters of homes, Smith said. The lodge and other property has been vandalized several times since he bought the land, he said. After one such instance, Smith erected no trespassing signs which disturbed trout fishermen who have crossed the property for years along an old road bed running up the river.

But don't worry...everything will be OK.....

The plans Smith has submitted to Henderson County show 11 homes and a "fly fishing lodge" situated on the North Mills River near its confluence with Wash Creek. The plan also shows the developer's property line in the middle of the river, so trout fishermen would be able to hike up the middle of the river without going on private land. "I don't know how we will look at access on the Big Creek Lodge side of the bridge, but certainly the river itself would continue to be open to fishing," Smith said.

Yeah.... that's the ticket.

For more information on the North Mills read our article at Flyfishmagazine.com