Skyrocketing costs for developers may have a silver lining for one Waynseville community concerned about changes in their neighborhood. Developers cited the inflationary economic climate as the reason plans to build a 60-unit apartment complex in a Hillside neighborhood are being canceled. Opponents who fear the development will erase the community’s cultural identity, cheered upon hearing the news recently, but were told not to celebrate just yet. The property owner of the 7-acre tract says he already has other interested buyers who could essentially have the same ideas. Hillside was historically an African-American neighborhood, and longtime residents say the complex would also create extra traffic that will no longer make the area a safe place to walk as it had been for over 5 decades.
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