Wetlands Discovery Delays Ashley’s N.C. Plant

Lisa O’Donnell/Winston-Salem Journal

Terry Bralley

The discovery of 4 acres of wetlands on what is slated to be the site of Ashley Furniture’s new distribution center in eastern Davie County means the highly anticipated project will be delayed for at least another year.

Bill Coslo, an attorney for Ashley Furniture, said company officials have applied for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that is needed to build on wetlands.

The corps regulates wetlands under the authority of the federal Clean Water Act.

“We have filed all the applicable information, fully cooperated and done everything possible. We expect the permit to be granted, but the final decision will be with the Corps of Engineers,” said Coslo, who added that the extra work cost the company $1 million in engineering fees. “This is a serious delay, and it is causing us to lose business opportunities and is adding substantially to the cost of doing business.”

Terry Bralley, the president of the Davie County Economic Development Commission, said he is confident the project will go forward.

“Most big sites go through this all the time. I’m not aware of a situation where the Corps turned down a permit,” he said. “The thing that hurts is the delay.”

Ashley, the country’s largest furniture manufacturer and retailer, announced last spring that it planned to invest $80 million in a 680-acre site on Baltimore Road near Advance. The first phase of the project has involved converting part of a former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco warehouse into a distribution center on 360 acres that the county economic development commission gave to Ashley.

The opening of the distribution center has resulted in 120 new jobs, with more expected.

Ashley then planned to build a 507,000-square-foot distribution center and turn the existing one into a manufacturing plant, moves that company officials said would eventually result in a total of 550 new jobs.

Plans for new construction came to a halt a few months ago when 4 acres of wetlands were discovered on 320 acres that the company bought for $10.44 million from Asheboro businessman Jeff Schwartz.

The initial environmental study showed no presence of wetlands, Coslo said. But consultants later found the wetlands, which he described as a 4-acre area that is mostly dry.

“There is probably less than 1 acre that is wet with less than 1 foot of water on it,” he said. “It is not what you’d typically think of as wetlands.”

The site plans can’t be changed to avoid the wetlands, Coslo said.

The new facility was expected to be finished last month.

“Because of the delays we’ve encountered, we’ll probably have a hard time being up by early 2014,” he said.