Article about the Mount Soma Community Development

The Mountaineer News 7/6/05

At Home with a Vastu View: Housing Development Incorporates Eastern Design

by Jeff Schmerker

Dr. Michael Mamas is taking the Balsam Mountain Preserve development strategy and adding an Eastern twist. Mamas, an author and head of the Center for Rational Spirituality, is developing a 368-acre community on the Haywood-Buncombe county line near upper Crabtree.

The upscale mountain subdivision – one 2.25-acre lot is selling for $295,000 – will incorporate common areas with secluded home sites and blend in an Indian architectural style called Vastu which incorporates philosophy to promote balance, harmony and de-stressing. The use of common areas and conservation easements has been used successfully by the Balsam Mountain Preserve, an upscale residential development in Jackson County, where developable home sites sit on small lots surrounded by untouched forest.

“This is a lifestyle which involves getting away from traffic jams, urban noise, urban air pollution, and the hustle and bustle of city life,” said Mark Putnam, who is overseeing development of the approximately 70-home community. “Up here there is clean water, and clean air – we have old water that bubbles up through granite. And the community center will have classes on meditation, ways to de-stress, and things that are good for the heart and body.”

Vastu-oriented homes have their doors facing east for the sunrise and moon-rise, kitchens in the south-east, where they can be warmed by the morning sun, and a core that is calm and rooted. “It’s a cousin to feng-shui,” said Putnam. “You line up the house to cardinal directions so everything is square with the world.” Design standards include a minimum house size of 1,800 square feet and no tall fences. While Vastu is encouraged, it is not mandatory.

Mamas spent 10 years in an Indian monastery and has written four books. His latest, The Golden Frog, received the 2004 Chelson Award for Literature, and Putnam said Capistrano Films is working with Mamas to create a movie adaptation of the book. Additionally, Mamas has written several nonfiction books, including Angels, Einstein and You and How to Be Your Own Best Psychotherapist. Putnam said despite the religious underflow, the cornerstone of the community will be openness and inclusion.

“This is for adults seeking something besides the standard religion – they are seeking personal growth,” he said. “But people hear ‘spirituality’ and they thinks it is closed minds. In reality it is openness. We think it will attract Democrats and Republicans, Catholics and Buddhists. There is something for everybody who comes. It is very inclusive. It is true spirituality.”

Mamas recently donated land to the development for a community center, where there will be classes, a hothouse and a trailhead. A nearby common area features a solitary lookout peering down toward the agricultural fields of Sand Mush and will have a Zen garden and bonsai trees.

Though most of the development, which sits between 3,000 feet and 4,000 feet, is in Buncombe County, there is a 60-acre parcel in Haywood. Eventually, an access road might be built on the Buncombe side to ease access to Asheville, but for the foreseeable future the main access is through Big Creek. Lots with less impressive views start at about $69,000 for one acre. “Price and view are what is going to sell these lots,” said Putnam. “Not their size.”

While the residential development so far is falling outside of Haywood’s boundary, the development is indicative of trends being seen here, said Haywood County Planner Kris Boyd. Upscale development, he said, are favoring large lot sizes and low density and using the lure of common areas and conservation easements to set a luxurious tone.

“I assume that with the success of Balsam Mountain Preserve, that is the wave of the future,” Boyd said. “There is a lot of exclusive development where the land is preserved.”

The calm of Mount Soma has already attracted Putnam, who is breaking ground on the development’s first house. Putnam, a former Silicon Valley venture capitalist, checked out a few years ago for a mellower lifestyle in the Appalachian. “It’s gorgeous out here,” he said last week. “I think you can come back here in five years and … see that this is a very special place to live.”

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