From the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times newspaper:
Environmental groups and developer The Cliffs Communities have settled a case in which the groups challenged the issuance of a permit for the Tiger Woods-designed golf course now under construction here.
The agreement with the Western North Carolina Alliance and Trout Unlimited, announced Thursday, will nearly cut in half the length of streams the course will affect. It also removes an obstacle to completion of the course, now scheduled for fall 2012.
The course is in The Cliffs at High Carolina, an upscale residential development that South Carolina-based Cliffs Communities is developing on a little less than 3,000 acres on the high ridge between Fairview and Swannanoa.
“We are pleased with the outcome, and we applaud The Cliffs for their willingness to work hard to address our concerns,” said Julie Mayfield, executive director of WNC Alliance. “They were committed to reaching an agreement and made significant changes to the golf course to do so.”
Jim Anthony, founder of The Cliffs, said, “We've still got an incredible golf course, and we really place some value in what our neighbors think about us.”
Course construction has been under way for some time, but workers had to stay away from areas around streams because of the legal dispute over the permit issued by state regulators.
“This allows us to go full bore,” Anthony said.
Woods said in a statement that the new routing of the course resulting from the agreement is still true to his desire to make it a walkable course with dramatic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“Our new routing may be a little bit shorter and some of the walks between greens and tees are a little bit further, but High Carolina remains a truly amazing golf course,” he said.
The original design would have impacted 3,132 feet of streams on the course.
The settlement reduces that figure to 1,655 feet, said the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represented environmental groups.
“They're still doing a lot of grading and this is still a big construction project,” but the settlement will result in significantly fewer impacts on water quality, said D.J. Gerken, an attorney with the center.