Following an out-of-state meeting with a representative of the Idlewyld neighborhood, Bahia Mar Park developer LXR Luxury Resorts and Hotels recently said it sees no reason to shrink the project any further.

“The fact that I’ve set [the buildings] back as far as I have — they’re currently lower than the code allows — there’s really no reason to [make them smaller],” LXR vice president Peter Henn said.

On July 13 — just two days before the Bahia Mar Park project was scheduled to go before the city’s Planning and Zoning Board — Henn met with Idlewyld president Mary Fertig at the Country Kitchen restaurant in Asheville, N.C., while both were vacationing. At the meeting, Henn offered to shrink two of the project’s residential buildings by three stories. Henn said his offer would reduce the buildings up to 20 percent.

“Unfortunately, that’s when [Fertig] made the comment, ‘remove all the buildings completely,’” he said. “But everything was nice and civil.”

Last week, Fertig confirmed the civility of the meeting, but not the demand to remove buildings.

“We’ve asked a lot of questions we haven’t gotten answers to,” she said, citing issues concerning traffic, parking and the project’s environmental impact.

Henn said Idlewyld’s concerns have been addressed.

“Just because the neighbors don’t have a working knowledge of the facts doesn’t mean the facts aren’t there,” he said.

Both sides, however, remain willing to talk even if their demands remain the same. Fertig said recently that LXR’s offer to remove three stories from the project is hopefully the beginning of more meaningful dialogue and added that the communication channels are still open.

“I’ve continued to talk to [Henn],” she said.

But even if the Idlewyld neighborhood nixes Bahia Mar Park, Henn said, it may not matter.

“We’ll continue to explore all reasonable issues our neighbors in Idlewyld have,” he said.

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