Business

206-unit Eastside Meadows clears planning hurdle

Eastside Meadows would bring 206 apartments to a 21-acre site on North Main at Baldwin Hill Road.

By Bill Moss, Published: October 15, 2015

A 21-acre development that would include 206 apartments and eventually an urban village on North Main Street is a step closer to city approval.

The Hendersonville Planning Board on Monday recommended a special-use permit application for Eastside Meadows, a proposed 21.26-acre development at the intersection of North Main Street and Baldwin Hill Avenue.

A special-use permit grants preliminary approval for the first three residential building phases, which are set to begin in spring of 2016. The ongoing project by Hickory Realty Fund LLC is slated to provide 206 two- and three-story units with monthly rentals ranging from $600 to $1,100.

Gus Campano, a representative of Hickory Realty, told the Planning Board that developers want to rezone the entire area from low-density residential to planned commercial development. The change would authorize construction of  the office buildings, shops and restaurants the developer plans for phases four and five. The development is a partial resurrection of a 38-acre Eastside Village plan the City Council authorized in 2007. Since then, the need for affordable rentals has risen sharply.

“This city has a clear need for this; there is almost a crisis,” Campano said. “People cannot afford market rate housing.”

Still, issues exist concerning the development’s density. Current ordinances mandate that no more than 10 units exist per acre. Blueprints proposed by Luther Smith, the project’s landscape and architect-planner, propose 14 units per acre. The higher density, Smith said, is offset by open space. Nearly 67 percent of the land is considered open space, including lawns, space between buildings and future recreational areas.

“These are places where the residents can relax and picnic in,” Smith said.

The developer plans to preserve several acres of wetlands and “heavy, mature” forest, Smith said.

“While I was walking through and surveying the land, I saw three does and a yearling,” he said. “We want to keep that natural habitat intact and even enhance it.”

Smith and Campano have also gone beyond the minimum in planning for parking. City code requires approximately one space per unit. The Eastside plan calls for 318 spaces, or 1.5 per unit.

Given the open space and parking plans, board member Peter Hanley made a motion to grant the density bonus. The City Council could draft additional stipulations.

Concerns regarding pedestrian connections to neighboring streets were also discussed. Though connecting sidewalks to the Oklawaha Greenway is a possibility, the board expressed concern about safety on the poorly lighted trail.

If sidewalks were to be constructed on North Main Street, continuing the greenway onto Eastside Meadows property would be a viable option. Planning Board members said the City Council and address those connectivity issues by adding conditions to the special-use permit when it takes up the application next month.

“Residents are highly supportive of this initiative,” Campano said. “This project is needed.”