News

City, contractor patch up differences over permitting snafu for Fairfield Inn

Approval for a new Fairfield Inn goes before the Hendersonville City Council on Aug. 4.

By Bill Moss, Published: July 29, 2016

A project that both the city and the developer want — a new 84-room hotel on Upward Road — looks to be on the way to approval. But it’s been a bumpy road so far.

Thanks to a communications breakdown, the property owner and the construction contractor say they didn’t know until they were far along in the permitting process that they would have to become part of the city of Hendersonville.
The contractor, Chris Cormier of Carolina Specialties, and the property owner who sold the land, Bob Quattlebaum, criticized the city for the breakdown. They say they should not be forced to become part of the city in the first place because the city sewer line runs past the property.
“We already had water and sewer taken care of,” Cormier told the city Planning Board last week. “We already went to a meeting with the county. It just kind of came up last minute. We had the feeling we were going to be in the county and then we hear, ‘No, you’ve got to be in the city.’ The last thing we thought we’d be doing is coming in here to be annexed.”
Council members who have followed the development dispute acknowledge that city personnel fumbled the communication early on. But three council members said in interviews that they support the longstanding city policy that requires landowners who connect to the sewer system to be annexed.
“There was a little bit of a conflict at this site because some of the pre-engineered buildings had connected to the sewer line without being annexed,” said mayor pro tem Steve Caraker, a plumbing contractor who mediated the dispute between Cormier and the city. “He made the assumption it didn’t have to be annexed and he told the owner it didn’t have to be annexed.”
“There was a lag in communication at 100 North King between the permitting and zoning,” Caraker added. “That’s when the stuff hit the fan. He wanted some concessions with regard to the rules between county zoning and city zoning. His biggest complaint was the timeline.” The process to be annexed and to get a special use permit with the variances delayed construction and cost Patel money, Cormier said. They hope to get the final OK at the City Council’s Aug. 4 meeting.
“I personally asked the city staff and Mr. Cormier to find a way to keep it moving,” Caraker said. “There was a little bit of a dustup in the beginning, and frankly he took us to task. But we stood our ground and came up with a good compromise.”

Councilman Ron Stephens, who attended the Planning Board meeting, acknowledged the confusion but said it appears the approval process has been salvaged.
“Early on there was some mixups there but he (Cormier) should have known that,” he said. “I think he got himself behind the 8-ball and tried to dig out. … I’d like to see the hotel go up. We need those. There’s demand there. But you must be annexed and I think it’ll be a unanimous decision.”
• The Planning Board recommended approval of variance requests that would:
Reduce the common space by 31 percent, from 8,712 square feet to 6,005 square feet.
• Eliminate a requirement for tree planting in the common area. The code would have required nine trees.
• Allow flush windows instead of the recessed windows the land ordinance requires.
Outside the meeting last week, Bob Quattlebaum, who sold the two-acre parcel to Patel for $800,000, said he had given right-of-way and paid $20,000 for the sewer line back in 1994.
“The city wants their damn $30,000 a year in taxes,” he said. “It’s going to hamper development out there. Upward Road is the last opportunity to look good and to draw traffic off I-26. The bushes aren’t going to draw traffic off I-26.”
Councilman Jeff Miller said he while supports the annexation requirement the Fairfield Inn situation and future development could trigger a second look.
“I do think in all honesty on the very front of it when they went in to get their tap and all that the city failed to point that out, probably because they assumed everybody knew it, which is not a good thing to assume,” he said. “Since then we have put on every application that to get a sewer tap you have to be annexed into the city.
“I know its standard operating procedure, there’s no other way to get sewer other than that — coming into the city,” he said. “It’s pretty much impossible to extend your city limits anymore. You’re pushed for more services within the city and that makes it tough to operate the city even as lean as we’re trying to do it. This one just fell through at some point on the very front end.
“I would like to revisit it,” he said. “It’s worthy of maybe a fresh set of eyes on it.”