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City may reduce buffer between dog kennels and homes

Henderson County Business

El Paso owner opens Mariscos seafood restaurant

The first clue that Mariscos is unlike its sister restaurants is what’s missing. When you sit down, no basket of tortilla chips arrives, nor bowls of sauce. What’s up?   Read Story »

Laurel Park Business

O'Cains' next chapter is for the birds

As mayor of Laurel Park, Carey O’Cain helped guide the development of Rhododendron Lake Nature Park. The Audubon Society and National Geographic had designated 2018 as the Year of the Bird, O’Cain noted early last year as he talked about the large variety of birds visiting the lake and the bluebird boxes that attracted nesting birds. Lutrelle O’Cain’s work focused on four-legged animals, as executive director of the Blue Ridge Humane Society.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Business

Cask & Vine brings stylish pub fare (plus 40 bourbons) to Main Street

Steve Bevins has cooked everything from fast food to high-end steaks to upscale Chinese. Until recently he ran his own kitchen, as the head chef at Carolina Bistro at Cummings Cove Golf & Country Club.   Read Story »

Mills River Business

Mills River board OKs expansion that has split High Vista homeowners

MILLS RIVER — The Mills River Town Council on Thursday upheld a decision by the town planning board that OK’d a development plan that would add 42 units at the High Vista subdivisions, including 18 duplexes.More than two dozen members of High Vista's homeowners association organized to fight the expansion and hired an attorney who presented their appeal during the town council meeting Thursday night. The Town Board voted unanimously to uphold the Planning Board’s October decision to approve the plans by High Vista Finance, of Jacksonville, Florida, for the new dwellings on 33 acres between High Vista Drive and Country Club Road.Town attorney Sharon Alexander told the town council it had limited authority to overrule the Planning Board as long as the board had adhered to the land-use ordinance requirements. "Our purpose is to look at the airplane view, to see if we followed everything we were supposed to follow," Councilman Roger Snyder said, restating the attorney's advice. "So that’s all that we have to decide. We really don’t care whether there’s a lawsuit or a feud or whatever you want to call it." Wayne Carland made the motion, which passed unanimously, to uphold the Planning Board's Oct. 2 decision. "They went through the correct process," he said. "Therefore, I think the council should stand by what they voted for." High Vista Finance and the homeowners who support the new development say the expansion is needed to generate cash to preserve the golf course, an amenity that attracts people to the subdivision and raises home values.Opponents, who are in a dispute with High Vista Finance over covenants that govern land use in the development, urged the Town Council to kill the project. Twenty-seven homeowners signed a letter appealing the Planning Board's decision to authorize the development.The request has split the community, with golfers in support of the expansion.Failure to approve the request, wrote Katherine and Tom Davis, “will likely negatively impact the Highland Vista Golf Course. This course is important to the High Vista community. Having a golf course here benefits the broader Mills River community. … We note that every ad we have seen advertising property got sale in High Vista prominently mentions the golf course here. That is strong evidence that having a golf course here enhances the value of the property, thus enhaving tax revenues for the town.”High Vista Finance proposed a higher density development that was blocked by a vote of the homeowners association. Now the developer has proposed an expansion with as little impact as possible, Nigel Strickland wrote.“Should the golf course fail, I believe it will cause the failure of our clubhouse, tennis courts and swimming pool, all of which are supported by about half the residents,” he said. “The resulting failure will result in a ghost town center in our community, drastically pulling down property values and the attractiveness of living in High Vista.”   Read Story »

Fletcher Business

Fletcher plant to add 68 jobs paying $47,000/year

A $27 million expansion would make a Fletcher plant the world's largest maker of electromagnet tags used for retail and wholesale inventory tracking, economic development and company officials say.   Read Story »

Fletcher Business

Pardee, AdventHealth chart strategies for a changing health care market

Among the certainties in the new year is change on the health care front, and nowhere is that change as certain as in Henderson County.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Business

The Top 10, Nos. 4 and 3

4. Downtown hotel The prospect of a new hotel on the city-owned Dogwood lot was the last major news story among many important developments downtown in 2018. Hands On! children’s museum announced an expansion into a storefront presence, the Grey Mill project advanced toward groundbreaking and the City Council finally committed to build new public restrooms on Fifth Avenue West. Responding to the city’s invitation, two developers proposed multi-story hotels, both with restaurants and convention space, on South Church Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues. There’s still a long way to go before the city brings this one in for a landing — if it does at all — but we’re further down the road than we’ve been in decades. 3. Hendersonville High School The Hendersonville High School construction saga has taken up permanent residence on the Top 10 list, making our hit parade of news for four years running. As the year closed, the School Board was close to receiving revised design plans from new architects. Plans that preserve the historic Erle Stillwell-designed classroom building and auditorium won the unanimous endorsement of the School Board in September. Now the architects are working on more detailed design and cost estimates, something that will be critical when the School Board sends the plans over to the Board of Commissioners. Before the two boards reached détente, School Board members complained that commissioners had misled them on a pricetag gap and commissioners voted to dump the whole project. If the final vote on an HHS renovation-new construction plan comes 2019 — possible but not guaranteed — look for the issue to maintain its spot in the Lightning’s Top 10 a year from now.     Read Story »

Henderson County Business

Construction surges in county

Construction is surging in Henderson County, with housing starts and residential renovation projects showing double digit increases and commercial construction soaring by 116 percent.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Business

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Hotel proposals encouraging sign downtown

The city could score a home run if one of two prospects for a downtown hotel comes to pass.   Read Story »

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