Business

An additional 306 units proposed at former Tap Root dairy

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 31, 2023

More high-density development could be coming to the old Tap Root dairy property if the Henderson County Board of Commissioners approves a rezoning request the Johnston family has made.

Commissioners will consider the rezoning during their meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday after a public hearing on the application. The landowners, the Johnston Family Group, and developer Orange Capital Advisors LLC are seeking a rezoning from regional commercial to conditional use for the Farmhouse at Tap Root apartments on 19 acres on Butler Bridge Road east of the proposed Tap Root development and south of I-26.
A master plan prepared by Civil Design Concepts of Asheville shows 306 units in 10 three-story and two two-story buildings. Amenities would include a fitness center, community lounge, a clubhouse with mailroom, pool, dog park, 5-foot sidewalks throughout development and garage collection area with compactor.
The plans show 459 parking spaces (1½ per unit), 4,050 feet of 24-foot wide private roadway, a roundabout within the development, a main access drive on Butler Bridge Road and a 20-foot wide gravel drive for emergency access. About 3.8 acres would be open space and just under 2 acres would be common space. The apartments would be served by city of Hendersonville water and the Metropolitan Sewer District.

During a neighborhood compatibility meeting on March 1 that lasted just 39 minutes, Mike Reisman, chief operating officer of Asheville Regional Airport, said while the airport is not opposed to development, it does want assurances that apartment dwellers will be made aware that they’re under the runway flight path.

“The planes will be close, relativity low, and there will be noise,” Reisman said, according to minutes of the public meeting. He requested an avigation easement like the one the county required for the Tap Root development. “The avigation easement will provide some protection as residents would be made aware (of the flight path) when signing a lease agreement,” a planning staff report said.

Approval of the rezoning would clear the way for a total of 1,005 residential units on Butler Bridge Road across from the large River Stone subdivision. The adjacent Tap Root development won approval from the Board of Commissioners in August 2020 for a total of 699 residential units on 297 acres. Grading and utility installation are under way at the site.