Committee announces 2019 Walk of Fame inductees

Henderson County News

Snow forecast ranges as high as 18 inches

NCDOT and city crews in Henderson County were preparing for a big winter storm that forecasters say could dump up to a foot and a half of snow on the region this weekend. "High confidence continues that a significant winter storm will impact portions of the region this weekend and possibly continuing into early next week," Henderson County Emergency Services Director Jimmy Brissie said in an advisory Wednesday. The predicted snow accumulation ranges from 12-18 inches in the southern and eastern parts of Henderson County. The National Weather Service predicted an 80 percent chance of snow Saturday night, 90 percent Sunday and 50 percent Monday. A slight warmup is not expected until Tuesday, when it will be sunny with a high of around 41. "We're getting all our supplies ready, getting staff on standby and putting snow chains on fire apparatus," Hendersonville City Manager John Connet said. "We're also making sure all of our backup generators are fueled up and ready to go. It looks like the bulk of the weather will be Saturday afternoon through the weekend.Andrew Griffin, public works director for the town of Laurel Park, said crews were still busy this week picking up limbs and other debris left over from an ice storm that hit the town on Nov. 24. "We're trying to get it all picked up and get it out of the way," he said.     Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Regional council honors Connet for service as city manager

The Land of Sky Regional Council honored Hendersonville City Manager John Connet on Wednesday for service that "has greatly enhanced the quality of life for countless citizens" of Hendersonville The Robert E. Shepherd Excellence in Local Government Award is presented at the Land of Sky Regional Council’s discretion to a local government professional who has shown great leadership in improving governance and service delivery, especially in the areas of regional cooperation and collaboration.“This is a well-deserved award,” Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk said. “We are delighted Land of Sky chose to recognize Mr. Connet for his work in this region and across the state.” Justin Hembree, executive director of Land of Sky, explained the history behind the Shepherd Excellence in Local Government Award. Robert "Bob" Shepherd, the first executive director of Land of Sky, faithfully served the organization for more than 30 years. He exemplified what it means to be a public servant in local government. As a result, the Land of Sky executive committee felt it would be fitting to establish an award in Shepherd’s name to recognize local public servants. Biltmore Forest Town Manager Jonathan Kanipe presented Connet with a plaque that included the following inscription: “The Robert E. Shepherd Excellence in Local Government Award is presented to John Frazier Connet for his dedication in serving the citizens of the City of Hendersonville and the Land of Sky region. His service has greatly enhanced the quality of life for countless citizens. John is a dedicated and faithful local government professional. His leadership and work ethic serves as a shining example for all that choose to serve the public.” The past recipients include Robert E. Shepherd in 2016 and Susan Frady, Hendersonville’s Development Assistance Director, in 2017. The Land of Sky Regional Council serves Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties to provide collaboration and cooperation with the goal of improving the quality of life for residents of the communities served. The council coordinates joint regional decisions, provides planning and technical services to local governments and brings local officials together to problem solve.   Read Story »

Hendersonville News

Margaret Thomas, philanthropist and civic leader, dies at age 87

Margaret S. Thomas, who helped manage her family's successful produce business, enjoyed bridge, traveling and Duke basketball and spent her retirement years supporting her church and community causes, died early Tuesday after a period of illness. She was 87.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (196)

You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning. You'll get the scoop on the multi-story hotel projects that two developers propose on the city-owned Dogwood parking lot as a result of the city's invitation, read about the swearing-in of the new sheriff and new Board of Commissioners and read about the communitywide candle lighting Sunday at Agudas Israel temple. You'll get the third chapter of "Brave Women," the memoir written in 1890 of a trek by a mother and daughter from here to Knoxville during the Civil War. We also have the popular Jere Brittain column, West of the French Broad, Ask Matt and dozens of local briefs, community briefs and holiday briefs. Here's where you can pick up a Lightning: Downtown Hendersonville• Hendersonville Lightning Office, 1111 Asheville Hwy.• Pop’s Diner, 5 Points, North Main Street• Triangle Stop, 701 North Main Street• The 500 block of North Main Street(First Citizens Bank / Mast General Store)• Black Bear Coffee Co., Main Street• The 300 block of North Main Street(McFarland’s Bakery / Mike’s on Main )• 100 block of South Main(Flat Rock Playhouse) Southside Hendersonville(Spartanburg Highway)• Ingles, Spartanburg Hwy.• Hairstyles by Charlene, Joel Wright Drive• McDonald’s, Spartanburg Hwy.• Norm’s Minit Mart, Spartanburg Hwy.• Hendersonville Co-op• Burger King/ BP, Spartanburg Hwy. Flat Rock/East Flat Rock• Flat Rock Post Office• Flat Rock Bakery• Zirconia Post Office• East Flat Rock Post Office• Whitley Drug, Greenville Hwy.• Energy Mart Exxon, Upward Road & I-26• Triangle Stop, 754 Upward Road & I-26 Along Kanuga Road• Hot Dog World, Kanuga Road • Mr Pete’s Market, Kanuga Road• Norm’s Minit Mart, Kanuga Road Laurel Park Area• Economy Drug on Fifth Ave. West• Fifth Avenue Shell• YMCA Hendersonville, Sixth Ave & Oak St• Laurel Park Village, RiteAid• Energy Mart Exxon, Laurel Park• Dixie DIner, Brevard Road West on Highway 64 (Brevard Road)• Horse Shoe Post Office• Mr Pete’s Market, Etowah, Hwy. 64-W• Blue Ridge Pizza, Etowah, Hwy. 64-W• Etowah Shopping Center, Etowah• Ingles, Brevard Road• Bandana’s Restaurant, Brevard Road North on Highway 191 (Haywood Road)• Joey’s New York Bagels, Hwy. 191• One Stop Store # 8, Haywood Road (Hwy. 191)• Dollar General, Hwy. 191 & Mountain Road• Triangle Stop, 4197 Haywood Road, Mills River• Ingle’s, Mills River, Hwy. 280 Eastside Hendersonville (Four Seasons Blvd.)• Norm’s Minit Mart, Dana Road• Fatz Cafe, Dana Road & Four Seasons Blvd.• Grocery Outlet, off Four Seasons Blvd.• Energy Mart Exxon, Four Seasons Blvd.• McDonald’s, Four Seasons Boulevard• Mustang Cafe, Dana Road East on Highway 64 (Chimney Rock Highway)• Triangle Stop, 2545 Chimney Rock Road, Hwy. 64-E• Mr Pete’s Market, East, Hwy. 64-E• Griffin’s Store Edneyville, Hwy. 64-E• Edneyville Post Office• Edneyville General Store• Walmart Shopping Center North on Highway 25(Asheville Highway)• The Ugly Mug Coffee Shop, Hwy. 25-N• Alykat, US 25-N• Triangle Stop, Hwy 25-N, Balfour• Mountain Home Post Office• Fletcher Post Office• Ingles, FletcherSouthern & Eastern Henderson County • Dana Post Office• Rosco’s Grocery, Green River• Saluda Post Office The Hendersonville Lightning is available at mostHenderson County post offices and Ingles supermarkets     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Developers propose multi-story hotel on Dogwood lot downtown

Developers responding to an invitation from the city of Hendersonville proposed multi-story hotels on the city-owned Dogwood parking lot at the corner of South Church Street and Fourth Avenue West. A Fletcher-based hotel management company and a Charlotte developer of hotels responded last week to a request for proposals the city released last month. The Charlotte-based Catellus proposed a 120-room five-story hotel with a 247-space parking garage, a 4,500-square-foot conference space and a first-floor lounge and restaurant.Blue Star Hospitality of Fletcher pitched an 88-room, six-floor structure with double the conference space — 9,000 square feet — plus 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a parking garage with 244 spaces.Both plans would preserve the existing buildings on Church Street and Washington Street.City Manager John Connet said he was pleased with the responses and the quality and experience of the developers.“Both are doing their due diligence,” he said. “They have been spending some time here looking for hotel sites. We are pleased with the two proposals that we have. There’s a lot of negotiations ahead to try to come up with a workable proposal. ... Our plan is at this point staff will continue to negotiate, sit down and interview both development groups and ultimately select the group we feel like has the best plan going forward.”The city released the RFP on Oct. 11 seeking a developer to build a hotel of 80 to 120 rooms with meeting space for 150 to 300 people. Blue Star’s conference space would accommodate 200 people and Catellus’ proposal would seat 150, said Assistant City Manager Brian Pahle.The city has offered to sell the property to the developer and invest the proceeds in a parking deck to replace the Dogwood lot’s 157 spaces. Both hotel proposals more than make up for the loss. The city-owned Dogwood lot has a tax value of $764,600 and market value of $1,098,000.“The council made it very clear that at the very least we would have to replace the parking,” Connet said. A hotel’s mostly nighttime demand for parking “is going to be different than the peak usage of the deck” for downtown diners and shoppers.A building of five or six stories would be the largest proposed development downtown since the failed Sunflower (later Carolina Grand), a nine-story condo a developer wanted to build in the mid-2000s. That proposal so infuriated city residents that they pushed for and got a referendum to overrule the council’s approval of the project. More than two-thirds of residents who turned out for the referendum in 2006 voted to impose a 64-foot building height cap.“That’s a question we have to ask,” Connet said when asked whether the proposed hotels exceed the 64-foot limit. “They don’t give a height,” he said. He didn’t think the five-story Catalyst proposal would exceed the limit. “The six-story is going to be close,” he said. Council members open to plans Councilman Jeff Miller said he had not seen the RFP responses yet but was open to the concept of a hotel.“My beef back then when it was inside the King Street-Church Street corridor was that I really feel the people needed to decide if they wanted taller buildings to go in there or not and at the time they didn’t, especially when it was kind of force-fed on us,” he said. “If you look at a six-story building on Church it’s probably not going to be as high as the Methodist Church sitting on a hill. But it’s still something I have to look at it.”The city may not be able to insist that the project get a lot smaller, he said.“If they’re going to build something, they’re going to have to build it big enough so the occupancy rates are going to make money for them,” he said.Preserving or even adding to the total number of parking spaces is imperative, he added.“Hopefully if we do accept the hotel being built there, then folks like the Baptist Church could use (the parking garage) so we’ll just have to see. There’s a lot of moving parts to this one. I’ve been a little skeptical of giving up that lot but I’m open to the discussion.”Both proposals show the hotels facing Fourth Avenue West with a lobby entrance at the southeast corner of Fourth and Church Street and the parking deck in the rear accessible from Fifth Avenue West. Blue Star’s rendering, by Mussman Architects, of Greenville, S.C., shows a rooftop bar and a second floor meeting room. Catalyst’s shows a ground-floor meeting room and a restaurant.Mayor pro tem Ron Stephens also said he had not seen details of the proposals but liked what he had heard from Connet.“As long as they meet our regulations that doesn’t bother me,” he said of the multi-story plans. “I don’t think they’re any taller than the old Skyland hotel. They’re going to present those to us and we’ll then vote to go ahead.” Since the city asked for proposals, it’s obligated to continue the project, he said.“We told them that we would entertain selling the property and would work with them,” he said. “Obviously, part of the parking would be ours. We don’t want to lose any parking spaces and I don’t think we’d have to. I’m told that one of them has the space to accommodate 200 people (for meetings). We can use the hotel and we can certainly use the meeting space, which would be an important addition to downtown. I hope it goes forward. This looks very encouraging.”   Read Story »

News Archive

• Supporters of 287g urge county to keep ICE partnership     Comments
• Commissioners elect Hawkins as chair, thank Thompson, welcome McCall     Comments
• Elite riders will race at Jackson Park this weekend     Comments
• Command staff will come from within agency, new sheriff says     Comments
• 'Stay safe and God bless,' sheriff says as he signs off     Comments
• BRCC to award 500 $1,000 scholarships next fall     Comments
• Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas opens     Comments
• Spruce Pine man dies in Parkway collision     Comments
• Laurel Park manager leaving for new job in South Carolina     Comments
• Cono Sur brings taste
 of Chile and Peru to Mills River     Comments
• French Broad: A Kitchen & Wine Bar opens next week downtown     Comments
• Need speed? Towns seek input on broadband network     Comments
• Planning Board endorses Walmart's color change     Comments
• GE agrees to sale that includes East Flat Rock plant     Comments
• Starting Dec. 1, emission inspections end for motor vehicles here     Comments
• Blue Ridge Humane Society names new director     Comments
• Six advisory boards endorse countywide greenway plan     Comments
• Junk Man’s Christmas 
concert benefits IAM     Comments
• Symphony serves up 'Holidays at the Movies'     Comments
• New theater company moving into former Playhouse space downtown     Comments
• Event marks Carolina Special’s last run up Saluda Grade     Comments
• City remembers firefighter who died in pool hall fire     Comments
• Training is Wednesday evening for skating rink volunteers     Comments
• LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Greenway plan would get county in the game     Comments
• Season of Giving: Find your passion and volunteer     Comments
• Volunteer profile: Patsy Farmer Jones, Pardee Foundation     Comments
• Volunteer profile: John Bell, Community Foundation of Henderson County     Comments
• Volunteer profile: Chuck White, Thrive     Comments
• Volunteer profile: Michael Willey, United Way     Comments
• Volunteer profile: Carla Duncan, Boys & Girls Club     Comments