Henderson County News
Residents of Kanuga Road heard some good news for the first time in months on Thursday night when Hendersonville City Council member Steve Caraker described a compromise that would significantly reduce the footprint of the $20 million road widening from Church Street to Little River Road.
Read Story »
Henderson County News
The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday recognized three police officers with the Police Department Commendation Life Saving Award for racing into a burning apartment building to evacuate residents from a fire that soon engulfed the entire structure.
Read Story »
Flat Rock News
Revisions of state transportation plans to widen Kanuga and Highland Lake roads won't be ready until next spring, the NCDOT says.
After public meetings on the proposals and receiving input from residents, property owners and elected officials, engineers are looking alternatives and plan to come back next spring with other options, NCDOT spokesman David Uchiyama said in a response to a request for an update from the Hendersonville Lightning.
"NCDOT is looking at various ways to reduce to footprint of improving Kanuga Road, including the possibility of eliminating 4-foot bike lanes," he said. "We are aiming to present revised proposals on Kanuga in the spring."
On Highland Lake Road, Uchiyama confirmed that the agency is looking at other options there as well.
"We are addressing concerns presented by Pinecrest (Presbyterian) Church and greenway opponents," he said. "We have informed Flat Rock that we would like to present multiple options for them to review in the spring."
The Flat Rock Village Council has heard from opponents of the Highland Lake Road widening at its last several meetings. The board voted in August to endorse the widening, with Vice Mayor Nick Weedman and Council member Anne Coletta voting no. Members of Historic Flat Rock Inc. have appealed to the Village Council to reverse its support of the widening, which members say is not in keeping with the historic character of the village.
Pinecrest church leaders have said the widening would eliminate the church's septic system and take a line of evergreens that provides a visual and sound barrier.
Meanwhile, opponents of the Kanuga widening project have gained the support of boards that advise the Hendersonville City Council on environmental matters and trees.
After hearing from project opponents at its Nov. 7 meeting, the Tree Board voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council oppose the Kanuga widening.
"The proposed improvements would result in the loss of an incaluculable number of trees and cause a major reduction in the city's urban canopy," the Tree Board said in a Nov. 17 memorandum to the council. The Tree Board determined that a number of trees in the path of the widening would qualify for Heritage Tree status under city ordinance. Several Kanuga Road homeowners have applied for Heritage Tree designation and more are expected to, the Tree Board said.
"The Board feels that the environmental damage caused by this project will far outweigh any benefits it might have," the memo said. "Furthermore, the board feels that an endorsement of this project by the city would not be in keeping with our status as a Tree City USA and Bee City USA."
On Nov. 16, the city Environmental Sustainability Board, after hearing from widening opponents, echoed the tree board's position and called on the City Council to continues its efforts to negotiate a compromise that would "minimize the overall footprint and environmental impact of the project."
Henderson County, Hendersonville and Flat Rock officials met last month with NCDOT engineers to hammer out compromises that would minimize the impact of the Kanuga and Highland Lake improvements.
County Commissioner Bill Lapsley, Hendersonville mayor pro tem Steve Caraker and Flat Rock Village Council member John Dockendorf proposed a separate Mud Creek greenway to replace bike lanes they want removed from the Kanuga project. On Monday night, the Henderson County Board of Commissioners agreed to apply for a grant to fund a feasibiity study of a greenway along a sewer easement from the Publix site to Erkwood Drive. The Hendersonville City Council is scheduled to discuss the greenway at its regular meeting on Thursday night. Read Story »
Henderson County News
Salvation Army Capt. Chris Lyles says people might not realize the difference they’re making when they make a donation at a red kettle at Christmas.
Read Story »
Hendersonville News
In 1857 lithographer Nathaniel Currier offered his accountant, James Ives, a partnership in his printmaking business. With their simple, hand-colored lithographs of Victorian Christmas scenes, Currier and Ives soon became the keeper of the Christmas tradition for many Americans.
Read Story »
Henderson County News
You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning.
Read Story »
Henderson County News
Hendersonville police are investigating after a contractor making tests at an abandoned landfill site between Mud Creek amd Green Meadows found a human skeleton on Monday.
The contractor notified City Manager John Connet and City Attorney Sam Fritschner when they found a skull and other bones of what investigators believe to be a male of unknown age.
Investigators collected the body parts and sent them off to the state medical examiner’s officer in Winston-Salem, said police Capt. Chris LeRoy.
“There’s no obvious signs of a cause of death that we could see,” LeRoy said. “We’re theorizing that it’s a male based on the size of the bones but we have no other information.”
City police detectives and sheriff’s investigators are reviewing all their missing reports to see if they come up with any leads that could match the Green Meadows circumstances, LeRoy said.
The skull was on top of the ground and separated from other bones, which the investigators surmise had been scattered by wildlife.
“All the remains that we found did not look like it had been buried at all,” he said.
Investigators don’t know how long the body had been on the site. “We’re hoping the folks in Winston-Salem can give us some idea” on a time of death, LeRoy added.
A contractor working with the city of Hendersonville and the state Department of Environmental Quality has been testing soil and gas levels at the site, which operated as an unregulated dump before 1971, when the Hendersonville Housing Authority bought the property to build Green Meadows.
City Manager John Connet notified property owners on Martin Circle and Lincoln Circle in September that the contractor testing for contaminants had found low levels of landfill gases and no methane gas. The city is working on the next phase of the Mud Creek dump investigation, Connet said, including surface water testing, soil and groundwater evaluation, deeper soil evaluation and determining the total volume of waste. The evaluation and cleanup, if one is needed, is coordinated by the state DEQ’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program. Read Story »
Henderson County News
The National Forests in North Carolina announced that Richard Thornburgh will oversee management and operations as the new District Ranger on the Appalachian Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest beginning Jan. 7.
"Richard brings a variety of experiences to this position that include development of large collaborative projects, managing an exceptionally large and diverse recreation program and well as complex land use issues," said Forest Supervisor Allen Nicholas. "His administrative, business, and legal background will also augment the exceptional skill sets contained with the leadership team of the National Forests in North Carolina."
Thornburgh has worked for the U.S. Forest Service for the last 17 years beginning in the Washington, D.C. office. He was most recently the Pacific and Placerville District Ranger on the Eldorado National Forest near Sacramento, California. His background includes roles such as Forest Planner, NEPA Coordinator, and Chief Financial Officer on the San Bernadino National Forest, and Budget Analyst in the Pacific Southwest Regional Office.
Prior to the Forest Service, Thornburgh worked as a mediator of environmental and public policy disputes in Pennsylvania. A native of eastern Tennessee, he was born and raised in Chattanooga. He received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Notre Dame, a law degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and a master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University. A bluegrass musician, Thornburgh is looking forward to being back in the Appalachians. He and his wife, Katherine, a high school Spanish teacher, have a 9-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. One of their favorite things to do is go hiking with their dog, Shasta.
"I'm excited to build on my experience with collaboration and partnerships to address the many challenges facing the Appalachian Ranger District," Thornburgh said. "I find those are generally the keys to success, whether it's trying to provide quality recreation experiences in the midst of increasing use, or working with local communities to improve the fire resilience of the forest around them so that we can try to avoid the next catastrophic wildfire."
"I also enjoy connecting people, especially young kids, with their national forest so they realize and appreciate what an amazing treasure we share," he added. Read Story »
Henderson County News
Henderson County commissioners covered all four choices in their annual college football championship picks, a tradition started several years ago by County Manager Steve Wyatt.
The college football playoff includes Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama.
"I said last year that my first son and my money went to Clemson and I had to go with Clemson," Commissioner Bill Lapsley said. "I’ll go with them again."
Grady Hawkins: "I’m going to go with one of my alma maters: Oklahoma."
Michael Edney: "We all know the Georgia Bulldogs are going to win."
Charlie Messer, who picked Alabama over Clemson last year, stayed with the Tide.
Tommy Thomson, who doesn't follow sports, also went with Alabama.
After saying, "I’m going to pull for Appalachian," Wyatt, a big Mountaineer fan, predicted an Oklahoma win. Read Story »
