News

LIVE COVERAGE: Council adopts budget; takes up requests for 592 dwellings

By Bill Moss, Published: June 2, 2022

The Hendersonville City Council is holding a public hearing this week on a $52.5 million 2022-23 budget that adds a police sergeant officer to oversee a new traffic safety unit, a civilian animal enforcement official and a maintenance crew to repair streets, sidewalks and curb and gutter and adds other positions.

Heading into the quadrennial real property revaluation, the council declared this fiscal year the "year of no" so it could avoid a property tax increase, City Manager John Connet said. Higher than projected sales tax revenue and federal American Rescue Plan also helped the city fund the new positions and capital improvements without a tax increase.

The budget also increases city water rates by 12 percent and outside-city rates by 8 percent in order to cover the cost of the service and cover debt service for water and sewer improvements over 10 years.

Other highlights:

• The city created a separate enterprise fund for the first time to cover the cost of the new parking deck, which will be paid for by the return of metered parking downtown when the parking deck is finished, which is projected to be early 2023.
• There's no increase in the stormwater fee nor for city garbage and recycling collection.
• The budget pays for a deputy fire chief, an IT director, a communications coordinator, a sustainability manager, three street maintenance workers and a parttime budget analyst. During the public hearing on the budget, two commenters endorsed the hiring of a sustainability manager in order to oversee environmental concerns.

Upward Road restaurant

The City Council approved a rezoning to allow a drive-in restaurant on Upward Road at Upward Crossing Boulevard next to the Bojangles. The parcel is three-quarters of an acre. The Lightning has reached out to the applicant but has not yet learned the name of the restaurant.

Washburn tract rezoning for 460 apartments and homes

The former Bo Thomas farm between Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Jackson Park is the site of a proposal for 300 apartments and 160 single-family homes on 162 acres. The project has drawn opposition from neighboring homeowners during previous public hearings.

Project highlights:

• The developer plans to expand the right-of-way on Wilmont Drive from 30 to 70 feet.
• The development would be made up of 13 apartment buildings of three stories and three-two split — 270 two-bedroom units and 30 three-bedroom units — and would include a clubhouse and pool.
• The homesites would be 50x100-foot with 20 foot wide driveways.
• The project would address the shortage of both owner-occupied homes and rental housing, a staff report said.
• "This site has been identified and valued for its natural resources for some time," the staff report said.

•  The developer agreed to sell six lots to Housing Assistance Corp. for $40,000 per lot for affordable homes.

• Neighbors have raised concerns about flooding, traffic congestion, incompatibility with the current use and loss of farmland.

• Internally, the plan includes sidewalks on both sides of all streets.

Endorsed by the Planning Board in a 4-2 vote, the Tracy Grove Road project would be developed by Mike Washburn. "We're aware there is a severe shortage of housing in the area," he told the council. "The proximity to the town, it's amazing. It's a quick commute and that makes it very attractive as well as it's going to be walkable and bicyclcable" via Jackson Park. "As far as affordability, we are working with Housing Assistance so they'll be able to build some affordable housing in there as well." The developer has been working with Conserving Carolina to preserve a large green space adjacent to Jackson Park.

About a mile east of downtown, the 62-acre site is mostly pasture with a large pond plus wetlands that the developer plans to preserve, the project's civil engineer said. The project's landscape architect said the plan preserves 86 percent of the total acreage and preserves 62 percent of the trees and will net 190 trees based on the number that will be cut down and the number of replacement trees. A traffic impact study projected the development would generate 3,200 vehicle trips a day. The developer would have two access points — Wilmont Drive and a second drive to the east.

Tom Fanslow, land protection director for Carolina Conservancy, said the conservancy has been interested for years in preserving the area around the "Four Seasons swamp" and the Bat Fork corridor. Fanslow said it's up to the council to decide whether the upland should be developed. "But this is the first time we've has the opportunity to restore and enhance of the flood plain community," he said. Washburn offered to partner with Conserving Carolina on the preservation of the land; he even suggested at first donating all the floodplain land but dropped that because he then could not have gotten approval for the density he wants on the upland property.

If it gets grant funding, Conserving Carolina would remove non-native species and plant native species, Fanslow said.

"We don't know if the upland development is a good idea or a bad idea but we do know that what we've been discussing with regard to the floodplain is a very good idea and will be very good for the property downstream," he said.

Brian Gulden, an Asheville attorney who specializes in land-use law, said under state law the council must look at whether the development is consistent with the city's comprehensive land-use plan and whether it's "reasonable." The city's comp plan, he said, encourages "a wide range of housing" types and price points, promotes safe, walkable neighborhoods and encourages environmental protection and green space. "What we're planning on doing here is bringing (housing) all back into to town" instead of expanding into suburbs, he said. The developer, he noted, has committed to paying for a right turn lane on Dana Road at Tracy Grove Road and one at the development entrance.

Opponents pointed out that the council has just approved 263 units at the Waterleaf apartments on South Allen Road, adding to traffic from BRCC, and so far this year has authorized hundreds more units, one homeowner said. "I don't think current residents are being looked after," she said, "and I don't know how much you want to saturate this area."

Julie Conner, of 106 Boyd Hill Drive, asked about street lights. "Are we going to know if it's night or day if it's really bright along with Jackson Park" lights, which she said "are really bright."

Stephanie Sawyer, of 223 Wilmont Drive, said a large multifamily development is not compatible with the single-family homes built on Wilmont in the 1950s. She called the woods on the Washburn property a white squirrel sanctuary. "How are we protecting them if we're going to build on them," she said. "We cannot do that."

"We have about 35 cars a day that go through because it's only 20 residences," she said. Adding "at least 900 to a thousand" trips a day is not realistic, she added. She implored the council to read a letter from a paralyzed neighbor that uses an electric scooter to walk his dog. "How is he going to do that with this influx of traffic?" she asked. "How's anybody gonna live or walk? ... I am totally against this project. I don't think it's in the right place. I think it's the wrong place. I think this land needs to be preserved. I just think that Bo Thomas's legacy is very important."

Previous budget coverage:

The Hendersonville City Council will hold a public hearing this week on a $52.5 million no-new-taxes budget that raises city residents’ water bills by 12 percent, funds numerous water and sewer improvements and adds 9½ new general fund positions, including a police sergeant, a civilian animal enforcement position, a deputy fire chief, an IT director, a communications coordinator, a sustainability manager, three street maintenance workers and a parttime budget analyst.

As it raised the property tax rate by 3 cents last spring, the City Council was told it would likely need to bump the rate up by another 3 cents this year followed by a penny more next year. Higher than expected sales tax revenue and the ability to use federal American Rescue Plan money to replace lost revenue allowed the city to avoid a property tax increase this year, City Manager John Connet said.

Connet recommended nine fulltime positions plus the part-time hire. In addition, he recommended seven new hires in the water and sewer department, which is funded by water bill revenue, and three in stormwater, which is also a separate enterprise fund.

The budget also pays for numerous vehicles — seven police cruisers, three fire vehicles, and for public works a bucket truck, backhoe and pothole patcher — and pays for police bodycams, new gateway signage and new tennis courts at Patton Park to replace the Boyd Park courts that will be removed when the new Fire Station 1 is built. The city has welcome signs at its Four Seasons Boulevard and Asheville Highway entrances but not on Greenville and Spartanburg highways.

If the council adopts the new budget as expected, city residents will see a 12 percent increase in their water bill and outside customers will see an 8 percent increase. The rate changes are the result of the council’s commitment to equalize city and outside-city rates by 2030. This year’s reduction puts the outside rate at 135 percent of the city rate.

The city plans to use $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan money to offset revenue loss — half of it this year and half next year. The remaining $2 million of the city’s ARP allocation “will be used directly for transformative community projects” that have yet to be identified.

In his budget message to the council, Connet highlighted numerous “big ideas” council members pitched during a “values workshop” last year. The ideas continue to be a topic council members have interest in but have not been funded in this budget. Among them are:

• Narrowing King Street to create a “parkway” feel. Connet said that would mean eliminating one lane where the one-way street widens to three lanes with the intent of making a less intimidating pedestrian crossing and improving the connectivity between Main Street and the Historic Seventh Avenue District.
• Removing litter and brush on U.S. 64 around the I-26 interchange.
• Encouraging reinvestment in Blue Ridge Mall.
• Seeking affordable housing.
• Protecting council members’ safety by enhancing meeting security and exploring “best practices” to develop guidance on “free speech versus threats.”
• Creating master plans for the development of Berkeley Park, Edwards Park and the Ecusta Trail, exploring the potential to build an aquatics center and researching a bond referendum for parks and recreation.

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The City Council will hold a public hearing on the 2022-23 budget during its regular meeting at 5:45 p.m. Thursday at the City Operations Center, 305 Williams St.

NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the recommended budget contained a 12 percent increase in city water rates and 8 percent decrease in the outside-city rate. The outside-city increases by 8 percent.