News

Church Street repaving on track for Nov. 10 completion, DOT says

By Bill Moss, Published: October 7, 2025

Motorists tired of the bone-jarring ride of Church Street are likely wondering what happened to the repaving job originally scheduled for 2024.

So is the Hendersonville City Council.
Hurricane Helene delayed the project, not surprisingly. Yet the work, rescheduled for this year, still has not started. Now, it looks like it could happen. In response to the Lightning’s questions, the NCDOT said on Monday that the contractor plans to complete the $1.4 million repaving job by Nov. 10.
The subject of the repaving came up at last week’s council meeting when Brent Detwiler, the assistant city manager for public service, explained that some safety features planned for Church Street haven’t happened because they were expected to be part of the repaving job. Contract completion deadline for the job, he said, is Oct. 17.
That prompted Mayor pro tem Jennifer Hensley to deliver an extended “soapbox” denunciation — in her words — of roadwork delays.
“I’ve scrolled back through all the communications that you’ve had with DOT and it kind of feels like we get one excuse after one excuse after ‘we don’t really know,’” she told Detwiler. “The contractor has been supposed to start for the last eight weeks. So what recourse do we have when they don’t meet their contract deadline?”

‘I’m tired of their excuses’

Hensley noted that a false start occurred in late August for a laughable reason.
“They were literally going to start the project two days before the Apple Festival,” she said. “That was a great plan, right?”
She said added that she has seen other examples of what she regards as a lack of accountability in road construction contracts during her time as vice chair of the MPO, the regional transportation advisory board.
“We had these contractors who bid projects, they have no capacity to do the projects, they’re substantially delayed in the projects — Highland Lake is a good example of that — and then they continue to get paid for the contracts, and then they get to rebid another project,” she said. “From what I understand, there’s very little accountability on these contractors who do this over and over and over. So what can we do about it? Because it’s very frustrating. It’s a major safety issue. I don’t understand what we can do, because I’m tired of their excuses.”
Detwiler responded that he understood Hensley’s concern.
“It is frustrating,” he said. “From our standpoint, we have great relationships with the contractors that we work with, but we hold them to deadlines, and we are not afraid to (enforce penalties).
“There are these things in the contract called liquidated damages, so if contractors do not meet their deadlines or their final completion date that’s established in the contract that they signed, you can assess liquidated damages. DOT has provisions in their contracts to do that as well. I can’t speak for their staff. I don’t know if, from a state level, the state dissuades any of their divisions from assessing liquidated damages or really enforcing these projects.”
The Lightning emailed a list of questions about the Church Street job and Hensley’s comments on contractor accountability to David Uchiyama, NCDOT’s spokesman in Western North Carolina. After he forwarded the questions to the project team, Uchiyama responded with an update on the repaving job.
“The Church Street project was delayed due to Helene, the new high-rise apartment complex to install new manholes in roadway and the city of Hendersonville sewer contract in 2024,” he said. “However, the contractor did upgrade all sidewalks and wheelchair ramps during this time on both Church Street and King Street.”
Cliffside, N.C.-based Site Development Corp. has a contract for $1,374,354 to do the repaving.
“The revised completion date of this contract is 11/10/25, and the contractor believes they are able to complete this before this date or if not, will be held for liquidated damages of $1,100/day as per contract,” Uchiyama said.

Later, Uchiyama issued a further explanation of the project and defense of the paving contractor:

"NCDOT staff has a good working relationship with city of Hendersonville staff and Henderson County staff regarding Church Street resurfacing and other projects in the area. Engineers are available to speak with the MPO, city, county, staff or officials regarding any concerns and to provide clarification about NCDOT policies and procedures regarding contracts."

DOT buys HonorAir Park land

In a related matter during last week’s council meeting, City Attorney Angela Beeker reported that the NCDOT had made an offer of $433,250 to buy the Honor Air Park property in the triangle at the south end of Main Street for the big roundabout project there. In addition to what she described as “a pretty generous offer,” the state agency threw in two remnant properties that it acquired and did not need for the roundabout. The council voted unanimously to accept the state’s offer.
Detwiler said the remnants could be useful if the city gets funding for the “Above the Mud” project to connect the Ecusta Trail and the Oklawaha Greenway at Jackson Park.
After it narrowly missed winning a federal transportation grant last year to fund the bikeway connection, the city could succeed this year.
“We were in the highest tier,” Detwiler. “We were considered a project of merit.”