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LIGHTNING TOP 10: No. 3

Alpine Woods tenant had a newborn baby with a medical condition. She had no running water, no stove and no furnace.

By Bill Moss, Published: December 23, 2015

The Top 10: No. 3

Sometimes rental living is not so easy. At Alpine Woods Resort, it did not even come with running water and heat. A story that the Hendersonville Lightning first brought to light in March, the 80-unit trailer park off Old Sunset Hill Road revealed developing nation conditions at the park — a deeply rutted dirt road ran through a haphazard cluster of trailers that had no furnaces and no water. Drinking, drug use and violent crime were so bad that fire trucks responding to call had police escorts. The city of Hendersonville — which was holding an unpaid $40,000 water bill from the landlord — convened an emergency meeting of public health, social services and law enforcement agencies to address the crisis. The sheriff’s office reported that from May 2007 to April 2014, deputies had responded to 7,789 calls for service. Some 1,957 could fit the state’s nuisance abatement statute, including disturbance calls, domestic abuse, drugs, fights and loud music. In May, the city of Hendersonville and Henderson County jointly filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the park as a nuisance. “I am scared at all hours of the day and night to be on my own property,” a neighbor said, according to the lawsuit. Owner Warren Newell gave up ownership in July and it sold again in September to a family that has made improvements.