News

Planners recommend downtown condos

Planned for First Avenue West at Washington Street, West Avenue Villas would contain 10 condos.

By Lightning Reports, Published: July 13, 2020

A plan for 10 condos on First Avenue West at South Washington advanced on Monday after the developer made concessions to buffer the project from neighbors.

The Hendersonville Planning Board recommended the change to central mixed use conditional zoning for the half-acre lot on First Avenue West west of South Washington Street.
After neighbors objected to the development during a public meeting in January, developer Andrew Riddle had worked to address their concerns.
“This has been a healthy process, it’s been a learning process and it’s going to be a much better result with the neighbors’ input,” he said.
Riddle plans two quadplex units and two studio apartments above a detached garage, for a total of 10 units, called West Avenue Villas. The plans call for 18 parking spaces, in addition to street parking on West First Avenue.
A neighbor on the east side of the property, Helen Waldrop Youngblood, at 103 S. Washington St., asked Riddle to preserve a line of trees that buffers her property from the vacant lot Riddle would build on. The Planning Board agreed to allow narrower driveways on either side of the quadplexes — from 15 to 12 feet wide — gaining room for a wider buffer.
“There are some mature trees that enhance the property and therefore enhance the neighborhood,” Riddle said. “I’m prepared to shift the entire two structures from east to west a total of 6 feet, which would give Ms. Youngblood a buffer of 11 feet, which in my opinion will save a lot of those trees along that border and would be a nice settlement to accommodate the neighbors, as this entire process has been.”