News

City Council delays action on rezoning for homes on Chadwick Avenue

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 3, 2020

The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday night delayed action on a rezoning request that would allow four homes on three-quarters of an acre on Chadwick Avenue in hopes of reaching a compromise on the density, a buffer between a neighboring homeowner and floodwater control.

Property owner James Noble sought the city's approval to rezone the vacant lot from highway business to a highway business conditional zoning for the four homes ranging from 1,200 to 1,400 square feet on 7,000- to 9,000-square-foot lots. In a 3-2 vote the Hendersonville Planning Board last month recommended that the City Council deny the application.

Next door neighbors Joseph and Sandra Williams and their daughter, Lynne, implored the City Council to turn down the request, citing a large white oak tree on the property, the increased traffic and construction noise. The demolition of a house on the property caused cracks in the walls of their home. They asked for a buffer between the new homes and their house if the council approved the rezoning.

"I'll work with the neighbors," Noble said. "The big oak she spoke of, it will be in my backyard. This will meet all the requirements. I will work with the city. It's not something I just thought of overnight. I've been in Hendersonville for 52 years. I hope to be part of it another 52 years. I want other people to be able to afford affordable housing. We always talk about it. This is not going to be $400,000 homes."

Noble, who bought the property for $84,500 on Dec. 20, told the Planning Board he planned to live in one of the homes and sell the other three for around $200,000 each.

Council member Jeff Miller said the traffic, density and flooding concerned him.

"I feel like there's maybe a compromise," he said. "I just don't see how you can control the runoff. ... I could see three houses on there much more comfortably."

Noble told the council that if he reducedthe density, the home price would rise. "Three houses, the price goes up," he said. "Two houses, the price goes up. One house, very high. I want to live there. I have the most to lose."

He told the council that he could preserve the existing buffer between the vacant lot and the Williams property.

On City Manager John Connet's recommendation, the council agreed to have city engineers investigate a stream that is causing flooding and work on defining the buffer and spelling out specifics of maintaining the buffer. Noble agree to work with city planners on the compromises.

"I am committed if we could work this out with three (houses), I would be committed with three," Miller said.