Business

Landowner seeks industrial zoning on Howard Gap Road

Aerial image shows subject property.

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 14, 2019

A property owner is seeking the county's OK to rezone 31 acres on Howard Gap Road at Jackson Road from residential to industrial use. The Henderson County Planning Board will take up the rezoning request during its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the county building at 100 N. King St.

Residential One is a medium to high density residential zone while the industrial zoning district is an industrial and heavy commercial zone for development. The development must be "compatible with adjacent development and the surrounding community (and) sensitive to its impact on surrounding land uses and the environment (natural and man-made)," the land development code says. Industrial zoning does not allow residential uses.

Most recently Duke Energy was using the property as a fenced in "lay downyard” under a temporary use permit from Henderson County, planners said. The temporary use has ended but a gravel lot and fencing remain. Surrounding the 31-acre site are homes to the east, the Southern Tee golf course to the north, Jennings Building Supply across Jackson Road and a closed private waste water treatment facility across Howard Gap Road.

The property, valued on the tax books at $328,600, is owned by Sirocco Properties LLC. The company's registered agent is Charles Dexter Owen III of Town Mountain Road in Asheville, according to corporate records on file with the N.C. secretary of state.