News

City Council OKs affordable apartment project for seniors

Chadwick Avenue resident Sandy Williams spoke against an affordable apartment project for seniors during a City Councill meeting Thursday.

By Amy McCraw, Published: April 5, 2024

Hendersonville’s City Council voted unanimously Thursday evening to OK a rezoning that will allow the building of the Lofts at Chadwick, a proposed 60-unit affordable apartment project for seniors that “maxed out” on a state agency’s scoring matrix for location suitability.

The project is planned for 2.25 acres on the southeast corner of Chadwick Avenue and Greenville Highway.
“This is very, very needed for the community,” council member Jennifer Hensley said before making a motion that council approve the project.
Mayor Pro Tem Lyndsey Simpson also said she thought the city should approve the project because the council might not have the chance to approve many other affordable housing developments.
“Only so many properties will qualify for senior low income,” she said.
Simpson also noted that other developments that are allowed by right on the property would not be as restrictive as limitations the developer as agreed to honor.
Citing neighbors’ concerns over traffic, stormwater and parking, the Hendersonville Planning Board in March voted 4-2 to recommend that the City Council deny the rezoning request for the property.
Speakers during a public hearing on the proposal on Thursday night voiced many of the same concerns to city council.
Sandy and Joe Williams, who have lived on Chadwick Avenue for more than 60 years, said they were concerned about traffic problems that might result from the development.
“This is going to make traffic on Chadwick impossible to get through,” Sandy said.
She said she was also concerned about the possibility of more flooding in the area if the development is built and whether seniors would want to live across the street from a bar.
“I understand the need for senior housing. I just don’t think that is the place for it,” she said.
Joe Williams said he was concerned about the development changing the nature of Hendersonville.
“I hate to see it lose its smalltown charm,” he said.
Other speakers said they were concerned about whether the property will provide proper access for emergency service vehicles.
A city EMS representative told council the project does allow enough space for their vehicles to serve the area.
The senior apartments, in an L-shaped three-story building with a footprint of 25,000 square feet, will include a computer room with free WiFi, library, landscaping of native plant species and a gazebo overlooking a proposed pollinator garden, according to a developer of the project, who also noted the proposed development’s proximity of supermarkets, drug stores, urgent care centers and churches.
A planning staff analysis on the rezoning request noted that Henderson County has an estimated rental housing gap of 1,650 to 2,008 units for incomes from under 50 percent to 120 percent of the area median income — one of the largest gaps in Western North Carolina. Over the past four years, the city has approved 1,915 rental units, although 218 of those are considered inactive for being dormant for six months or longer. With the City Council’s authorization of the Lofts on Chadwick rezoning, the total rental units potentially in the pipeline will total 1,975. Of those, only 103 will be affordable units for tenants between 30 and 80 percent of AMI.