News

Livingston Farms homeowners bat down dense development

Robyn Mondin, president of the Cove at Livingston Farms HOA, urges county commissioners to deny a rezoning request for higher density on a 13-acre site.

By Bill Moss, Published: August 6, 2024

Henderson County commissioners voted 4-1 on Monday to deny a rezoning request that neighboring homeowners warned could have cleared the way for an apartment complex in the Livingston Farms area of Hoopers Creek.

The rejection of the rezoning request came after homeowners in the Cove and the Reserve at Livingston Farms implored the board to deny the rezoning, citing traffic, quality of life, pressure on schools and other factors.

Landowners Kenneth and Alline Rhodes and Hoopers Creek Land LLC had sought a rezoning of the 13-acre tract from R2R residential to R1 residential, the highest density category.

“This is not a request for apartments,” Jesse Swords, the applicants’ attorney, told commissioners. “If the plan was for apartments we would be here in a totally different setting in a totally different process. That’s not the plan here.”

Livingston Farms homeowners submitted a petition against the development containing 340 signatures and in a statement read by HOA board member Phyllis Benbow expressed strong opposition to the rezoning.

“Our large neighborhood is comprised mostly of retirees and families,” she said. “Many of our residents, who are retired, chose to buy a home in Livingston Farms as a quiet calm place to live out their golden years while others chose it to be a peaceful place to raise a family. No one in our community signed up to live next to a high-density neighborhood or apartment buildings that could obstruct our mountain views.

“There are many in our neighborhood with justified concerns of the impact this zoning could have on our roads, local wildlife, watershed, our creek, crime rates and the unwanted foot traffic on our community’s trail system and common areas that our residents pay to maintain.

“I’m not sure how familiar you all are with the tiny and winding roads in that area, but they are not suited for the type of high traffic that would be associated with the volume of housing proposed.”

Another homeowner pointed out that the large DR Horton development on the former Tap Root dairy property on Butler Bridge Road had been redistricted to the Fletcher Elementary, Apple Valley Middle and North Henderson High School zone, the same district that serves the Hoopers Creek Valley.

Commissioner Bill Lapsley said the current zoning, which allows just two single-family dwellings per acre, is the proper land-use for the area. If the county granted the R1 rezoning, he said, the developer would be entitled to build to the highest density that R1 permits, whatever the current plans are. Commissioners approved Lapsley’s motion to deny the rezoning request on a 4-1 vote with Commissioner David Hill voting no.

“He is surrounded by quarter-acre lots,” Hill said. “They’re basically trying to mimic what’s around them. They’re basically asking for what’s there.”