News

Short one, city council pushes First Avenue rezoning to October

Edward King, who lives near First Avenue and Fleming Street, spoke against plans for the First Avenue Villas during a public hearing Thursday.

By Amy McCraw, Published: September 6, 2024

The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday evening delayed making a decision on whether it will allow a proposed development on First Avenue West, citing the need for the full board's deliberation of the intensely watched request.

The development, called First Avenue Villas, will again come before the council on Oct. 3.
Council voted to postpone a vote after council member Melinda P. Lowrance asked to move consideration of the proposed three-story development to October. Council member Jeff Miller agreed, saying it would be better to have the full council in attendance before a vote. Mayor Barbara Volk was absent on Thursday night.
The move to delay a decision on the proposal came after several people spoke against the request during public hearing.
Penny Gash Pearson, a Hendersonville native who lives on Third Avenue, implored the council to deny the rezoning request because, she said, the price is not affordable, the design is out of character with the historic neighborhood and infrastructure around it is insufficient.
“I would like someone to care,” she said. “This matters to me. It matters to my family. Who is gonna care? Who’s gonna do something about it?”
Edward King, who lives near First Avenue and Fleming Street, said he had built homes in the past and questioned the proposed development’s plans for parking. He said he was also concerned about how the development will increase traffic on a road that is often crowded.
“Hendersonville, if they want to grow, grow responsibly. This is not it,” he said.
Others questioned locating the development in an area with historic homes nearby.
Ken Fitch, who lives on Patton Street, called the development a market-rate condominium project with three stories that did not complement the historic community. He urged the council to “consider the unique cultural and historic context” of the area, which includes homes built in 1882, 1902 and 1906.
Developers are asking to amend the existing Commercial Mixed Use Conditional Zoning District for the construction of two three-story buildings with 16 residential units on a .57-acre lot. The lot at 320 First Ave. West, currently vacant with groves of trees, would contain two buildings with a footprint of 2,432 square feet each and total area of 18,832 square feet.
The Hendersonville Planning Board in August unanimously recommended approval of the rezoning request to allow the First Avenue Villas but not before a long discussion on whether west-facing balconies imposed an “unreasonable loss of privacy” on neighbors.
An attorney for the developers of the project on Thursday said plans include moveable bamboo boxes to give privacy to neighbors. He said the First Church of the Nazarene near the proposed development had also agreed to allow Villas residents to park in the church parking lot at times when they are not in use by the church.