News

Hoopers Creek landowners seek OK for 38 townhomes on 10 acres

The county Planning Board this week will consider a request to allow townhomes on a 10-acre site surrounded to the east, south and west by the Cove at Livingston Farms and the Reserve at Livingston Farms.

By Bill Moss, Published: November 10, 2024

FLETCHER — Owners of a 10-acre tract of land on Hooper's Creek Road are seeking the county's approval to build 38 townhomes on the property 10 weeks after the Henderson County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to deny a rezoning application allowing a higher density development.

Landowners Kenneth and Alline Rhodes are seeking a rezoning this go-round from residential two rural (R2R) to conditional zoning.

In a 4-1 vote last August, commissioners rejected the Rhodes's request to rezone the land to R-1 after the Planning Board voted 7-1 to recommend denial. Homeowners in the Cove at Livingston Farms and the Reserve at Livingston Farms, subdivisions that surround the 9.85-acre site on three sides, strongly opposed the land-use change, citing traffic, quality of life, pressure on schools, stormwater runoff and other factors. R-1 zoning permits up to 10 units per acre and structures as high as 40 feet, although the applicants' attorney insisted apartments were not the intent.

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing and take up the request at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the county building, 100 N. King St.

A conditional use rezoning can be more palatable for homeowners because it allows commissioners to impose restrictions and require amenities. The rezoning application seeks approval for 19 structures no more than 32 feet high containing two townhomes each. Plans outline lots of one-tenth-acre, 10-foot side and rear setbacks, four acres of open space, a planted buffer along a creek and 5-foot sidewalks. The development would be served by a 24-foot private road.

The development would be compatible with a goal of the newly adopted 2045 Comprehensive Plan to “diversify housing choices and increase availability” and encourage infill development in areas served by water and sewer, a planning staff analysis said. The size of the development was below the density that triggers a traffic impact analysis, planners said.