Politics

Council says no to 3-story condo project on 1st Avenue

The Hendersonville City Council denied a rezoning to allow the First Avenue Villas, which would contain 16 units in two three-story buildings. [ARCHITECT SARAH MCCORMICK]

By Bill Moss, Published: November 15, 2024

The Hendersonville City Council said no last week to an upscale development of 16 condos in two three-story buildings on a half-acre lot in the 300  block of First Avenue West.

In a 4-1 vote, council members denied a rezoning request to allow the proposed First Avenue Villas, agreeing with neighbors’ complaints about scale and density. The council’s vote came despite support for the change in a planning staff report, from the city planning board and in the applicants’ presentation. All described the villas as exactly the sort of infill development the newly adopted GenH comp plan calls for to combat sprawl.

But two council members said while they favored infill development they would draw the line closer to Main Street.

“The main part of downtown is going to be in between Church and King Street,” Lyndsey Simpson said. “The next level is going to be between Church and Washington or King and Grove, and then the next level, where this project is going to be at, would be right next to residential. So if this were three stories on Washington Street, I would be thinking a lot differently about it than it being right next to residential housing.”

Solution to urban sprawl

The development was proposed for a vacant lot at 320 First Avenue West across from the First Church of the Nazarene.

“Provision of 16 additional housing units on a relatively small infill parcel
will put residents within close proximity to employment, shopping,
recreation,” a planning analysis said.

Brian Gulden, who represented applicant Rafique Charania, echoed that, saying higher density residential near the city center is an ideal way to rein in urban sprawl.

“The benefit that you get, if you have infill development, which the Gen H plan wants to see in this area of downtown, is walkability,” he said. “So folks that live outside (the city) are going to be able to come in and buy these condos to live closer to where they work, where they get entertainment, where they shop, where they read their books at the library.”

To the charge that the villas would lead the way to west-moving gentrification, he said:  “We’re not taking an old house that offers affordable housing to build new condos. We’re not displacing anybody from the community.”

More single-family homes, he said, would only exacerbate sprawl.

“You put one house on that lot, the other 17 have to go somewhere else,” he said. “If you put 18 houses on that lot you’re preventing that urban sprawl that then eats up the apple orchards and the farms. It is right there in the opening statement of the Gen H. The No. 1 thing that the Gen H comp plan wanted to do was to increase the density close to downtown for development, so that urban sprawl would cease and you could preserve more of your agriculture land and your forested land. Being close, less traffic.”

Council member Jennifer Hensley, who cast the only vote in favor of the project, said a vacant lot in a desirable close-in area invites development.

“Would the neighbors support any development on the property, and if so, what would they support on the property? My worry is, what would be approved there, because something is going to go there. And then, let’s say they do agree to bring it down to two stories. Instead of 450, they’re going to be 550 to $600,000 now.”

‘We have to draw the line somewhere’

Council member Jeff Miller shared the view of residents and other council members.

“We all agree that in-fill is an answer for some of the housing issues but one size doesn’t fit all,” he said. “I have do issues with the height.”

Simpson also said the development was the right idea in the wrong place.

“We need infill development, we need density,” she said. “I know that, I've been pushing for that, but we have to draw a line somewhere. There are not any of these three-story buildings on First. There are on Fifth and Sixth but those are more thoroughfares than First is.”

Tamara Peacock, the architect for the villas, warned that if the council is to fulfill the goals of its new comp plan, it will have to be open to larger buildings among single-family homes.

“As a community, I feel we’re going to see a lot more attempts at this infill, and we’ll have to do some really deep thinking about how much uncomfortable scale can we tolerate?” she said. “The buildings around are bigger and you do have a church across the street. Within a block or two, there are several buildings that are over 30 feet tall.”