Laurel Park officials Tuesday approved a six-month delay for the preliminary plat approval for a contentious development proposed on Brevard Road.
The 180-day delay follows a one-year delay approved in August 2019 by the Town Council, as developers work their way through court proceedings related to the project, the Cottages at Arcadia Views.
Phase one of the project calls for 56 housing units consisting of 28 one-story duplexes on 16 acres. With five phases in all, the project calls for a total 199 housing units on 90 acres.
Mark Kopcienski, with developer WXZ Development, told the council that developers have gained all necessary approvals to start work, including permits from the city of Hendersonville and the state Department of Water Resources, but are now dealing with a challenge to the NCDWR permit.
Early this year, a group of residents submitted a 240-signature petition to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality urging it to reject the development’s sewer connection permit and all other similar applications.
They argue that any increase in sewer flow to Hendersonville’s collection system will increase the frequency and magnitude of sanitary sewer overflows.
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Sewer capacity isn’t the only issue residents have with the project. Neighbors have been outspoken as well about the traffic loads a 199-unit development would add to an already busy U.S. 64.
Kopcienski explained that a petitioner took action with the state Office of Administrative Hearings, described on its website as an independent agency providing a forum for resolution of contested cases between citizens and state agencies.
“We’re hoping to get clear of that in the near future and go out there and get to work,” he said.
A hearing is scheduled for the first week of September, Kopcienski said, adding that developers have been assured by the state attorney general’s office, which is representing NCDWR in the case, that they’ll receive a favorable outcome, expected within the next 60 days.
“We are ready to start and are far more anxious than the town of Laurel Park is, considering the millions of dollars that have been invested in this project to date,” Kopcienski told the council.
Once the case is resolved, he said developers can close the loan and get to work.
The council pressed Kopcienski for some kind of financial security, with Commissioner Paul Hansen expressing his concern and saying the town has “been through several iterations on this property.”
The motion to approve the extension, which passed unanimously, approved the 180-day extension period, with the understanding that if another extension is needed, the developers would issue a performance bond or some other sort of financial security for the project.
Kopcienski told the council that developers currently have a commitment from a lender to completely finance the project which can’t be closed until the petition issue is finalized.