There were several concerns on the minds of residents of the new Bentley Point subdivision at a City of Henderson hosted informational session Wednesday evening.
Bentley Drive resident Penny Hahn listed property values, lighting, noise, trash and the possibility of people walking through their properties as concerns once a tract of land that abuts the neighborhood is developed.
They also wanted to know about a planned Loop Road that would start at point near behind the Walmart shopping center, cut through the 40-acre city-owned tract of land and then trace I-69 for about 1 ½ miles before curving to meet U.S. 60 at Wathen Lane.
The meeting was held after concerns were raised about development plans for the parcel at a recent Henderson City-County Planning Commission meeting. The city is pursuing getting the parcel rezoned from its current Planned Unit Development classification to Highway Commercial, which officials explained Wednesday night would allow for parking regulations more amenable with developers interested in the property.
More than 20 people attended Wednesday’s meeting, which was held at the meeting room of the Henderson Municipal Power & Light office.
One of the major concerns about the Loop Road, according to Hahn, is that residents were nervous that it is planned to be built right along the boundary of the neighborhood.
City officials as well as an engineer working with the city told the audience that the Loop Road would run as close to I-69 as would be allowed, which would allow space between the neighborhood and the road.
Hahn said her property abuts an open field, and looking out from her back yard, she can see the future I-69 about a half-mile away. Between her backyard and the interstate is a tract of privately owned property.
Those property owners of the tracts that the Loop Road is proposed to cut through have already agreed to donate the right of way, and the design for the Loop Road will occur over the next two years with $2 million funding coming from state government, Mayor Brad Staton said.
Residents were also concerned about the type of businesses that could come to the development. A comment heard more than once at the meeting was that residents don’t want a Dollar General store there.
Staton said the city is currently creating the property’s restrictive covenants, which are provisions that will be attached to the land that outlines how it can be used. Staton said the businesses that the city intends to recruit—including retail, hotels and restaurants—will be companies that are comparable to the businesses that are already located in Hoffman Plaza.
Staton said writing the restrictive covenants can be a complex process with officials determining what types of businesses are desired on the property and how to precisely and legally write that.
Staton and Assistant City Manager Buzzy Newman both said that the businesses that end up locating there will most likely help to increase nearby residential property values because the city intends to attract businesses that people want.
Staton said that “actual development,” however, is not occurring presently, as city focuses on the steps to get the property ready for that development.
The mayor did tell the Hendersonian, however, that the city most likely will sell the tract to a single developer who will then attempt to find the businesses to locate there. Staton said that that a reasonable target for the city to go to market with the property is six to nine months. And he added that it will probably be 1 ½ to two years before there’s a ground-breaking for any business on the property.
Another concern was that some residents said they weren’t told the area would be developed when they bought their homes, all of which have been purchased in the past few years. Both Staton and Newman said that it wasn’t the city that told them that.
“(Developing) this is something the city has been looking at for a few years now,” Staton said.
Another topic residents wanted addressed was the buffering between the development and the neighborhood. Newman said that there is currently a tree line there and more trees can be added to muffle sound and limit light exposure to homes.
Finally, many of the property owners present have homes that abut a triangular piece of the tract situated south of the neighborhood. They said they were worried that piece of the parcel would be developed, but Staton said that the city is looking at turning that triangular piece into a park of some sort.
The city owns only the 40-acre tract of land, while private landowners hold tracts that stretch east to the juncture of U.S. 60 and the future I-69. Staton said during the meeting that he believes the area where the Loop Road is proposed to intersect with U.S. 60 would be a prime area for more development.
As it is, those privately held tracts of land would be developed by the landowners. There would be public hearings as there are with any development, including those concerning rezonings, and residents can speak and present at those.
A public hearing about the 40-acre property’s rezoning had been scheduled for the Sept. 1 meeting of the planning commission. It has been rescheduled to the Oct. 6 planning commission meeting after planning commission staff found a clerical error in the official notice to advertise to the public.
