"Our commissioners bought this property for over $1M!"

This letter to the editor appeared in the October 27 - November 2 Hendersonville Tribune. I was unable to get a link, so I'm just posting it here. The following is from Glover McMurray of Hendersonville:

To the Editor: Our school system has laid off teachers and can't afford enough ink nor paper for their printers.

They need mulch for the somewhat dangerous playgrounds that are 7 percent finished and can't afford that!

Maybe our soccer players will get famous and donate large sums of money to Henderson County just to support our commissioners' ego and their appetite for large spending. Being conservative is not in our local politicians' vocabulary.

"County buying Highland Lake Golf Club for park with nine soccer fields"

A lot of the points brought up in this article are missing from the Times-News piece, such as the village having to sign off on the zoning--something we need to look into. Pete Zamplas of the Hendersonville Tribune, a weekly paper, has an in-depth article on the county deal for Highland Lake Golf Club:

The county’s ‘project business plan’ notes the option for a driving range, but only among future amenities as a range already exists there. It seems cheaper to leave it there and to add netting to protect any nearby soccer players, rather than to build one elsewhere on the property. However, the range is on of one the site’s flattest portions, with soccer fields tentatively pegged for it. The range is near the clubhouse which can be used for concessions or other uses....

Highland Lake’s soccer fields could be ready by August, 2012, Sparks and Davis told The Tribune. They are first in line to build fields which the county designs. The non-profit Henderson County Soccer Association (HCSA) will contract for the work. The county, which will pitch in $100,000, projects costs at $225,000 for nine soccer fields. HCSA covers the rest....

A critical factor in the affordability of the project is that 60 percent of the $1.15 million price can possibly be offset by the county’s pending sale of the Nuckolls Building for restaurateur Bob Quattlebaum’s $700,000 offer or any higher “upset” bid in the next month. Commissioners set that process into motion, too, in their Oct. 19 meeting.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Edney told The Tribune he sees the possibility of linkage, wanting Nuckolls’sale revenue dedicated to Highland Lake Park. The money originally was factored into helping pay off the Law Enforcement Center, as Nuckolls housed the sheriff’s offices at Main Street and Second Avenue.

Some Highland Lake Park foes contend that such money actually just reverses county budget cuts, such as for education and library staff. The commissioner voting against the golf course purchase, Larry Young, wanted to hold off on new spending. “This economy is not going to turn around — not for three or four years,” Young said. “I don’t think this project is a priority, right now.”

Young cautioned that the park’s “maintenance and debt service payments will be probably $400,000 a year.” But county staff estimates the park’s yearly soccer field maintenance as $34,550 with an extra $158,897 as the debt payment starting in 2012-13, should the county accept the course owners’ offer of borrowing over 10 years with 4 percent interest.

Additional larger costs are for $230,000 to eventually light the soccer fields, and another $419,450 for basic park equipment and other amenities more easily put off. Interim Assistant County Manager David Whitson’s estimates include $15,000 for a playground, $30,000 for a dog park, $88,000 for four picnic shelters, $41,000 for restrooms, $16,000 for 40 picnic tables and $9,000 for an 18-hole disk golf course....

Vice Chairman Tommy Thompson echoed Edney’s point of how location is critical, with the site on the edge of the Village of Flat Rock near I-26’s Upward Road exit. The village needs to sign off on zoning for park development....

The more centrally located Highland Lake Park beat out a soccer complex HCSA had hoped to develop off U.S. 25 by Fletcher, on 51 of the 96 acres ArvinMeritor donated to the Town of Fletcher....

Read it all.

HCSA presentation at October 19 board meeting

Here is a link to the presentation that the Henderson County Soccer Association gave at the Henderson County Board of Commissioners meeting on October 19.

You'll notice the first page is the public input sign-up sheet for that meeting, and that seven people signed up to speak about soccer/recreation. All seven spoke in favor of the land acquisition and soccer complex, perhaps because no one else in the community knew that this issue was in the works.

Letters to the editor update

Great letter in today's Times-News on the proposed soccer complex from Allen Smith of Hendersonville:

The commissioners’ $1.15 million decision to purchase Highland Lake Golf Course is an insult to open government principles as well as a very clear shot from the hip. Perhaps it was a clever move to acquire 65 acres of flood plain property without a development study. Have they noticed that all the golf course greens are raised?

A most casual review reveals that several other areas are already developing soccer facilities, namely Fletcher, Mills River, Edneyville Community Park, as well as the recently improved Jackson Park fields. How many are needed?

Isn’t there a local government team or council that reviews overall sports and recreation facilities? Where’s its report? Also noteworthy is Hendersonville’s plan to create another park adjacent to Harris Teeter’s new complex. The $1.15 million commitment should have been studied and openly reviewed.

Surely what follows the Highland Lake soccer field development is the significant operating cost of personnel, irrigation, lights and parking as well as expanding Henderson County Recreation management burden. It’s doubtful that the soccer league will pay these ongoing expenses. Ultimately, this will become a taxpayer cost.

I have a better idea for the commissioners: Just buy it and play golf.

Click here to see the Times-News Letter Policy.

A report from the trenches

Just received an email that describes what living next to just one soccer field is like--imagine nine of them:

We have ONE soccer field below our Seattle home (it sits about 60 feet below us). It is city owned, used by soccer, baseball and softball teams, adult and children's leagues. The lights can be on as late as 11 p.m. and as we are right above it we can always tell when a goal or run has been scored. Lots of cheering, even as early as 8 a.m.

Also people will park on both sides of our residential street, which is also the bike route, creating lots of opportunity for accidents and injury. 

As a city, and thus an urban location, we haven't minded the field (it was here before our home was built) but it also serves a population of 600,000. And it is one of many spread out in different neighborhoods to minimize traffic and travel. In Hendersonville, where rapid transit is practically non-existent, you will have at least one car per player--do the math and that's a significant impact on the neighborhood. And the environmental impact to the creeks, streams and rivers when the chemicals used to make the grass on the fields green have runoff.

Good luck, it sure doesn't seem like a good idea to me!

Letters abounding

There's been an overwhelming response to the proposed soccer complex in writing letters to the newspaper and the Henderson County Board of Commissioners. Thanks to everyone for making their views knows. Below is an excerpt from one such letter:

The purchase of the 65 acre Highland Lake Golf Club in Flat Rock from Course Doctors Inc., to convert the property to a soccer complex and public park raises several questions:

• Could the Henderson County Board of Commissioners have applied the $1.15 million to a more suitable location within the county for less money?

• What will the maintenance and debt service amount to a year, and every year? One estimate has stated to probably be $400,000 plus.

• What about the increased traffic and road issues that will bring some 2,000 plus visitors and players to the soccer field activities? Is the state DOT aware of this proposal? Has the DOT been asked for a study ?

• How will the residents living near the park handle the noise and additional traffic volume?

• What will be the environmental and financial impact on homeowners near the park?

• What about the impact to Season's Restaurant and the Flat Rock Playhouse?

• How will the buffer area along perennial streams or along the water’s edge of a lake or designated wetland border be affected?  (See Section 911. Riparian buffers adjacent to streams, lakes and designated wetlands)

• What will happen to the existing trees and landscape of the former Highland Lake Golf Club acreage?

It appears to us that the County is about to destroy a peaceful, beautiful and quiet environment and convert it into an ugly, noisy congested mess just to satisfy the whims of a few hundred soccer enthusiasts. Certainly a better less destructive plan could be implemented to satisfy those needs!

I don't think anyone is against soccer per se, but we are very concerned about putting nine soccer fields in the location the County is proposing.

Timeline of events: Part 3

See Part 1 and Part 2 below.
A final series of events, and now we're up to the present:

7. This Monday, October 31, there is a 9:30 a.m. regularly scheduled agenda meeting for the Village of Flat Rock at 110 Village Center Drive. My understanding is that Clement Riddle, president of the Henderson County Soccer Association, and Mike Edney, county commissioner and representative for District 1 (Flat Rock), will be there to give a presentation.

8. The next scheduled meeting of the Henderson County commissioners is on Monday, November 7, at 5:30 p.m., at 1 Historic Courthouse Square, Hendersonville, NC. Meetings are taped and can be seen on Henderson County Government Channel 11.
If you want to speak to the Board during the public comment period (three-minute time limit per person), sign up just before the regular meeting time.

Also, you can now view the Board of Commissioners’ meetings live online. During regularly scheduled meeting times, go to  www.hendersoncountync.org/links/video.html and click “Live Streaming Broadcast” to view meetings in real time. If you're unable to view the meetings during the regularly scheduled times, you can see archived videos by visiting www.hendersoncountync.org/agendas/index.html.

9. The Village of Flat Rock regularly scheduled council meeting is on Thursday, November 10, at 9:30 a.m. and the proposed soccer complex should be on the agenda for that meeting.

Timeline of events: Part 2

See Part 1 below.
Local residents had no prior knowledge of the county's purchase, but now the community knows what's going on, so things have started to happen:

3. I sent an email out to an existing neighborhood list:

For those who may not know, Henderson County has entered into an option to buy the Highland Lake Golf Club. They plan to create a soccer complex with park space and a walking trail. The complex as described in a draft design would include additional parking, 3 adult regulation soccer fields, 6 U12 (junior) regulation soccer fields, with the potential for night play (high-intensity lights) and added entrances to the new parking off of North Highland by the dam. The Henderson County Soccer Association, which holds camps and competitive soccer play, is heavily involved, and hopes to promote more youth soccer and adult soccer.

Click here for the Henderson Times News story, and click here for the Times News editorial in support of the purchase.

I’m interested in keeping up with what is happening with this, and would like as many as possible to have info on the situation, so I plan to email any information I get to this email list. Let me know if you have any other names you would like to add.

What I’ve done so far: I have talked with Judy Boleman, zoning administrator for the Village. She confirmed that all of the Highland Lake Golf property is within the municipal lines for the Village of Flat Rock. It is currently zoned for recreational use, so the soccer complex fits into that zoning. The majority of the land is a designated flood plane, so any development would have to conform to the village flood plane requirements. Any installation of traffic lights or additional entrances onto any roads would have to be approved by the North Carolina Dept of Transportation, not Henderson County. My understanding from Judy is that the state does not require any additional traffic, noise, or environmental studies on the property.

The county has until Dec. 31 to finalize the purchase, which will be seller financed by the owner of the golf club. I have a draft document produced by the county titled “Business Plan for the Proposed Highland Lake Park,” last updated Oct. 11, 2011, prepared by the assistant county manager, the director of county parks & recreation, and a county internal auditor—anyone who wants a copy, let me know and I can email it to you.

Several communities obviously are directly affected, including Staton Woods (right across the creek) and Highland Golf Villas (they look out over the golf course and share the entrance with the club). Those two homeowners associations are meeting this evening to talk about the issue—I plan to be there to hear what their concerns are. Others impacted include the Highland Lake Inn, Highland Lake Village, any property owners around the lake, and anyone worried about increased traffic and noise in the area.

There are several areas of concern:

• Increased traffic
• Increased noise
• Light pollution
• Decreased property values
• Elimination of trees on property
• Location of parking lots
• Speed at which the county is optioning this—have they looked at other sites for soccer, why aren’t they upgrading the soccer fields at Jackson Park (which are in poor condition) instead, etc.

In addition, while the county is promoting this as a win for business and the Village, I can say, from seeing these types of complexes in California, there will be basically two demographics using the fields: 1) parents with their young children (who will most likely stop off at the fast-food places near I-26 and Upward Road after the weekend games) and 2) adult males (who will also not contribute much to the Village since they will be stopping after work and then heading home). I see very little interest in either of these two groups in visiting the Flat Rock Bakery or the Wrinkled Egg. The proposed use also includes hosting tournaments with all of the added noise and traffic that would bring.

I’m afraid all this does for Historic Flat Rock is “suburbanize” it.

4. The Highland Golf Villas Homeowners Association called a meeting for their members and the Staton Woods homeowners for Wednesday, October 26, at the Henderson County Public Library. Many other members of the community came as well.After the meeting, I wrote a recap of what I heard:

Here’s an update on the meeting held last night about the proposed county acquisition of the Highland Lake Golf Club for development of a soccer complex:

• The meeting was called by the Highland Golf Villas Homeowners Association (HOA) primarily for their development as well as Staton Woods (right across the creek) but others were welcome.
• Ed Foster, head of the HOA, handled the meeting.
• Since the Villas had called the meeting, their homeowners spoke first.
• One of the first questions was about legal recourse. Ed said that the HOA would be talking today (Thursday) with legal counsel to investigate their options. The Highland Golf Villas HOA is spearheading this effort, so if you have any questions about the steps they’re taking (or any help you can offer), contact Ed.
• Concerns ranged from loss of view to noise to crime to questions about the county’s handling of the purchase negotiations. There was also concern that Course Doctors, the company that owns the golf course, is also slated to develop the soccer complex—is this a conflict of interest or a conflict with the county rules on bidding out projects.
• After homeowners from the Villas spoke, the floor was opened to all. Many people from Highland Lake Village (the development across from the Inn) spoke up and expressed their concerns.
• The general consensus seems to be that a soccer complex would negatively affect not only the homeowners surrounding the golf course but the area in general with increased noise, traffic, crime, and both light and car pollution. There was also concern about how the county handled the deal.
• The Henderson County commissioner who specifically represents Flat Rock (district 1) is Mike Edney, commission chair. He is in favor of the soccer complex, but it never hurts to let elected officials hear from their constituents. His office number is 828.697.4808 and his email is jmedney@hendersoncountync.org

The Village of Flat Rock is having an agenda meeting this Monday (10/31) at 9:30 to set their agenda for the next general council meeting (11/10). I believe the HOA and others plan to ask that this issue be put on the council’s agenda. I will be at the Monday meeting and will let you know what, if anything, happens.

Also, please write the Times-News to let them know how the community feels about this.  Click here to see my letter to the editor published in today’s paper. I wrote this on Saturday, the paper called on Tuesday to verify I was a real person, and it was published today, so it can take a few days but the more letters against this they receive, the more they should publish.

5. I sent a letter to the editor that was published on Thursday, October 27:

To the editor: Proponents of the proposed soccer complex say that the county must acquire the Highland Lake Golf Club to build new fields because the fields at Jackson Park (a mere two miles away) are in “poor condition.”

Here’s a novel idea — take the $1.15 million that the county has to buy the golf course (and add in the unknown amount that will be needed to actually build the complex) and use it to upgrade and redo the fields at Jackson Park. Why leave the fields in disrepair when apparently there is more than enough money to fix them now?

Henderson County needs to take care of what it has already built, not spend money it doesn’t have to acquire property it can ill afford to develop.

 6.  A Times-News editorial again referenced the county purchase of the Highland Lake Golf Club in its editorial of October 28 calling for funding support for Balfour Education Center:

It is not ideal when one of our schools has to enter an online contest to pay for badly needed renovations, but the community should get behind Balfour Education Center’s quest to fix its dilapidated gym.

The county’s alternative school is seeking a $50,000 grant through the Clorox Power for A Bright Future contest....

A glance at PowerABrightFuture.com shows Balfour faces stiff competition from schools with pressing needs across the nation. The fact that the school has to participate in such a contest has at least one resident questioning Henderson County’s priorities.


“We can’t afford to fix this gym, but we can afford to lose property tax revenue on a bailed out golf course and pay $1.15 million (for starters) for a soccer complex? OK, I got it now,” said critic Dennis Justice in a Facebook post commenting on the Times-News’ article.

Justice was referring to the county’s decision to buy the 65-acre Highland Lake Golf Club with funding help from the Henderson County Soccer Association, Park Ridge Health and Boyd Automotive. That move has plenty of residents questioning the priorities of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, coming as it did on the heals of a 7.5 percent cut for schools and all county departments.

Whatever residents feel about that decision, or about a school having to enter a contest to fix its run-down gym, Balfour deserves support....

And on to Timeline of events: Part 3...

Timeline of events: Part 1

Here's what started it all:

1. An article appeared in the Hendersonville (NC) Times-News on October 20:

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners voted today to purchase the Highland Lake Golf Club in Flat Rock to convert the property to a soccer complex and public park.

In a 4-1 vote, commissioners agreed to buy the 65-acre site, currently a 9-hole public course, for $1.15 million.

Commissioner Larry Young was the lone dissenter. He said he could not support the project at a time when the county has cut its budget by 7.5 percent.

Park Ridge Health President and CEO Jimm Bunch pledged $100,000 toward the project. Les Boyd of Boyd Automotive said his company also would make a significant financial contribution, but he did not name a precise dollar amount.

2. Then the Times-News followed up with an editorial in support of the Henderson County purchase in Sunday's paper, October 23:

County commissioners showed foresight in their decision last week to buy the Highland Lake Golf Club in Flat Rock to convert the property to a soccer complex and public park.

Some residents will question the decision to spend $1.15 million on a park in tough economic times with the county cutting services and funding for schools and all departments.

However, the terms of the deal should allow the county to recoup the purchase costs through a partnership with the Henderson County Soccer Association. The park will fill a longstanding need for adult and youth soccer fields and benefit all residents...

The county plans to buy the property from the present owners, Course Doctors Inc. The soccer association will share revenue generated from camps and tournaments hosted at the new park to help the county recoup costs....

Read it all, and then check out the Timeline of events, Part 2.