Hendersonville seeking public comment on Gen H comprehensive plan
The city of Hendersonville is seeking public input for the final stages of the new comprehensive plan.
The plan, known as Gen H, has been in development for about a year, according to city spokesperson Allison Justus. This comprehensive plan is an update to the one created in 2009 that was meant to “look forward” to 2030. Gen H will look “out to 2045 and beyond,” Justus told the Times-News June 4.
A news release announcing the intent to ask for feedback said the name "Gen H" comes from the desire “to foster a generational perspective on Hendersonville’s future.”
Justus said the comprehensive plan process began about a year ago with initial stakeholder interviews. There have been four phases throughout the process: Preparing, developing, refining and confirming the updated “vision” for Hendersonville.
The comprehensive plan lists several "big ideas" for the future of the city:
Transform gateways and corridors
Connect people to the great outdoors
Catalyze small business and innovation
Leverage partnerships to protect Apple Country
Engage multi-pronged approach to affordable and accessible housing
Strengthen community placemaking
Protect and restore natural systems
“We did a lot of community engagement and really we’ve done community engagement along every step of the process,” Justus said.
For this plan, community engagement involved holding public meetings, open houses and surveys.
“We’ve been really thrilled to hear from the community on this one,” Justus said.
The draft Gen H comprehensive plan was posted on the city of Hendersonville’s website May 31, along with a survey for residents to give feedback. The survey goes through the plan chapter by chapter, allowing residents to provide comments on each section.
This survey is available online through June 17.
Justus said in addition to the draft of the comprehensive plan being available to view online, a copy is also available at the Henderson County Public Library main branch at 301 North Washington St. and at the customer service window at City Hall at 160 6th Ave. East.
Public comment will also be accepted at two final meetings before the plan is scheduled to be adopted.
The first of these meetings will be at the planning board's presentation of Gen H. This presentation will be held June 24 at 4 p.m. at the city operations building at 305 Williams St. Public comment will be accepted at this meeting.
Hendersonville City Council will hold a public hearing for the comprehensive plan July 10 at 5:45 p.m. during the regular session meeting. This meeting will also be held at the city operations building. Comments will be accepted in person, via Zoom or in pre-submitted written form.
Following these public comment opportunities, Hendersonville city staff and the comprehensive plan consultant team will make revisions. The Gen H comprehensive plan is tentatively scheduled to be adopted by City Council Aug. 1.
Justus said the city wants this comprehensive plan to be a “vision of the community” because it directly effects the people of Hendersonville, particularly when it comes to future land use.
“This comprehensive plan represents a vision for the community and how it grows,” Justus said. “it’s been important to City Council and city staff that throughout this entire development process, the community has been driving these ideas and these visions about how they want to see our community adapt and grow into the future.”
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Karrigan Monk is the reporter for Black Mountain News and Hendersonville Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Hendersonville seeking public comment on comprehensive plan
