WSJ: We’re from the Government and we’re here to build a bike path

From the Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall so below is just a snippet): . . . The practice of government taking land for recreational uses—typically bike lanes, hiking paths and fashionable “rail trails” and “greenways”—is spreading across the country, marking a sharp and troubling expansion of eminent domain. The Takings Clause of the Constitution’s...

City of Hendersonville online survey on city projects

The City of Hendersonville has an online survey for community input on current city projects, including downtown parking, parking deck, police station, fire stations, mini-golf and tennis court relocation, downtown hotel, and 7th Avenue streetscape.

Council meeting location change

The February 13 Flat Rock Village Council regular meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. in the Rudnick Community Room at The Park at Flat Rock (55 Highland Golf Drive) due to the Board of Elections use of the Flat Rock village hall for early voting.

Mathematicians have solved traffic jams, and they’re begging cities to listen

From an article in Fast Company: Most traffic jams are unnecessary, and this deeply irks mathematicians who specialize in traffic flow. They reserve particular vitriol for local transport engineers. “They do not have competencies in the field of system-related increases in traffic performance,” says Alexander Krylatov, a mathematics professor at St. Petersburg University. “If engineers...

News & Observer: NCDOT says finances have stabilized but remain precarious, hoping the weather holds

From The Charlotte News & Observer: Few people are hoping for a snow-free winter in North Carolina as much as the leaders of the N.C. Department of Transportation. NCDOT’s finances have stabilized since last spring, when unexpected expenses forced the department to begin cutting back on everything from fixing bridges to mowing grass. A big...

T-N letter to the editor: Pandora’s box

From today's Times-News letters to the editor: Pandora's box To the editor: It is with dismay that other municipalities are able to override the voters’ will of Flat Rock and get to weigh in on the future of the village. The Highland Lake Road project was a vision that was voted down by electing new...

T-N: Board backs funding for North Highland Lake Road project over Flat Rock’s objections

From the Times-News: The North Highland Lake Road improvement project will proceed as planned after Flat Rock’s request to defund the project was declined by the French Broad Metropolitan Planning Organization Board. The board - comprised of members from governments in Henderson, Buncombe, Transylvania, Haywood and Madison counties - voted 15-1 to continue funding the...

WLOS: Controversial Highland Lake Road project still alive

From WLOS (video at the link): HENDERSON COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A motion to kill a controversial road widening project in Henderson County failed Thursday. People against the Highland Lake Road project packed a meeting of the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization, hoping to stop the widening. The plan is to widen the road from...

Hendersonville Lightning: MPO rejects Flat Rock’s appeal to kill road project

From the Hendersonville Lightning online: Pinecrest Presbyterian Church shipped a busload of commenters and dozens more filled the meeting room as the French Broad River MPO took up the Highland Lake Road project on Thursday in the most crucial vote to date on the project. After more than 90 minutes of public comment and discussion...

On Thursday, January 23, the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Board will have their monthly meeting at 1:00 p.m. at 339 New Leicester Highway, Suite 140, in Asheville. On the agenda for discussion is the N. Highland Lake Road project. This meeting is open to the public and allows public comments (usually there...

T-N letter to the editor: Road project

From today's Times-News letters to the editor: Road project Regardless of one’s views about the North Highland Lake Road project, two facts are central to the dispute: The road does not meet NCDOT’s metrics to justify the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, and the voters of Flat Rock expressed their will at the ballot box in...

Gateway to historic Flat Rock

A short video produced by local residents on the effects of the N. Highland Lake Road project

Times-News: Henderson County commissioners vote to support Highland Lake Road project in Flat Rock

From the Times-News online: The widening of the controversial North Highland Lake Road project will not face a roadblock from the Henderson County Board of Commissioners following a unanimous vote Wednesday to continue support for the project. Commissioners said they must consider the county as a whole when looking at the project, as drivers from...

Hendersonville Lightning: Transportation advisers endorse Highland Lake Road project

From the Hendersonville Lightning online: Another day brought another overflow crowd to debate the fate of Highland Lake Road but this time a board made up of local officials voted 8-1 to keep the project alive. . . Gary German, a Flat Rock resident: "This past election was a one-issue campaign and the people of...

Henderson County TAC ignores Flat Rock voters

In voting against a motion to support the Flat Rock village council's request that NCDOT abandon the N. Highland Lake Road project at their Monday meeting, the Hendersonville County Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), an advisory board made up of elected municipal and county officials, will recommend that the county commissioners not support Flat Rock's request....

Hendersonville Lightning: Flat Rock road fight gets change of venue

From the Hendersonville Lightning online: Hendersonville City Hall became the latest arena for the contentious fight over the Highland Lake Road project on Thursday night, with the usual cast of road warriors from Flat Rock arguing the pros and cons of the job. The audience looked more like ones at Flat Rock Village Council meetings,...

T-N: Hendersonville backs Highland Lake Road project; Flat Rock residents pack meeting to decry decision

From the Times-News online: Hendersonville City Council stood behind the North Highland Lake Road project during its meeting Thursday night. Flat Rock residents descended on Hendersonville City Hall as the council endorsed the N.C. Department of Transportation’s plan to make improvements to North Highland Lake Road and add a multiuse path and sidewalks. The road...

Hendersonville Lightning: Reversing old majority again, village opposes sale of parkland for road

From the Hendersonville Lightning online: Bolstering its opposition to the Highland Lake Road project, the Flat Rock Village Council voted on Thursday to oppose the sale of parkland for the road widening project. The Village Council took the action on a 4-3 vote just six hours before the Hendersonville City Council was expected to recommend...

Village council takes action

At this morning's monthly Flat Rock Village council meeting, the council passed the following motion: With the Flat Rock Village Council vote of December 12, 2019, to request abandonment of the N. Highland Lake Road project and Resolution 219 of December 30, 2019, the Village of Flat Rock declines to enter any agreement to sell or...

Village Resolution 219: A Resolution on the North Highland Lake Road NCDOT Project No. U-5887.

Below is the text of the resolution passed by the Flat Rock Village Council requesting that the N.C. Board of Transportation abandon the N. Highland Lake Road project. WHEREAS, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has undertaken the planning process for the “North Highland Lake Road” project (NCDOT Project No. U-5887); and WHEREAS, the project does not upgrade how...