A conditional rezoning request by developers of a 210-unit apartment complex located on the former site of a grocery store sailed through the Waynesville Planning Board on Sept. 16 with little opposition and is now moving toward a final hearing by the Waynesville Board of Aldermen on Oct. 22. 

“There appears to be some citizen input on social media that’s in opposition to it, but we haven’t received anything to my knowledge in a formal written form where people are asking that we read or enter something into the formal record of the public hearing that’s coming up,” said Rob Hites, Waynesville’s town manager.

In fact, the only real concern is about people picking up after their dogs. 

“I believe at the public hearing in the Planning Board, one of the adjacent property owners felt like if this apartment complex was going to be a dog friendly area that she was concerned that her property would be used as a dog walk,” Hites said. “She indicated that people were being inconsiderate in allowing their dogs to defecate on her property.”

The interim chief of the Waynesville Police Department said the department wouldn’t likely cite people who don’t clean up after their dogs, but that it shouldn’t happen nonetheless.

“It’s not a crime, per se, but I’d imagine there may be some civil remedies,” said Capt. Brian Beck. “Like a lot of things, what it comes down to is responsibility and some common decency.”

The conditional rezoning request brings with it a number of positives both for future residents of the development as well as the community at large.

The developer has offered the town a 20-foot easement that would accommodate the greenway trail along the banks of Richland Creek, and has also proposed the implementation of some stormwater management practices on the parcel, which currently has none. 

A vehicle and pedestrian connection through the site, from Russ Avenue to West Marshall Street, is also proposed. Once complete, the project’s built-up footprint on the 8.8-acre site will actually be 1.5 acres less than the previous retail/grocer’s. 

The public hearing on RFLP Mountain Creek’s conditional zoning request will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Waynesville’s Town Hall, 9 South Main St., in Waynesville. Copies of the plan are available for public viewing at Waynesville’s Development Services Department. For more information, visit www.waynesvillenc.gov.