FACTORS INFLUENCING GROWTH

Many factors influence the future utilization of land and the intensity and nature of development within Henderson County. Physiographic and infrastructural factors are linked directly to the county’s capacity to withstand development. Among these, natural factors include flooding limitations, topographic characteristics, soil limitations, climate, and the presence of sensitive natural characteristics that warrant protection or preservation. Other factors include existing land uses, ownership patterns, water and sewer capacity, and the transportation system. This element inventories and briefly describes a number of the key factors influencing growth in Henderson County.

Areas Subject to Flooding

A floodplain is lowland area adjoining the channel of a river, stream, or watercourse, or an ocean, lake, or other body of standing water which may be inundated by floodwater. The channel of a stream or watercourse is part of the floodplain.

Map # 2 Floodplains and Floodways (Appendix I) shows the areas susceptible to floods of 100-year and 500-year magnitude as shown on Federal Flood Insurance Rate (FIRM) maps prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program in the early 1980s. The map also shows the floodway areas within the floodplain as shown on Flood Boundary and Floodway (Floodways) maps prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

For most waterways, the floodway is where the water is likely to be deepest and fastest. It is the area of the floodplain that should be reserved (kept free of obstructions) to allow floodwaters to move downstream. Placing fill or buildings in a floodway may block the flow of water and increase flood heights.

A 100-year flood is a flood that has a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The area inundated during a 100-year flood is sometimes called the 100-year floodplain. The term "100-year flood" is misleading. It is not the flood that will occur once every 100 years. Rather, it is the flood elevation that has a 1- percent chance of being equaled or exceeded each year. Thus, the 100-year flood could occur more than once in a relatively short period of time. The 100-year flood, which is the standard used by most Federal and state agencies, is used by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as the standard for floodplain management and to determine the need for flood insurance. According to FEMA, a structure located within the 100-year floodplain, as shown on an NFIP map, has a 26% chance of suffering flood damage during the term of a 30-year mortgage.

Areas in the 500-year floodplain have a 0.2% (1 in 500) of being flooded in a given year. Areas in the 100-year floodplain are included in the 500-year floodplain.

Floodplains serve a valuable role in the absorption of floodwaters. Natural floodplains that are amply vegetated and clear of manmade obstructions serve an important role by allowing floodwaters to spread across their extent. This spreading action, coupled with the friction provided by natural vegetation, reduces the velocity and force of floodwaters, as well as allowing the floodplain to absorb some of the volume.

While most of the streams in Henderson County are not shown as flood-prone on FEMA FIRM mapping, it should be noted that all streams are, in fact, susceptible to flooding. Small streams and watercourses within urban and steep mountainous terrain, in particular, are prone to intermittent flash flooding, and they can pose significant safety hazards and cause property damage despite their small size.

The City of Hendersonville and the Town of Fletcher participate in the National Flood Insurance Program and administer local floodplain management programs within their corporate limits and extraterritorial jurisdictions. Henderson County and the other municipalities within the county do not participate in the National Flood Insurance Program at this time.

Slope

Map # 3 Percent Slope (Appendix I) illustrates the topographic characteristics of land in Henderson County in terms of the percent slope of the land. Four slope categories are used:

· 0-4%

• 5-9%

· 10-19%

• 20% and greater

The categories correlate closely with the capacities of these areas to withstand development. Most of the flood-prone areas of the county are in the 0-4% category. Correlations can also be made between land slope and the location of many sensitive natural areas and important scenic vistas, including protected mountain ridges.

Soils

Map #4 the General Soil Map (Appendix I), which was prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture, shows the general location of five associations of soils in Henderson County. Each association contains more than one specific soil type. There are approximately 50 different soil types in Henderson County.

The General Soil map and the Percent Slope map show similar general slope characteristics. For example, there is a strong correlation between mapped flood-prone areas and hydric soils. Hydric soils in Henderson County include Hatboro loam, Kinkora loam, and Toxaway silt loam.

Existing Land Use

Map #5 Current General Land Use (including Map #6 Current General Land Use I-26 Corridor Inset, Appendix I) categorizes land in Henderson County according to 10 general classifications.

· Agriculture/Horticulture/ Forestland

• Commercial

· Community/Cultural

· Industrial

· Public/Private Conservation

· Recreation

· Residential

· Surface Water

• Transportation/Utility

· Undeveloped

The land use classifications are based in part on land use codes assigned to parcels by the County Assessor’s office. The Henderson County Planning Department has made some modifications to the categories to suit general planning purposes.

Because of the structure of the data, each parcel in the county is assigned a land use code based on the principal use of the land. Other secondary land uses that may be present on a given parcel are not depicted on this map.

The land use classifications used on the Current General Land Use map and inset are summarized in Appendix IV, Glossary, Current Land Use Definitions.

Current land use characteristics in Henderson County are shown in figures F.2 through F.4, below.

Figure F.2 Current Land Use
Land Use	Number of Acres	% Co. Acreage Per Land Use Category
Agriculture-Horticulture	20,043.11	8.35%
Commercial	3,086.37	1.29%
Community-Cultural	4,076.64	1.70%
Forestland-Conserved	28,927.61	12.05%
Industrial	1,546.59	0.64%
Recreation	4,807.28	2.00%
Residential	43,251.94	18.01%
Surface Water	303.48	0.13%
Transportation-Utility	803.39	0.33%
Undeveloped	121,182.87	50.47%
Total*	240,099.79	94.97%
*Note: Land use totals do not represent property such as select road right-of-ways, accounting for the discrepancies in total acreage and percent acreage.

Figure F.2 summarizes existing land use conditions in Henderson County, both in terms of the total number of acres dedicated to each land use category and in terms of the percentage of total acres in each land use category. For example, less than 1% of Henderson County’s acreage is used for industrial purposes, while 18% is used for residential purposes and approximately 12% is under some form of conservation.

Figure F.3 Land Use Composition by Township in Acres
Land Use	Blue Ridge	Clear Creek	Crab Creek	Edneyville	Green River	Henderson ville	Hoopers Creek	Mills River	Total
Agriculture-Horticulture	2,449.05	1,728.43	1,077.64	4,376.00	1,095.72	1,727.84	2,602.63	4,985.79	20,043.11
Commercial	238.12	85.30	6.71	222.65	79.15	1,525.93	724.43	204.01	3,086.30
Community-Cultural	191.49	162.86	56.86	98.75	84.17	2,124.83	885.88	471.79	4,076.64
Forestland-Conserved	1,791.55	0.00	4,641.09	599.60	2,841.66	254.28	0.00	18,799.11	28,927.29
Industrial	67.74	12.32	5.17	13.72	10.75	572.88	716.98	147.04	1,546.59
Recreation	149.70	0.00	1,631.25	29.70	559.63	1,635.46	264.18	537.36	4,807.28
Residential	5,265.82	2,085.63	3,681.02	3,466.28	4,121.38	14,727.68	3,855.11	6,049.01	43,251.94
Surface Water	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	303.48	0.00	0.00	0.00	303.48
Transportation-Utility	6.59	0.00	31.84	32.71	104.98	137.97	102.30	387.00	803.39
Undeveloped	12,662.12	5,919.98	14,691.12	22,542.34	25,681.74	14,273.99	9,736.40	15,670.24	121,177.94
Total Township Acres	22,822.19	9,994.52	25,822.71	31,381.78	34,882.64	36,980.86	18,887.91	47,251.35	240099.79*
*Note: Land use totals do not represent property such as select road right-of-ways, accounting for the discrepancies in total acreage.

Figure F.3 summarizes the land use composition of each Henderson County Township. For example, Blue Ridge Township contains a total of 22,822.19 acres. Of these, 67.74 acres are used for industrial purposes and 5,265.82 acres are used for residential purposes.

Figure F.4 Land Use Composition by Township as a Percentage of Township Acreage
Land Use	Blue Ridge	Clear Creek	Crab Creek	Edney-ville	Green River	Hender- sonville	Hoopers Creek	Mills River	% Co. Acreage per Land Use Category
Agriculture-Horticulture	10.27%	16.70%	4.03%	13.50%	2.99%	4.24%	12.96%	10.11%	8.35%
Commercial	1.00%	0.82%	0.03%	0.69%	0.22%	3.75%	3.61%	0.41%	1.29%
Community-Cultural	0.80%	1.57%	0.21%	0.30%	0.23%	5.22%	4.41%<