Hendersonville Standard
HENDERSONVILLE WEATHER

City turns down ‘Bad Ass’ plans





Hendersonville leaders recently voted down a request from Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii to add a quick serve use to property on East Main Street across from the Bluegrass Yacht and Country Club.Submitted

Hendersonville leaders recently voted down a request from Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii to add a quick serve use to property on East Main Street across from the Bluegrass Yacht and Country Club.Submitted

A coffee franchise with a controversial name will have to look for another Hendersonville location after the city’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen denied its request to build on East Main Street in front of the Bluegrass Landing subdivision.

Hendersonville resident Cody Rothwell, president of Rothwell Development Company, LLC, entered into a franchising agreement last year with Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii with plans to open 18 locations in Tennessee.

The company announced plans in October to open 12 locations in the Greater Nashville area, four in the Knoxville area, and two in Gatlinburg. Openings are planned this year in the cities of Gallatin, Goodlettsville and White House.

Plans for a Hendersonville location hit a snag earlier this month, however, when members of the Hendersonville Regional Planning Commission denied Rothwell’s request to amend a final development plan that includes property between Dollar General and the former Rainbow Child Care Center.

Rothwell asked that the city add a quick-serve restaurant, limited to a coffee shop, to the list of permitted uses for the .87-acre property.

Current permitted uses include general retail and office uses including a convenience store without a gas station and a full-service restaurant.

Planning commission members turned down Rothwell’s request on April 5 citing concerns about traffic next to the day care center as well as having a drive-thru so close to homes in the Bluegrass Landing subdivision directly behind the property.

Rothwell appealed the planning commission’s decision to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen who considered the request at their April 26 meeting.

At that meeting, Wayne McElhiney told board members that his property is adjacent to the proposed coffee house property. McElhiney said that even with a proposed buffer between the two properties, he was concerned about car lights and noise from the drive-thru as well as the company’s practice of playing Hawaiian music throughout the day.

“I’m afraid Hawaiian music at 6:00 in the morning will not be a joy for us to hear every day,” he said. McElhiney said he was also concerned about the business’s name.

“Bad Ass Coffee – it just doesn’t to me represent the type of community we represent,” McElhiney added.

Ward 3 Alderwoman Arlene Cunningham asked Rothwell if the music would be playing outside.

Rothwell said he met with the Bluegrass Landing HOA president and told him if there was ever an issue with noise or music, he could call Rothwell’s mobile number and he would address it.

Cunningham said she hadn’t received any emails or phone calls from area residents opposed to the project and said she would support it as long as the music wouldn’t be a nuisance to the neighboring homes.

Ward 6 Alderman Jim Waters didn’t like the business’s name – derived from the tradition of donkeys hauling coffee beans through the rugged terrain of Kona, Hawaii where the brand was founded in 1989.

“We’re a better community than that… than to have a coffee sign with the words – and I’m not going to repeat them but it’s on the marquee and it’s on a traveled, busy road,” Waters mused. “I think we’re better than that.”

Ward 5 Alderwoman Rachel Collins asked how far the business’s drive-thru speaker box would be from McElhiney’s back porch.

Timothy Whitten from the city’s planning department said it be 67 feet.

Collins said she thought a location in the Glenbrook shopping area or along Indian Lake Boulevard would be more suitable for a drive-thru.

“I don’t think this is the right location for a drive-thru,” she said.

Nine aldermen voted to deny the request while three – Cunningham, Lee Peterson of Ward 2 and Karen Dixon of Ward 4 – voted in favor of it.

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