Etowah's Proposed Bojangles Drive-Thru and Sewer Capacity

Drive the southwest corner of Old Highway 64 and Brevard Road and you will see a wedge of land barely big enough to park a school bus fleet on, let alone build a restaurant. According to the Hendersonville Lightning, Bojangles wants to put Etowah's first fast-food chicken spot on that triangle. Getting there took a zoning variance, a redesigned building, and a sewer-capacity question that also shaped the project.

The proposed drive-thru also brings attention to sewer capacity, an issue that has been part of the discussion around a proposed 400-home development on the old Etowah Valley golf course for more than two years. Its role in a fast-food application on a third of an acre makes sewer capacity relevant to Etowah residents as well as the restaurant plan.

A Lot Too Small For Its Own Zoning Code

The property belongs to Cold Steel & Sunshine LLC, a Brevard-based owner, and the plan calls for a drive-thru-only building with no dine-in seating and parking for just six employees. That minimal footprint was not a design choice so much as a necessity. Right-of-way claims from both Old Highway 64 and Brevard Road eat into the parcel from two directions, shrinking the buildable area from roughly three-quarters of an acre down to about a third.

Henderson County's land development code normally requires a passage lane around a drive-thru stacking lane, so cars waiting for their order do not block anyone trying to bypass the line. On a lot this tight, there was no room for one. The developer's representative, Duane Ensor, walked the county's Technical Review Committee through the constraints, and the Board of Adjustment ultimately granted a variance allowing the restaurant to skip that extra lane. It is the kind of decision that rarely makes news outside a planning agenda, but it tells you something concrete about Etowah's commercial strip along Brevard Road: the easy corners are already spoken for.

Sewer Capacity and the Restaurant Proposal

The zoning fix turned out to be the smaller obstacle. The bigger one was sewer capacity, and this is where the Bojangles story connects to something most Etowah residents have already heard about from a different direction entirely.

Homeowners near the Etowah Valley Golf & Resort opposed a proposed 400-unit development on the golf course. Henderson County bought the Etowah Sewer Company in 2024. Owning the utility meant the county could decide who gets to connect and who does not. The same sewer system is now under a state-issued moratorium on new taps, because the plant does not have the capacity to handle more flow than it already receives.

County Engineer Marcus Jones addressed the Bojangles application directly at a November 2025 technical review meeting, according to county minutes. He explained that the county had already warned the developer about the moratorium and that the plant simply does not have room for more flow than it already handles. The Hendersonville Lightning reported Jones saying the shortfall was inherited, not created:

"That's not something we created, that's something we inherited."

Because a building had previously stood on the lot, Jones told the committee the restaurant should be able to connect as existing service rather than as a new tap. That classification was based on the parcel's history, not on any change in the sewer plant's actual capacity.

The application illustrates how sewer capacity has affected both commercial and residential proposals. The moratorium remains relevant to businesses on Brevard Road, and future proposals without an existing sewer connection will require the county to address the same capacity question.

What The Corridor Already Has

None of this happens in a vacuum. Brevard Road already carries a real food scene, and it is worth naming what is already there before adding a new chain to the mix:

• The Salty Landing, a seafood spot at 6577 Brevard Road
• Blue Ridge Pizza, at 6336 Brevard Rd
• El Bronco Mexican Restaurant, at 6488 Brevard Road
• Dutch Cupboard, family restaurant at 6500 Brevard Rd
• A cluster of food trucks including Taquería México 2, Karolina Kremes, and Dave's Dogs

That is a fuller lineup than a lot of towns Etowah's size can claim, which makes the arrival of a national chain feel less like Etowah finally showing up on someone's map and more like one more option layered onto a corridor that was already busy.

The Gap A Chicken Chain Is Actually Filling

Etowah has had a Domino's for a while, so pizza delivery was never the issue. What the community has never had is a fast-food sandwich or chicken chain, and there is still no burger franchise anywhere in Etowah or neighboring Horse Shoe. Bojangles, based in Charlotte and operating roughly 800 locations across 17 states, already runs three restaurants elsewhere in Henderson County. This would be its first foothold in Etowah specifically, filling a category gap rather than adding to an oversaturated one.

For anyone who has driven the extra fifteen minutes toward Hendersonville just to grab a biscuit on the way to work, that gap is not an abstraction. It is a specific, recognizable inconvenience that this project is aimed at closing.

What To Watch Next

As of the most recent local reporting, from December 2025, the zoning variance had been granted and the sewer connection question had been resolved in the developer's favor through the existing-service classification. No construction timeline or opening date had been announced at that point, and nothing since has surfaced to update that. Given how the site's sewer question played out, it is a fair bet that any other undeveloped or previously vacant commercial parcel along Brevard Road will face the same capacity conversation with the county before a shovel goes in the ground.

That is useful context to carry around even if you have no plans to buy or sell anything. It explains why some corners of Etowah fill in quickly while others sit empty for years, and it is the kind of detail that tells you more about how this community actually works than any list of restaurants ever could.

If you are curious how infrastructure decisions like this one tend to ripple into property values and what gets built where, the team at Homestead Realty keeps a close eye on Henderson County planning news for exactly this reason. Reach out any time you want a local read on what is changing in Etowah.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.