The city of Asheville is continuing to eye Hurricane Helene recovery. On Tuesday, City Council members unanimously approved 44 appointees to its new Helene recovery boards.
As previously reported by BPR, Asheville followed the advice of Research Triangle Park-based consultancy Fountainworks to implement a new structure for citizen advisory boards.
Four new groups are focused on specific areas of Helene recovery:
- People and environment
- Housing
- Infrastructure
- The economy
These new groups will meet regularly while existing boards shift to meet on an “as-needed” basis.
Each board has 11 members, consisting of the chairs and vice chairs of current advisory boards, along with new members appointed by the council. Each is tasked with providing input to City Council members, sharing information within their networks, and ensuring the community's voice is central in shaping recovery strategies.
Some of the appointees to the four new boards include:
- Pisgah Legal housing attorney David Bartholomew (Housing)
- Bear's Smokehouse BBQ co-owner Cheryl Antoncic (Economy)
- President and CEO of United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County, Daniel Leroy (People and Environment)
- Former water resources director for the City of Asheville, Michael Holcombe (Infrastructure)
- MountainTrue's French Broad Riverkeeper, Anna Alsobrook (People and Environment)
The process for their appointment wasn’t entirely clear. In advance of the meeting, each council member was asked by the clerk’s office to provide feedback on their preferred candidates for each of the boards, according to Asheville Vice Mayor S. Antanette Mosley. This decision made it unclear which of the new board members had the most support from council members.
Residents and some council members have criticized the new structure in the past, saying it would reduce citizen input. The skepticism of the effectiveness of the new boards continued to echo in City Hall Tuesday evening.
Nina Tovish, who has been vocal about her concerns, said she’ll be watching to see how the new structure works for the city and the community.
“It's a really interesting and exciting opportunity that you have to work for the greater good here, and I hope that it goes better than anyone expects,” Tovish said.
Council also tried to appoint members to the regular boards and commissions, but enthusiasm for some of them seems to have dampened.
For example, council members received an email from the chair of the Neighborhood Advisory Committee asking to readvertise as they felt that the list of applications didn’t represent all neighborhoods in the city. The Soil Erosion and Stormwater Review Committee, along with the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, received no applicants for vacant spots.
Other tidbits:
- Council voted 4-3 on a noise ordinance amendment to allow the city's biggest outdoor music venues to hold more loud events. The measure previously had majority support, but state law requires local ordinances that don't pass unanimously on first reading to be heard a second time. For now, the change only affects Asheville Yards, the city’s sole venue that has completed the acoustic-modeling process required to qualify as a performance center. Council member Kim Roney voted against the change, saying she wanted to limit the number of days to 35 (up from 30) for venues to exceed maximum decibel rules. The amended ordinance permits up to 50 days per year.
- A public hearing scheduled for November on the conditional zoning of 27 acres on New Haw Creek Road has been pushed back. Developers want to build 49 new single-family homes and 35 townhomes. The development has faced significant community pushback and legal questions as changes were made to the originally approved entrance along Sleepy Hollow Drive in the Happy Valley neighborhood, according to the Asheville Citizen Times.
- Asheville leaders say they’ll increase the maximum amount of homeowner relief available for rebuilding under the city’s federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). The funds come from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, specifically allocated to help with Helene recovery. Council voted to increase the maximum beneficiary amount to $450,000, up from $375,000. The state's Renew NC Single-Family Housing Program administers the program, including eligibility for non-Asheville applicants. The amount change would be from $375,000 to $450,000. The state has also increased its maximum threshold for reconstruction to $450,000 per home.
- A resolution was passed to enter into an agreement with Trinity United Methodist Church for $250,000 to provide nightly shelter during the winter season. The shelter is funded through a supplemental grant that totaled $1.7 million from the CDBG Declared Disaster Recovery Fund (DDRF) program. The shelter is slated to open Nov. 1.
Asheville City Council regularly meets every second and fourth Tuesday at the Council Chamber on the second floor of City Hall, 70 Court Plaza, beginning at 5 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 5 p.m.. It will be the last council meeting of the year and the last for outgoing City Manager Debra Campbell. See the full recording and the agenda of the Oct. 28 meeting.
