“Swannanoa Needs Sidewalks,” read the cardboard signs of several attendees at Tuesday’s Buncombe County Board of Commissioners meeting.
The board’s unanimous vote aimed to fulfill those residents’ wishes. Commissioners approved Buncombe’s application for about $19 million in state funds to support Hurricane Helene recovery projects, including $10 million for pedestrian infrastructure in Swannanoa.
The specific pot of state money for which Buncombe was applying, explained county grants manager Tyler Henry, had to go toward “physical repair and improvements in commercial areas” damaged by the storm. By building two miles of sidewalk along U.S. 70 between Whitson Avenue and Warren Wilson Road, Henry said, the county could make the commercial corridor safer for customers and more attractive for businesses.
Another project, for which Buncombe is seeking close to $9 million in state support, would remove storm-damaged structures and debris from commercial corridors in unincorporated parts of the county. Henry clarified that Swannanoa would be one of those areas, along with Barnardsville, Fairview and Leicester.
Three members of Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa, a nonprofit advocacy group for the community, spoke in support of both projects during a public hearing on the county’s application. Megan McCreary, a FANS board member, said the sidewalk work would be particularly meaningful for residents without reliable transportation.
“Those people are walking down U.S. 70 on the side of the road, in a goat path, risking their lives to go to the grocery store,” McCreary said. “Some of those people are in wheelchairs, and they’re literally rolling down the middle of the road.”
Henry said Buncombe will apply for the funding by Tuesday, Aug. 4. The state’s webpage for the grant opportunity does not specify when funding decisions will be made.
School capital projects move forward
- Commissioners approved about $12 million in new capital projects for Asheville and Buncombe County schools. The costs include $3 million for network infrastructure across the county school system, $3 million for design work at Glen Arden Elementary and $1.7 million for security upgrades at Asheville High School. Funding will come from the county sales taxes restricted by state law to pay for school projects.
- The board awarded a roughly $2.1 million contract to Arden-based Patton Construction Group for upgrades to athletics facilities at Asheville Middle School. The school will replace its track and add bathrooms near its softball field. The contract requires the work to be completed by August 2027.
- The N.C. Department of Public Instruction approved $2.5 million in education lottery funds to support repaving projects at county schools. Work will take place at Erwin Middle School, North Buncombe Elementary School, Owen Middle School, Valley Springs Middle School and West Buncombe Elementary School.
Other tidbits
- Commissioners formalized the transition of the Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Agency from an independent body into a function of county government. As previously reported by BPR, the move allows Buncombe to retain its higher levels of regulation after the federal government reduced support for the program. The annual cost to county taxpayers is estimated at about $350,000.
- The board approved a number of changes meant to clarify its rules for street names and addresses. As presented by Gillian Phillips, Buncombe’s long-range planning division manager, the tweaks will make it easier for 911 dispatchers to direct first responders. Among the changes are the banning of “too similar road names” — for example, new Buncombe streets can no longer include the words “Dogwood,” “Rhododendron,” or “Mountain.” (Phillips noted that 590 county roads currently include “Mountain” somewhere in their name.)
- The county awarded a roughly $1.4 million contract to Charlotte-based ADW Architects to design Emergency Services’ West Regional Base. The facility, to be constructed on Brevard Road in West Asheville, is meant to improve emergency response times in response to increasing demand. The contract estimates that the base will achieve “final completion” within 16 months, at a construction cost of roughly $14.4 million.
- Buncombe accepted about $802,000 in state grant funding to support streambank stabilization work across the county. Per an award letter from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the funds will pay to restore about 3,500 feet of streambank that was eroded by Helene. In June, the county accepted about $37 million in federal money for similar projects; at the time, county Agriculture and Land Resources Director Jennifer Harrison told BPR that complete restoration would likely cost “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners regularly meets every first and third Tuesday at 200 College St., Room 326, in downtown Asheville, beginning at 5 p.m. Its next regular meeting will take place Tuesday, Aug. 4. See the full recording and documents from the July 21 meeting.
