Here’s a list of actions taken at the June 21 meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. We’ll have a full report in the June 29 issue of Xpress.
On June 21, the board:
• Unanimously passed an ordinance designed to improve the safety and appearance of any large new retaining walls in the county. The new rules require developers to include terraces, fences, and vegetative screening in most wall systems that exceed 20 feet. They also require improved long-term monitoring and evaluation of any movement or anomalies in or behind the walls, including cracking, water pore pressure and foundation settlement.
• Unanimously passed the county’s $303 million total budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, including a number of fee increases to Planning Department permits and services. The hikes, including a new $1,000 fee for adult entertainment licenses, a $50 increase to manufactured home permits (a permit for a park of less than 20 units previously cost $150; now it’s $200) and annual junkyard registration permits (up to $200 from $100), proved to be controversial at the board’s June 14 meeting. But on June 21, no members of the public offered comment on the issue.
• Unanimously voted to enter in to an interlocal agreement with the city of Asheville to pave the way for a new four-tenths of a mile stretch of sidewalk near Emma Elementary School along North Louisiana Avenue from Emma Road to Mosswood Road. The project will be funded by federal money secured by the city of Asheville.
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