Now that climate change in the form of Tropical Storm Helene has shown us it can climb our mountains and wreak havoc on our people and places, I think we should think through the role of our greenway corridors. For a host of reasons, we build our greenways along waterways, whether major rivers or their feeding streams. We stress their value for health, multimodal transportation, natural conservation and open space recreation.
Now it is clear that we must fit them into a framework for water flow management. Each stream flows into the Swannanoa or French Broad rivers, and from there to regional and national water bodies on their return to the sea. With climate change growing, we must have a manageable system for protecting our people and communities from devastation, death and the separation of families.
This will require determination and vision and draw upon the long-term experience of countries and institutions over years of trial and error. One world leader in this is Holland, where the Dutch have applied themselves to this for over a millennium. They are the experts of the world in working with nature’s watercourses and not against them.
Elements of their system include the redesign of adjacent areas to protect their uses by introducing new detention ponds, parks and plazas, wetlands and green areas to slow the water while thoroughly engaging the people and institutions in harm’s way. This is resilience planning that we can learn from.
On Nov. 5, city residents will be asked to vote on a referendum on important city general obligation bonds for many public purposes, including expanding our greenway system. The city has agreed that if the referendum is approved, $4.9 million will be provided for the design and engineering to extend the Reed Creek Greenway north to connect with the Wilma Dykeman Greenway along the French Broad River and $600,000 for a feasibility study of the Smith Mill Creek Greenway along Patton Avenue.
We should approve the bonds for the evolution of our city and county greenways because they are wise investments in our future and allow us to respond creatively to climate change.
— David Nutter
Asheville
Editor’s note: Nutter notes that he’s a lifetime member of the American Planning Association and the chairman of the Connect Buncombe Advocacy and Partnerships Committee.
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