Yelton pushes Transmap question With his usual approach, former county employee Don Yelton drew a peevish response from Buncombe County Commissioners when he asked about the status of the county’s canceled contract with Transmap. Last year, after heated criticism, commissioners revoked an agreement with the company, which was going to photograph properties on the county […]

Tone of voice matters. A July 20 letter to the Buncombe County Commissioners from the Asheville Humane Society (formerly Friends for Animals) was presented as a tactful request for improved communication. But the letter provoked renewed criticism by AHS/FFA critics who attended the Board of Commissioners’ July 25 meeting. AHS Vice President Jim Lee, who […]

Three turned out to be the magic number for the Regional Water Authority of Asheville, Buncombe and Henderson. Senate bill 1381, ratified July 13, will pump $37.04 million into a North Carolina grant program for water, sewer and gas infrastructure improvements. It also caps individual grants at $3 million, total, over a three-year period — […]

Call it the calm before the storm: With marathon sessions looming in the coming weeks (due to public hearings on such controversial issues as the super Wal-Mart proposed for the old Sayles Bleachery site), Asheville City Council members whisked through their July 18 work session in less than an hour-and-a-half. But even that wasn’t short […]

I want a house. I dream of buying my own home: one with a garden space, an airy kitchen with windows, open rooms with high ceilings, friendly neighbors, and a place for a dog. In my apartment building, neighbors’ beds thump against the walls at night; their stereos rattle my china; and their cigarette smoke […]

In the dance of state politics, the question of where to spend taxpayers’ money usually comes down to a dip here, a spin there and a pirouette along the way. But for the Regional Water Authority of Asheville, Buncombe and Henderson, a small phrase slipped into state Senate bill 1381 — which nobody will own […]

Board of Commissioners allocates $109,000 for farmland trust It’s official: The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners has designated $109,000 as seed money for the Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. The money comes from the county’s recent sale of land along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the nonprofit Conservation Trust for North Carolina. “Give us a year […]

Gardeners fret over their charges like nervous mothers: Will it rain enough? Will it rain too much? Will it get too hot? Will there be a late frost? For the volunteers and staff of Mountain Area Gardeners In Communities, however, the worry hinged on another kind of green: money. On Aug. 4, the 18-year-old organization […]

Some call it a garden, some call it a tree pit. Most trees in downtown Asheville are framed by metal grates; but on one side of Battery Park Avenue, garden-happy merchants have planted petunias, ivy, day lilies, and the like around the trees outside their shops. Trouble is, the city’s 1991 Streetscape Plan calls for […]

What place does “art” hold in Asheville, Western North Carolina’s premier city? Tourists flock to see the opulence and artistry of Biltmore House. They clamor for mountain crafts during Bele Chere and stroll our many galleries on select Friday evenings. They continue to debate whether the Federal Building’s “Passage” sculpture is a worthy piece of […]

Water rates going up On June 6, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners reluctantly approved a 4-percent increase in water rates. The Regional Water Authority, which recommended the increase, faces yet another year of reduced consumption — meaning reduced revenues — Asheville Director of Water Resources Tom Frederick explained. Since the drought of 1998, the […]

English nearly failed 21-year-old Diana Chepkwony on May 11. That was the day the Kenya native won the $1,500 Asheville Hospitality Excellence and Development scholarship — the Chamber of Commerce’s first-ever award for local tourist-industry students. It seemed she couldn’t even manage to think in her native Swahili, but Chepkwony offered a breathless “thank you” […]

Timing public comment You know you’re through when the egg timer rings, sounding like an old-fashioned alarm clock: Three minutes is the limit set by the Buncombe County Commissioners for citizens who come before them at regular, televised meetings. But how long do representatives of groups get? Asheville City Council members grant such speakers 10 […]

Commissioners support independent air agency “We have agreed, informally, that the air-pollution-control agency should … remain an autonomous board,” Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Chair Tom Sobol proclaimed at the start of the board’s May 2 regular meeting. Sobol noted that several commissioners will be meeting with Asheville City Council members to “hammer out” the […]

In the natural evolution of a nonprofit, sometimes you need to get back to where you came from. For members of the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County, that means letting go of a little professionalism and returning to their scrappy, volunteer roots. And it just happens that the society lost its first-ever paid […]

The Thomas Wolfe Memorial, the Grove Arcade, the many notable buildings designed by Douglas Ellington (such as the S&W Cafeteria and City Hall) — these are just a few of the highlights of Asheville’s remarkable architectural legacy. The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County is sponsoring the following events for Heritage Week, May 8-14: […]

No one could miss the drift: More than 100 Buncombe residents packed the Asheville City Council chambers the evening of April 18. Twenty-five more stood in the hall. One by one, each speaker called on Asheville City Council members and Buncombe County commissioners to preserve the Western North Carolina Air Pollution Control Agency. “We absolutely […]

In the past year, at least four businesses have chosen not to locate in Buncombe County — for lack of adequate sites. One company needed a 50-acre site, complete with water, sewer and other infrastructure. Another found greener pastures in Henderson County, noted Buncombe County Commissioner David Young at the Board of Commissioners’ regular meeting […]

“Keep our air agency independent,” proclaimed the yellow tags adorning about 30 Buncombe County residents who gathered at the county courthouse on April 4 to have a word with the Board of Commissioners regarding the fate of the 30-year-old Western North Carolina Air Pollution Control Agency. Because Haywood County recently pulled out of the interlocal […]

Western North Carolina’s beleaguered Air Pollution Control Agency could become a county-run program, if the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners follow their staff’s recommendations. Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene reported that staff members are “leaning toward keeping a local service” and “putting [it] in one of our [existing] departments.” Last month, the Haywood County Commissioners […]