Asheville City Council OKs plan for $225M in disaster recovery funds

Asheville City Council approved, 7-0, a final plan on how to spend $225 million in disaster recovery funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at its April 8 meeting.

After three public work sessions with 120-plus attendees, over 200 recommendations posted on the city’s public input page and an initial rejection from HUD in March for including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies — the city sent its revised plan for the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds to HUD by the April 21 deadline.

HUD now has 45 days to approve or suggest changes to the plan. Once finalized, the city plans to begin projects this fall and continue drawing down the grant over six years.

The funds will go into programs for infrastructure, economic revitalization and housing that address needs as a result of Tropical Storm Helene.

The $29 million earmarked for mitigation will support flood protection and stormwater management efforts across all three programs. For example, work will specifically go to underserved residential communities as part of the housing plan, and other work will target commercial districts as part of economic recovery efforts.

The city outlined its plan using the Helene Recovery Priorities Survey that ranked the unmet needs based on engagement from nearly 6,900 residents, business owners and stakeholders.

Resident Michael Crawford attended all three public work sessions and commended the city for the engagement process.

“The interwoven mitigation strategies, the creative and savvy use of double dipping of the funds so that each dollar can be used to benefit not just one but two or even all three of the funding categories, I think is absolutely beautiful,” Crawford said.

Rachel Cohen, a member of the Sunrise Movement, a local climate activist group, urged the city to use renewable energy funds to fulfill Council’s 2020 promise to end greenhouse gases by 2030. Cohen unrolled a scroll of 178 signatures of residents who want to build back greener.

“We urge you to please prioritize climate resilience. We need you to fight like our lives depend on it, because they do,” Cohen said.

“This is the end of the beginning. This is a paper document; now begins the work, and we are really serious about stewardship,” said James Shelton, community development division manager for the city. “Stewardship is something I’ve emphasized in our community engagement process — whatever we do, we keep stewardship in mind because these are American taxpayer dollars that have come to help us recover.”

While helpful, the grant doesn’t close the gap between insurance payments and those from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and actual damage. The city pegs that amount at nearly $1.2 billion.

Here’s how the city plans to use the grants:

• Infrastructure ($125 million): Funds will go toward upgrades to water, sewer and energy systems, along with stormwater management and flood control projects that align with the Hazard Mitigation Plan. The infrastructure funds also go toward new parks and recreation facilities, as well as arts and cultural facilities and improving emergency shelter services.
• Economic revitalization ($52 million): $30 million will go to the Flooded Commercial Districts Program, which focuses on creating and retaining jobs for public and privately owned entities in the French Broad River and Swannanoa River corridors; $17 million will go to grants and loans from the Small Business Support Program; and $5 million for Workforce Development Programs.
• Housing ($31 million): A bulk of the housing funds, $28 million, will go to building affordable multifamily housing led by nonprofits, public housing authorities, developers and the city. The rest of the housing funds, $3 million, are allocated for the state’s Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Owner-Occupied Housing (R&R) program that issues grants to repair units damaged or destroyed by Helene.

About $2 million will go toward the Housing and Economic Security Support Services Program, which funds public or nonprofit organizations to target homelessness in the city, as well as employment-focused organizations.

The remainder will be set aside for administrative costs, $11.25 million, including staffing and grant administration, and $3.8 million for long-term recovery planning and updating existing plans.

The city included in the appendix a matrix of each suggestion from the public and whether the city adopted it or why it didn’t.

Water fee increase

Starting July 1, water service bills for residential, commercial, manufacturing and wholesale properties will rise anywhere from 7.5% to 32%, depending on the type of users. Rates will increase 7.5% for residences to $59.14 bimonthly. For manufacturers, rates will rise 14%-20% depending on their size, and rates will jump 32% for wholesale customers, the Town of Woodfin, the Town of Black Mountain and the Town of Biltmore Forest.

The fee hike is part of the three-year plan to raise revenues to shore up the city’s water system, which needed $239 million of repairs and improvements before Helene. Council in March 2024 also approved issuing $26.9 million in bonds to replace meters.

Staff recommended the three-year time frame in an effort to eliminate inequity among customer classes, establish reserves for funding capital projects and preserve the city’s debt ratings, thereby keeping borrowing costs as low as possible.

In other news:

• Council approved charging rent for those who use the just-renovated Memorial Stadium Track. The Parks and Recreation Department will charge $15 an hour to rent the track. The fee is consistent with how the city manages its other resources, said Lindsay Spangler, budget and performance manager for the city.
• City staff gave an update on the Metropolitan Sewerage District (MSD) ​​Carrier Bridge Pump Station Replacement Project, estimated to cost $105 million. It is the largest pump station in MSD and serves large portions of southern and western Buncombe County and northern Henderson County. Adding an 800-foot sewer line under Amboy Road across the river at both French Broad River and Carrier parks will be completed first to minimize disruption to parkgoers. Work on the river crossings is anticipated to begin this summer and take a year and a half to complete.
• Council appointed members to the Asheville Downtown Improvement District (ADID) steering committee, which will report regularly to Council and the public on its success in providing safety, hospitality and cleanliness as part of the Asheville Business Improvement District (BID) services. The committee consists of one Council member, two city staff members and 17 members representing property owners, business renters, residential renters and one staff from the Continuum of Care, which is responsible for the homelessness response in Asheville and Buncombe County. Council approved the slate 6-1 with member Kim Roney as the lone no vote. Roney said the BID isn’t the right tool for downtown’s issues, like behavioral health, substance abuse, homelessness, bike and pedestrian accidents, and economic recovery from Helene.
• Concerns over the N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Interstate 26 Connector Project were raised by five people during public comment. They said a proposed overpass above Patton Avenue will divide neighborhoods, negatively impact health and possibly lead to tent villages occupied by unhoused people under the overpass. Council member Maggie Ullman said NCDOT will host a public meeting from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at the Renaissance Asheville Downtown Hotel. “That will be a time they’re bringing plans and materials and back-and-forth engagement,” Ullman said.

Editor’s note: This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Reporting and Editing