Asheville City Council voted 7-0 March 25 to authorize the city to assume ownership of 23 commercial, three institutional and seven residential storm-damaged properties under a federal program.
Council also approved requests under the same program to raise two commercial buildings and 12 homes 2 feet above the base flood elevation; two additional properties were approved for land stabilization projects to reduce the risk of erosion or landslides.
Under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) covers 75% of the cost, and the state covers the rest.
Once in the city’s hands, the property will be deed-restricted to passive uses like parks or other open spaces.
However, the process won’t be fast, Mayor Esther Manheimer cautioned during the Council’s March 20 agenda briefing.
She learned at the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery meeting March 14 that the federal government has not sent money to the state yet even though Congress allocated the funding.
“It’s there, [but] the check just hasn’t been written to the state, just for your awareness when talking to constituents if there are concerns about delays in the process,” Manheimer told Council members at the briefing. “But we’re not quite there yet. We’re still taking applications, we’re still getting all this processed.”
Bridget Herring, the city’s sustainability director, said during the March 20 briefing that residential properties will be prioritized by the state.
Surveillance concerns
Approving grants for the Asheville Police Department led to a debate among Council members over what level of surveillance is beneficial.
The department plans to use about $59,000 of a U.S. Department of Justice Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant to outfit its Real Time Intelligence Center with a video wall, workstations, chairs, desks and a mobile base station. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office will receive about $13,000 from the same grant for its intelligence center.
Council members Kim Roney and Sheneika Smith, as well as a couple of community members, raised concerns about more funding going toward the center.
“There are significant legal and social concerns about real-time intelligence,” Roney said. “I recommended we delay this vote and wondered if anyone shared my concerns during this moment, especially around the security of data and privacy of our residents and the implications of how this federally funded equipment might not be exclusively used by our staff.”
Council member Bo Hess spoke in favor of the funding and said that the center “already apprehended dangerous individuals quickly, often in places where our most vulnerable live: along the greenway, in abandoned lots and near shelters.”
“Public safety and community care are not mutually exclusive. I support our firefighters, our community paramedics and yes, our police officers. Over 95% of our APD officers are trained in crisis intervention for mental health, addiction and de-escalation, and that’s something we should be proud of,” Hess said.
Roney was the lone vote in opposition to grant funding for the center and new bulletproof vests; applying for a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Grant; and renewing a three-year contract for police recruiting services at approximately $215,100. The total amount of approved police spending was around $333,000.
During public comment, Asheville resident Molly Rickert, said, “I don’t believe creating a more intense surveillance state is an appropriate use of funding when we’re not paying our firefighters and our EMTs enough. I don’t believe that surveillance cuts down on crime. I think the things that prevent crime are social programming, making sure people have affordable food, affordable health care and affordable places to live. I think that having first responders that are not necessarily police, people well-versed in mental health care, well-versed in de-escalation is going to create better things.”
In other news
Council agreed to amend the agreement with Commonwealth Golf Partners II to manage the Asheville Municipal Golf Course, which was severely damaged by Tropical Storm Helene, less than a year after $2.8 million in improvements to the course were completed. The front nine was significantly damaged, but the back nine has reopened.
The new seven-year contract started Tuesday, April 1, with an option to extend for three years. While the course is only nine holes, the city will cover losses up to $350,000, and the operator will cover any losses above that. Once it reopens as an 18-hole course, profits will be split 65% to the operator and 35% to the city, while losses will be split the other way (35% to the operator and 65% to the city).
A maintenance fee of up to $2 per round will go toward course repair.
On another topic, the Department of Parks & Recreation and the Natural and Culture Resources Recovery Support Group, one of six teams focused on recovery, are working on short-term solutions for storm-damaged dog parks, outdoor volleyball, a skating rink, aquatics operations and a parks maintenance facility. The teams are also trying to control erosion in areas that lost vegetation. D. Tyrell McGirt, parks director, said crews are working to reopen Richmond Hill Park, Riverside Cemetery and portions of riverfront recreation areas, parks and greenways. He said it will take up to three years to rebuild French Broad River, River Arts District and Swannanoa River recreation spaces and create more resilient riverfronts, waterways, parks and greenways.
Editor’s note: This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Reporting and Editing
somehow I don’t think the City Admin and the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery haven’t gotten the memo… they’ll be no more federal money for Helene recovery projects. In fact, there won’t be a FEMA much longer if they are able to do away with abolishing it as an agency. You’re on your own I’m afraid.