Buncombe Commissioners preview: Groundwork edition

At its meeting Tuesday, Oct. 6, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will vote on beginning to lay the groundwork (or keep the ball rolling) on a number of fronts including zoning, green initiatives, school construction, courtroom space and a partnership with the Health Adventure.

In March, the N.C. Court of Appeals struck down Buncombe County’s 2007 zoning ordinance, ruling that the public was given insufficient notice before the rules were approved.

Now the board will vote on accepting new zoning maps drawn up by the county’s planning board and set a date of Nov. 17 for a public hearing on zoning.

The board will also vote on instructing the county’s Environmental Advisory Board to study a number possible green initiatives including LEED certification for county buildings, awards for green organizations and an open spaces policy.

The commissioners will also vote on taking out $5.7 million in bonds for school construction and renovation throughout the county. That won’t be the only bond issue they’ll deal with, as the board will also set a public hearing to discuss issuing bonds (of an unspecified amount) to help fund the Health Adventure’s new Health and Science Learning Facility.

And if all that (and a county manager’s report on the state of human services in the county) wasn’t enough, the board will vote on buying a 50,000-square-foot. office building at 200 College St. to provide more space for county court operations. The county already owns the property the building is on and leases office space within it. While the purchase will cost $9.5 million, county staff expect the monthly debt service to be more than covered by the rent paid by the private businesses already there.

The meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 6 in the commissioner’s chambers at 30 Valley St. A short pre-meeting session will begin at 4:15 p.m.

— David Forbes, staff writer

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