Presentations by the Buncombe County Board of Adjustment and Planning Board, both delivered to the county Board of Commissioners on Feb. 2, emphasized the need for changes in how the county handles its zoning and land use policy.
Tag: Buncombe County Board of Commissioners
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From Asheville Watchdog: Reparations, six months later — so far, empty promises
Six months ago, as part of a reckoning on racial injustice, the city of Asheville and Buncombe County both passed resolutions to consider reparations to the Black community as a way to begin making amends for slavery and generations of systemic discrimination. Since then, local officials concede, little has been done.
Facilities plan could shift how Buncombe deals with public
Of Buncombe County’s roughly 1,600 employees, 465 are currently working remotely, and 283 have said they would continue to do so indefinitely if allowed. If those employees remained remote, the county would need about 22,700 fewer square feet of office space, allowing for more services to be consolidated in fewer buildings.
Can repurposing the Vance Monument help heal the divide in Asheville?
“We cannot avoid the hidden phantom side effects of the desecration of the monument, held so dear by so many.”
Letter: Ike’s timely warning and our current reality
“We are all the alert and knowledgeable citizenry that President Eisenhower warned would be necessary to prevent what we see happening in Buncombe County and we say: ‘No more, reject Raytheon!'”
$7.9M in housing assistance coming to Buncombe
On Tuesday, Feb. 2., the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will vote on accepting a U.S. Department of the Treasury grant for emergency rental assistance. the funds would support households financially hurt by the pandemic with rent, utilities and and other expenses related to housing.
Asheville City Schools on path to budget deficit
“You can’t keep doing that year in and year out. You need to keep an eye on that,” external auditor Michael Wike told the Asheville City Board of Education about the school system’s spending at a Dec. 7 work session. “What happens when you don’t have a fund balance is almost like an individual living paycheck to paycheck: You can’t plan for the future whatsoever.”
Local restaurants and their employees’ lives are being destroyed by government mandates
“Hospitality and culinary professionals are being mandated and regulated out of business for the sake of optics and at the senseless sacrifice of hardworking people and their families.”
Controversial choices: Debating the Pratt & Whitney project
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and other supporters say jobs at the aerospace manufacturing plant will provide opportunities for workers to improve their standards of living. Critics say those wages are not worth the moral cost: Bolstering a military-industrial complex that causes deaths half a world away and eats up government funds better spent on other needs.
Buncombe preps new systems for vaccine rollout
COVID-19 vaccination initiatives announced by the county include a drive-thru site for second doses at A. C. Reynolds High School and a waitlist for first-dose vaccination appointments. The waitlist will replace a system that requires residents to schedule appointments directly as vaccines became available.
Buncombe energy assistance program gets $485K boost
The state grant for Buncombe’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, funded as part of the first federal COVID-19 relief package, will be considered at the Tuesday, Jan. 19, meeting of the county Board of Commissioners.
Buncombe health staff address commissioners’ COVID-19 concerns
“We recognize that it’s not a perfect system and the demand is quite high,” said Stacie Saunders, Buncombe County’s public health director, at a Jan. 12 special meeting called to address local vaccination efforts. “We just want to reiterate that we will not have sufficient supply of vaccine for a very long time, so it is likely that we will still hear frustration and concerns about being able to get an appointment.”
Letter: A better way to support jobs in Buncombe
“We should be giving tax incentives to local sustainable businesses, not to a multinational corporation that relies on fossil fuels and perpetuates a war industry that is the scourge of the world.”
From CPP: Family leave for county employees in some parts of the state
Seven North Carolina counties now offer paid days off to care for a new child or an ailing family member.
Buncombe to receive over $1M for community health response
Nearly $118,000 from the Dogwood Health Trust will hire a program manager as part of a previously funded community paramedic team. And $900,000 in federal funds will support housing and utility payments for county residents who have lost income due to COVID-19.
In 2020, readers sounded off about politics, COVID-19, race and more
“What issues did Xpress readers feel passionate enough about to write letters to the editor or commentaries during a year that promises to go down in history?”
Dramatic year in politics creates few shifts in power
Xpress contributor Mark Barrett unpacks the surprisingly static results to emerge from a politically tumultuous year in Western North Carolina.
Letter: Backroom deal was a bad decision
“Apparently a decision had already been made without the concern of residents being heard. Is that how a democracy works?”
Letter: What does ‘transparency’ mean to Buncombe County officials?
“People may like the 800 jobs promised by the Pratt & Whitney deal and so don’t care that it was transacted so discreetly, but now that this precedent has been set, will there be future deals made without taxpayers’ knowledge and input during the negotiations?”
Property revaluation key to 2021-22 Buncombe budget
If the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners were to maintain the property tax rate at 52.9 cents per $100 of assessed value for fiscal year 2021-22, noted Buncombe budget analyst Rusty Mau, the county would see about $237 million in property tax revenue, up nearly 12% from the $212 million budgeted for 2020-21.
Council votes 6-1 to proceed with Vance removal
On Dec. 8, Asheville City Council voted to move forward with the removal of the downtown obelisk, which memorializes Confederate Gov. Zebulon Vance. Sandra Kilgore was the only member in opposition.