WNC mayors weigh in on the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene and other issues that shaped 2024 — and take a look ahead to 2025.

WNC mayors weigh in on the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene and other issues that shaped 2024 — and take a look ahead to 2025.
From Woodfin to Canton, Hendersonville to Brevard, local communities are embracing outdoor recreation as a way to drive economic growth and provide recreational opportunities for residents.
“The decision to begin collecting a stormwater fee was made because, prior to 2019 and 2020, Woodfin had essentially just gotten away with not satisfying the mandatory obligations of its MS4 permit.”
The new de-annexation movement is led by Chip Parton, who was in middle school when the west side was annexed in 2006. He says he wasn’t really paying attention to issues with the town until five or six years ago, when he realized town rules prevented him from putting a single-wide trailer on his parents’ property to live in while he waited to inherit a family home.
More than 30 residents who live on the west side of Woodfin showed up to send a message to Town Council on Feb. 1: “Let us go.”
From Canton to Hendersonville and Woodfin to Brevard, it was a newsworthy year in cities and towns throughout Western North Carolina.
Turnover was the theme in election results Nov. 7. Among the 10 winners in three jurisdictions, only one had appeared on a ballot before. Two of the 10 had been appointed but were running for the first time. Another was running for a different position. All the rest will hold office for the first time.
“Overall, the election went very smoothly,” Buncombe County Director of Elections Corinne Duncan said after the final results were submitted on election night Nov. 7.
Town council and mayoral candidates in Asheville’s closest neighbor to the north, Woodfin, know that growth is inevitable, and the crowds are coming. The threat of uncontrolled growth led to a dramatic turnover on council two years ago, and more fresh faces have emerged to run as the old guard steps down.
Woodfin, once an affordable alternative to Asheville, is trying to slow the pace of development.
For more than 100 years, the Craggy Dam has divided the French Broad River near the town of Woodfin. But now Washington, D.C.-based American Rivers wonders whether it’s time to remove the dam to benefit the area’s ecology and increase recreational opportunities.
While Asheville city and Buncombe County leaders govern the bulk of local development, other municipalities set zoning rules and approve projects within their own borders. Here’s the key information about when and where those decisions are made, as well as how you can weigh in.
“The town of Woodfin has obfuscated when it should have been more honest and clear.”
Eight candidates are vying for three seats on the governing body for the town of roughly 8,000 people to the northwest of Asheville. Challengers and incumbents alike agree that concerns over development, particularly The Bluffs at River Bend proposal, are driving interest in a normally quiet race.
Richmond Hill residents, eager to preserve their quiet neighborhood from traffic and construction, will do just about anything to block plans to build nearly 1,400 residential units overlooking the French Broad River. And Florida-based developer John Holdsworth and his team appear equally committed to seeing their project approved and constructed.
“Our small neighborhood and hundreds of daily Richmond Hill Park visitors do not want a Reynolds Mountain-type development here.”
The Asheville-based nonprofit Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s work included both valuable wildlife habitats, such as the Wiles Creek and Little Rock Creek preserves, and prime farmland at risk of development. Sandy Hollar Farms in Buncombe County and Bowditch Bottoms in Yancey County were among the agricultural projects completed in 2020.
While other planned greenways have bogged down in the face of rising costs — leaving the timeline for their construction in doubt — a flurry of fundraising, planning and design activity surrounds the planned Woodfin Greenway & Blueway. What does that project have going for it that other greenways don’t?
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved an economic incentive package and struggled with a rezoning request that highlighted zoning’s gray areas.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners may be in for a long night when it confronts a full agenda at its Tuesday, April 18, meeting. Commissioners will hear presentations for two grant requests totaling $6.2 million, and consider approval of an economic development incentive package worth $881,960. Commissioners will also hold public hearings on two […]
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will hear funding requests from 46 nonprofits as it begins budget season during its meeting on Tuesday, March 21. Those requests total just under $11 million.