ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Buncombe County commissioners will take up several Tropical Storm Helene recovery items Tuesday, including plans to seek state funding to rebuild damaged parks, help move an affordable housing project forward and add backup power at critical county facilities.
The county has three projects in mind for the state’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Community Infrastructure program.
One would help rebuild county parks damaged by Helene and return park services to pre-Helene levels, while also adding measures to better protect the parks from future disasters.
Another would provide infrastructure needed for the Ferry Road Affordable Housing Community. The county says the work would help make development of affordable housing at the site possible.
The third project would add permanent power redundancy systems at county-owned facilities considered critical during emergencies.
The county held a public hearing on the grant opportunity Aug. 18 and accepted public comments through Aug. 28. Commissioners will be asked Tuesday to approve the applications and authorize county staff to submit them by the Sept. 16 deadline.
FEMA money for property acquisitions
Another Helene-related item on Tuesday’s agenda involves more than $4.1 million in FEMA funding.
Buncombe County has been awarded $4,124,262.76 in subrecipient management funds for a third group of properties in the county’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
The program calls for residential structures to be acquired and demolished, with the properties eventually returned to green space. The county will work with homeowners throughout the process, from applications through completion.
The county says the management funding represents 5% of the total project amount for the third group.
The first two groups received $406,010 and $550,950 in subrecipient management funds. With the latest funding, the total for the three groups is $5,081,222.
The agenda materials don’t say how many properties are included in the latest group or identify them by address.
A few other money matters
Commissioners also will consider carrying $552,611 in fiscal 2026 budget money into the current fiscal year.
That includes $126,981 in the General Fund, $392,147 for Mountain Mobility and $33,483 for the county’s health, employment, property and casualty insurance fund.
The county says the money is being carried forward because some purchases weren’t delivered by June 30 due to shipping or vendor delays, while some services that had already been obligated weren’t completed before the end of the fiscal year.
Another $58,335 would be carried forward for an ambulance project. The money would come from the General Fund and cover an overage identified in fiscal 2026 involving a purchase that wasn’t made during that fiscal year.
The board also will consider accepting $32,577 in library donations.
Of that, $18,000 comes from Friends of Pack Library and the Trust Fund for Buncombe County Public Libraries for the One Book One Buncombe program. Another $14,577 comes from an estate and is designated for the West Asheville Library. The county says no new county money is needed for the donations.
Georges Branch Road
One smaller item involves Georges Branch Road.
Commissioners will consider asking the state to abandon 0.1 miles of SR 1495, Georges Branch Road, from the state road system.
According to NCDOT, the unpaved, dead-end road is an extension of SR 1131 Georges Branch Road and serves only adjacent property owners. The property owners asked that the road be removed from the state’s roadway inventory.