Swannanoa planners to take updated policy map and three vision options to public after identifying engagement gaps

Planning staff for the Swannanoa Township planning process in Buncombe County presented an updated policy map and described gaps in community engagement, and said staff will release a public poll offering three vision-statement options alongside the map.

At a community workshop, planning staff showed “Version 3” of the policy map, explaining the map separates a broader green “resilience area” (which includes the orange highlight area) from smaller orange highlighted neighborhoods where policy recommendations would focus. The map’s three highlighted clusters include an area northeast around Lake Eden (streams that flow into the Swannanoa River), a southern section near Lytle Cove, and a western extension added to include communities that had been omitted in earlier drafts.

The map and the vision options will be distributed to the public along with a poll, staff said. “We will bring that policy map to them and ask them about both that green resilience area and about that orange, highlight area,” a planning staff member said. Staff said the poll will ask respondents to pick which of three draft vision statements best matches the future…