Asheville city staff hosted a nine-member Urban Land Institute (ULI) advisory panel this week to develop recommendations for economic and environmental recovery in riverfront commercial corridors after Tropical Storm Helene. The panel’s public presentation is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 1, and staff said preliminary recommendations will be available immediately afterward.

The advisory panel is focusing on balancing economic recovery and growth with environmental protection in heavily impacted riverfront commercial districts, including Biltmore Village, the Swannanoa Corridor between Hendersonville Road and Tunnel Road, the Greater River Arts District and the French Broad Recreation Area. Steph Monsendal, director of planning and urban design, said the panel will provide “enough recommendations this Friday that we’ll be able to start working with them immediately.”

Why it matters: Asheville is directing federal Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and other recovery funding to rebuild businesses and infrastructure. City staff said the ULI recommendations could inform use of CDBG-DR funds and capital improvement planning for stormwater, streambank restoration and other flood-resilience projects.

City staff described the panel’s work as guided by council priorities for recovery (people, housing, infrastructure and environment, and the economy) and by public engagement the city conducted after Helene, including the CDBG-DR action planning process and a joint Envision Buncombe survey. Steph Monsendal told council the ULI team had toured flooded riverfront commercial areas, held a public meet-and-greet attended by about 100 people, and convened small focus groups of roughly 80 participants to collect local input prior to the panel’s report.

The panel is expected to examine tools and policies for resilient private development, floodplain management, small-business support and workforce development, and to recommend crucial public investments for flood resilience. Monsendal said the final written report will be available in the coming months, although the panel’s initial recommendations will be usable by staff immediately.

City Manager Deborah Campbell and Planning staff said the ULI visit is one of several inputs staff will use alongside the city’s organizational work plan and the council’s recovery priorities to identify immediate and midterm actions. Staff plans to bring ULI findings to the Planning, Economic Development and Environment Committee for review and to consider how recommendations can be prioritized and turned into actionable policies or projects for council consideration.

What’s next: ULI’s public presentation is set for Friday, Aug. 1; staff will brief the Planning, Economic Development and Environment Committee afterward and incorporate the final report into recovery planning when it is published.