Council gets 5-year CIP preview and overview of FEMA public-assistance recovery projects

Jay Dundas, interim assistant city manager, told the Asheville City Council a 5-year capital improvement plan (CIP) is nearly complete and that the city is also advancing projects tied to the general-obligation bond approved in November 2024 and to storm-recovery funding through FEMA—s Public Assistance (PA) program.

Dundas said staff are aiming for a long-term 10-year CIP but will publish a well-developed five-year CIP in the manager—s proposed budget; the five-year draft assumes roughly $20—to—25 million of capital capacity per year and lists projects the city will bring forward for study, design and later construction. He said the general-fund CIP slides in the presentation reflect only general-fund capital (not enterprise funds or all federal recovery funds) and the proposed bond allocations are separate lines of funding.

On recovery work, Dundas and staff described grouping storm-damaged assets into "simple" and "complex" PA projects to streamline FEMA reimbursement and reduce administrative overhead. Complex groupings include the French Broad Riverfront and greenways, Swannanoa River corridor repairs, North Fork/Biltmore projects and water-utility plant repairs. Dundas said the city had to preserve flexibility for some projects that may proceed on separate timelines, citing municipal golf course work as an example of an item already advanced to RFQ.

Dundas said FEMA PA can reimburse replacement-in-kind costs and can be used for mitigation and resilience measures in some cases. He said staff planned to submit a comprehensive damage inventory by May 16 and that project grouping choices affect administration and timing. Dundas also outlined early bond-related work including design and RFQs for pool and sidewalk projects, and noted the bond categories approved by voters: affordable housing, parks and recreation, public safety facilities and transportation.

Council questions included tree and landscape restoration in parks, grant-writing capacity to pursue outside funding, and how PA funding interacts with CDBG-DR and other grant sources. Dundas said staff would publish the detailed CIP and bond dashboard in the proposed budget materials and that additional recovery project details and timelines would follow.

Ending: Staff asked council for direction on prioritization and confirmed the manager—s proposed budget would include the finalized five-year CIP and a dashboard of bond projects; Dundas said recovery projects will be continually refined through the FEMA PA process and through other grant opportunities.