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Woodfin outlines draft Helene recovery projects for Buncombe County plan, eyes federal grants
Summary
Town staff presented an initial list of 16–17 recovery projects to feed into Buncombe County's countywide recovery plan. FEMA planners have been assigned to assist; staff are evaluating funding through CDBG-DR, EPA technical assistance and hazard-mitigation streams while noting capacity and shovel-ready constraints.
Town staff presented a draft list of recovery projects tied to recovery from Tropical Storm Helene during the July 9 Parks and Community Enrichment Committee meeting and described how Woodfin will feed those projects into Buncombe County’s countywide recovery plan.
Adrian, a town staff presenter, said Buncombe County secured FEMA support and assigned FEMA planners to help municipalities draft projects that will be assembled into a single county plan. The town’s draft list includes 16 to 17 projects with fields for purpose and need, benefits, key activities, deliverables, interdependencies, timing, complexity, cost, project leads and anticipated partners. "We've met. Our staff have met with the assigned FEMA planner," Adrian said.
Staff described potential funding sources discussed so far: Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), EPA technical assistance grants (for items such as resiliency hubs), a Climate Smart Community Initiative grant awarded jointly with Swannanoa, and state hazard-mitigation funds. Staff said CDBG-DR funding is largely reserved for individual homeowner repair and rehabilitation and is disbursed through state channels; municipalities do not have direct access to most of that money. Hazard-mitigation funding, staff said, tends to favor projects that are shovel-ready within a short window (the town referenced an October deadline), and Woodfin currently lacks engineered, shovel-ready projects for many infrastructure priorities.
On debris and waterway cleanup, staff said FEMA will prioritize removal of debris that threatens public infrastructure — generally debris within 1,000 feet of infrastructure such as bridges — and the state has taken over broader debris-removal administration. Staff expect a mix of federal removal of the most threatening obstructions and volunteer or nonprofit efforts (for example, Mountain True and Asheville GreenWorks) for smaller debris and revegetation work. The town has allocated community grant funds to some nonprofits for additional cleanups.
Staff warned that some grant programs require administrative capacity the town does not currently have; managing a CDBG-type grant could require hiring staff or partnering with organizations such as Mountain Housing Opportunities for affordable-housing projects or engineering firms for infrastructure repairs.
Buncombe County aims to have a draft county plan ready by the first-year anniversary of the storm in September, with adoption by county commissioners and participating municipalities to follow. Town staff said they will maintain a more detailed internal version of each project to support future implementation and will share the draft with committee members when it is in a more shareable format.
