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Board approves $1.1 million in open-space bond funds for two conservation easements
Summary
The board approved $1.1 million in easement funding to preserve Hawk Creek Headwaters (63 acres) and portions of Warren Wilson College lands (part of a multi-easement 600-acre project). Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy presented conservation values and funding plans; the county will contribute toward purchase and transaction costs.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted Nov. 4 to approve a total of $1.1 million in open-space bond funds to establish two conservation easements recommended by the county’s Land Conservation Advisory Board.
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) presented details for the Hawk Creek Headwaters tract, a 63-acre property adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. SAHC described the property’s scenic viewshed, public hiking access, wildlife corridor function, headwater streams and steep slopes where development could worsen stormwater impacts. SAHC said the full market value of the conservation easement might be about $684,000; the organization negotiated a $400,000 purchase price, seeks a private grant to cover half and asked the county for $200,000 plus $54,000 in allowable transaction costs.
SAHC also updated the board on the Warren Wilson / Bull Creek Preserve project. The organization closed on a 190-acre parcel in September and is pursuing four bargain-sale conservation easements totaling about 600 acres. Funding for those easements includes NRCS, the state Ag Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, private philanthropy and a land-value donation from Warren Wilson College. SAHC told the board it has secured most funding sources and sought a final county contribution of $858,084 for two of the easements.
A commissioner moved and the board approved allocation of $1,100,000 in easement funds (the county’s share) by voice vote. The Land Conservation Advisory Board had previously reviewed and recommended both projects.
The presentations emphasized water-quality protection, preservation of public views and recreation access, and preventing development on steep slopes as climate- and storm-resilience measures. The easements allow limited future residential and agricultural uses in prescribed building envelopes and will include riparian-buffer protections.
The board’s approval authorizes county spending from the open-space bond and the annual easement transaction fund for associated transaction costs. Exact funding splits among county, private grantors and other partners were presented as estimates in the meeting; SAHC representatives said some figures are conservative and may change as final appraisals and grants are confirmed.
