Buncombe County staff preview multimodal sidewalks and greenways plan after jurisdiction changes

A Buncombe County staff member said the county is advancing a multimodal transportation project to expand sidewalks and greenways in areas the county recently assumed responsibility for.

"We're doing things that counties traditionally don't do," the staff member said, adding that Buncombe County now coordinates development services and environmental work including flood, stormwater and erosion control. The speaker urged attendees to "think out of the box" when planning the project and asked them to coordinate with Parks and Recreation’s forthcoming plan.

The staff member said the county has taken on areas with urban amenities after the abolition of two extraterritorial jurisdictions covering Weaverville and Asheville, and described a goal of creating a unified multimodal transportation system that would include sidewalks and greenways. They also offered to be a point of contact for project questions and introductions during the meeting.

Meeting participants then moved to introductions and a check of virtual attendance. Another attendee noted an EPJ slide prepared for the group and reported that a participant named Nate could not be heard because he was not next to a microphone. No formal motions or votes were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.