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Asheville committee recommends $15.5M small-business relief package, advancing awards to City Council
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Summary
The PEDE committee recommended that City Council authorize $15.5 million in CDBG-DR small-business support awards—full funding for Mountain BizWorks ($10,000,000) and Venture Asheville ($855,000), and partial awards to ArtsAVL and Eagle Market Street Development Corporation ($2,322,500 each)—after staff described evaluation scores and HUD-driven requirements.
The People & Environment/Development (PEDE) committee on Jan. 20 recommended that City Council authorize the city manager to execute subrecipient agreements for a $15.5 million CDBG-DR small-business support program, forwarding staff’s funding recommendations for final council action on Jan. 27.
Staff presentation: Elma King, CDBG-DR manager, said the action plan allocated $17,000,000 to the small-business support program, with $15,500,000 earmarked for direct business support, $510,000 for business planning/mitigation technical assistance, and $990,000 for administration. City staff issued a NOFO on Oct. 31 and received five eligible applications requesting roughly $21.35 million in combined funding, requiring trade-offs to fit available resources.
Who was recommended and why: Staff recommended fully funding the two highest-scoring applicants and splitting partial awards between the two partners in a proposed partnership. The committee was asked to recommend that City Council authorize awards as follows: Mountain BizWorks — $10,000,000 (full award); Venture Asheville — $855,000 (full award); ArtsAVL — $2,322,500 (partial); Eagle Market Street Development Corporation — $2,322,500 (partial). Institute Capital was ranked lowest and was not recommended for funding under this NOFO.
Staff described scoring criteria used in the NOFO: applicant capacity and federal compliance experience, soundness of approach and mitigation planning, leveraging of additional resources, and realistic performance measures tied to program goals. Staff emphasized a community-engagement-driven design that prioritized rapid deployment and forgivable grants rather than loans. King also noted a HUD requirement that 70% of program benefits must serve low-to-moderate-income (LMI) individuals.
Questions and contingencies: Committee members asked about communications, duplication-of-benefits checks, project timelines, and whether subrecipients could serve overlapping applicant pools; staff said a one-portal approach would allow businesses choice and that the city would check for duplication. Staff described contingencies before execution—risk analysis, duplication-of-benefits review, environmental reviews, and completion of project manuals—after which subrecipient awards would be executed and grants issued in spring and summer.
Vote and next steps: Councilmember Kim moved the recommendation, Chair Ullman seconded, and the committee conducted a roll-call vote (Councilwoman Roney and Chair Ullman voted Aye). The motion passed and the recommendation will go to full City Council on Jan. 27 for consideration.
Context and impact: The staff recommendations aim to maximize the share of funds going directly to beneficiaries (staff cited 96% for the partnership model and 88% for Venture Asheville) while using local match and partnerships to increase reach. If City Council approves the awards, subrecipients must clear HUD-related contingencies before disbursement begins.
