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County officials report progress on Helen recovery: buyouts, parks, housing repairs and preparedness metrics
Summary
Helen recovery staff reported progress across dozens of projects—Owen Park design, HMGP buyouts and demolitions, home-repair and reconstruction casework, sidewalks projects, and FEMA reimbursements—and said the county’s preparedness action plan is roughly 65% complete with significant gains in community resource support and emergency operations.
Kevin Matson, the county’s Helen recovery officer, provided a consolidated update on recovery projects and funding streams tied to Hurricane Helen and related disasters. Matson said the Owen Park rebuild had more than 1,000 community participants at an earlier meeting and that a second public meeting on conceptual designs was scheduled that afternoon. He said the county has obligated architectural and engineering funds and has applied for HMGP and CDBG-DR funding for project components.
Matson summarized hazard-mitigation buyouts under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP): 38 properties were included in an initial round, 36 have received offers with 13 closed and three additional closings scheduled; the county expects several hundred properties across future groups, with 204 properties recently awarded in group 3 and group 4 combined. Matson said demolition teams are beginning work and emphasized deed restrictions will apply to acquired open-space properties; any changes require FEMA Region 4 mitigation-team review.
On housing repair and reconstruction, staff described three programs (rehab, replacement, reconstruction) with different average completion timelines; the transcript’s spoken totals for some statewide and county application counts were inconsistently rendered and are reported here as described by staff. The county reported active applications and contracts for Swananoa (sidewalk and housing repair work) and a noted $979,000 earlier award for Beacon Village sidewalks.
Max (preparedness lead) reported the preparedness action plan is approximately 65% complete across more than 240 actions. He highlighted four priority categories—emergency operations (+15% completion since the last report), emergency staffing (+10%), 911 communications (+15%), and community resource support (+32%)—and cited tangible work such as a purchased emergency operations center, updated job aids and standard operating guidelines, prepositioned contracts for shelter and debris removal, and an updated crisis-communications plan.
On FEMA public assistance, staff said 57 projects were submitted, 50 have been obligated, obligated funding amounted to roughly $38 million and about $23 million has been received by the county to date. Staff cautioned that obligations do not always equate to immediate cash and explained the categorization of temporary (A/B) vs. permanent (C–G) work and extension procedures.
Commissioners asked questions about online options for public meetings, coordination with the city of Asheville on overlapping program applications, and the county’s approach to program prioritization. Staff said they are meeting monthly with state Renew & C partners and are coordinating with city officials as needed.
