Nearly nine years after it agreed to take on the project, Buncombe County is poised to begin acquiring easements that will lead to construction of 4.7 miles of greenway paths along the French Broad River and Beaverdam Creek in Woodfin.
Both sections should be completed in summer 2029, Allison Dains, county parks and recreation director, told the county Board of Commissioners Tuesday.
“We’re in go-time and really excited to move into right-of-way,” Dains said.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved an amendment to a 2017 agreement with Woodfin in which county government agreed to supervise design, property acquisition and construction of the two greenway projects.
In an interview, Dains declined to discuss why it has taken so long for planning for the project to reach this point.
The amendment adds language to the agreement stating that the town will own and maintain the greenways once they are complete and make improvements at town parks along the French Broad River route, including construction of restrooms at Silver-Line Park and completion of Taylor’s Wave, a man-made whitewater feature in the French Broad at Riverside Park that is now under construction.
About 2.4 miles of greenway will run parallel to the river between the Broadway/Riverside Drive intersection near UNC Asheville and The Mill at Riverside. Another 1.3 miles will run between the intersection of Riverside Drive and Elk Mountain Road east to Merrimon Avenue. It’s unclear how the two paths will connect.
The current plan would leave a gap of 0.4 miles in the area around The Mill at Riverside and the offices of the Metropolitan Sewerage District. Dains told the Woodfin Town Council in March that routing the greenway through that area was already a challenge and Helene caused erosion and unstable river banks. That section will become a separate project that could get funded later, allowing the other sections of greenway to move ahead, she said.
That situation hasn’t changed, she said Wednesday.
Dains said there are about 22 property owners along the route that the county will have to get easements from. That process is expected to take about a year and the county plans to take bids for greenway construction in fall 2027.
Commissioner Drew Ball thanked county staff for pushing the project to this point.
“I know that this has been a long time coming and that Helene was something that definitely was a challenge to get through and yet your determination and partnership with the Town of Woodfin has allowed us to keep moving this forward,” he said.
Buncombe commissioners approved a master plan for 102 miles of greenway in the county in 2012 but the process of turning lines on a map into greenway paths on the ground has been a slow one.
Along with existing greenways and one the North Carolina Department of Transportation plans as part of the I-26 Connector, the Woodfin project would create a nearly continuous, separate path for pedestrians and bicyclists running from Hominy Creek River Park in West Asheville north to the Mill at Riverside. NCDOT plans a greenway that would run through the I-26 Connector project area and connect with the Woodfin greenway near the northern end of Broadway, spokesperson Stephanie Johnson said Wednesday.
County pivots on Enka trail
County government is now exploring the possibility of a different route for another planned greenway in Enka, Dains told commissioners.
The alternative route for the Enka Heritage Trail would run from Buncombe County Sports Park to near Sand Hill-Venable Elementary School using property owned by the county and Buncombe County Schools.
The greenway was originally planned to run beside Hominy Creek in the area around Enka Commerce Park and Bob Lewis Ballpark, but Dains said the nonprofit that owns the land has said it won’t allow use of the property without a significant payment by the county.
That’s “despite previous … commitments by the Enka Youth Sports Organization,” which operates Bob Lewis Ballpark, Dains said.
The school sits on land considerably higher than the county park. A conceptual plan Dains showed commissioners calls for the greenway to have several switchbacks to traverse the grade.
Dains said EYSO wants $1.6 million for the 51 acres needed even though the county believes the land is worth only about $635,000 because it is vulnerable to flooding and has potential environmental issues.
EYSO has received money from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority and county government for improvements at Lewis Ballpark, Dains said. Commissioners and members of the public expressed disappointment in the nonprofit’s actions, with members of a group advocating for the trail saying EYSO had agreed previously to make easements available.
“It feels to me as if they’re trying to take advantage of the taxpayers of Buncombe County,” Commissioner Terri Wells said.
Tidbits
Commissioners also:
Voted to accept a $284,368 state grant to construct boat launches at the county’s Bent Creek River Park, Glen Bridge River Park, and Hominy Creek River Park along the French Broad. The county will match that amount for the project, with some of its share coming from its own funds and some from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The launches will allow vehicles carrying boats, canoes, rafts or kayaks to back up to the river’s edge, Joseph Guseman, county parks division manager said in an interview.At present, boaters have to cross earthen embankments at the Bent Creek and Glen Bridge parks and a set of old railroad crossties arranged as steps at Hominy Creek, he said. That’s not ideal for recreational boaters. It also created a challenge for search and rescue crews putting their crafts on the water during Helene, Guseman said.
- Approved a $2.2 million contract for design services to convert the former JC Penney building at the Asheville Mall into the county Emergency Operations Center. The county bought the building in June.
- Accepted a $40,000 grant to buy laptop computers and related equipment to allow the county library system to offer computer training at its branches and off-site locations.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners regularly meets every first and third Tuesday at 200 College St., Room 326, in downtown Asheville, beginning at 5 p.m. Its next regular meeting will take place Tuesday, Aug. 18. See the full recording and documents from the Aug. 4 meeting and an informal briefing that preceded it.
