Commissioners Conserve More Than 200 Acres of Farm Land, Honor Native Americans, & More

Buncombe County continues to make significant progress on its goal of preserving 20% of County land by 2030. On Nov. 15, the Board of Commissioners approved $113,000 to conserve 202 acres of farmland. The move marks another victory for the Commissioners’ strategic priority of environmental and energy stewardship and will require no new funding as it will be drawn from the existing $750,000 budgeted for the FY23 Conservation Easement project funds.

The following farms will be placed into easements:

• $38,000: Dragonheart Farm, 31 acres in Sandy Mush
• $50,000: Bruce and Jean Larson Farm, 70 acres in Sandy Mush
• $25,000: Garrett Cove Farm, 101 acres in Sandy Mush

With the addition of these three projects, the County will need 5,243 more acres to achieve its goal of preserving 20% of its land by 2030. You can learn more about the easements here, view maps here, and learn more about preserving farmland here.

Native American Heritage Month proclamation

As Buncombe County honors November as Native American Heritage Month, Commissioners approved a proclamation designating November as such. It reads in part: “The area currently known as Buncombe County rests on land that was first inhabited by the Cherokee, who flourished here for thousands of years, as well as the Catawba People. The traditional territory of the Cherokee covered more than 100,000 square miles of what is now western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, and upstate South Carolina.” You can read the proclamation in its entirety here.

Also, join us this Friday, Nov. 18, for an evening with Rebecca Nagle, Cherokee writer, advocate, and host of the acclaimed podcast This Land, for a talk and conversation at Pack Memorial Library’s Lord Auditorium.

And please check out the Register of Deeds’ innovative project As Long As The Grass Shall Grow, which highlights the history of Cherokee land cessions in Buncombe County.

Adoption Awareness Month proclamation

Did you know Buncombe County has 328 children and 50 young adults (aged 18-21) in foster care? November is Adoption Awareness Month, and Commissioners approved a proclamation recognizing the need for adoption. It reads in part: “During the month of November, Buncombe County Health and Human Services will continue to focus on children who need permanent adoptive families and honor families who have adopted children, as well as those who work to address the impacts of childhood trauma through safe and stable forever homes that meet the needs of children in foster care.” You can read the entire proclamation here.

To learn more about foster care in Buncombe County, click here.

Reparations update

Assistant County Manager DK Wesley provided Commissioners with an update on the Community Reparations Commission’s work.

Currently, the major works in progress are:

• Working with the five impact focus areas (IFA) workgroups virtually and in-person for the critical path evaluations to identify harms, evaluate data, and develop recommendations.
• Restructuring immediate, short-term, mid-term, and long-term recommendations with the goal of having those presented to Commissioners in early 2023.
• Filling one vacancy on the Community Reparations Commission and appointing two alternates.

Commissioners did not take any formal action but directed staff to look at existing applicants and potentially reopen the application process to fill the Community Reparations Commission vacancies. Visit the City of Asheville Engagement Hub for more information about the Community Reparations Commission and to sign up for updates.

Affordable Housing budget amendment

Commissioners approved a budget amendment that will allow them to carry over money from the previous year’s Affordable Housing Service Project (AHSP) fund. The amendment consolidates $1,240,600 in unallocated FY22 AHSP project dollars and $247,555 in over-realized AHSP Program Income project dollars into the AHSP FY23 project in order to fund all FY23 AHSP projects. You can view the ordinance here.

Approval of items transfer memo

Due to the management of a janitorial contract transferring from Health and Human Services to General Services, the County Manager approved a cross-functional line-item transfer for $21,704 and Commissioners were informed per statute. You can read more about this process here.