ACTION: Support Road Safety in Downtown Asheville

Let the City of Asheville know that you support making College Street and Patton Avenue safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders.

Take Action to Support Complete Streets for Asheville

The City of Asheville is wavering in its commitment to complete streets and needs your support for the College/Patton project today. MountainTrue has long been a supporter of complete street projects that make moving through our communities safer, easier, and more environmentally sustainable. Our new program Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC also supports such projects as a way to mitigate congestion in our city centers as we make room for more residents there. City staff and traffic engineers have studied this project and responded to community concerns along the way. They have improved the design, consulted with emergency responders, and compared vehicular traffic patterns to other streets in town to demonstrate that this new design would not create the congestion that some opponents of this project fear. Their expert analysis and process have built upon multiple studies and plans that have recommended projects like this one since the 2009 Downtown Master Plan. However, our city’s leadership needs to hear from more voices that support turning College Street and Patton Avenues into complete streets with buffered bike lanes and high-visibility crosswalks. Take action today to encourage Asheville City Council to vote in support of the College/Patton project and make our downtown safer for all users.

Take Action

Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC advocates for more attainable housing that is built in places and at a scale that most benefits the health of our natural environment. We support attainable housing in and near our city centers because that is an efficient use of infrastructure, it decreases our overall carbon footprint, and also because we want our downtowns to be vibrant, thriving, inclusive places that all people in our community both can and want to access and enjoy. We believe that investments in infrastructure that make downtowns more pedestrian friendly, rather than vehicle oriented, pay off by activating our city center in a personal way and on a human scale. Bike lanes are a part of that landscape not just because they benefit bicyclists, but also because the less car-centric we make our downtown, the more people-centered it becomes. Complete street projects enable vehicle access and safer options for other road users, and, ultimately, we believe that complete streets in our city center will benefit businesses by making downtown a place that residents will want to spend more time and money in.

Join us in supporting complete street investments in downtown Asheville by supporting the College/Patton Project today. Click here to read our letter of support for the College Street and Patton Avenue Redesign Project.

MountainTrue’s Letter of Support for the City of Asheville’s College Street & Patton Avenue Redesign Project

photo credit: City of Asheville project page

October 2, 2023

This week, we sent the letter below to the members of Asheville City Council expressing our support for the College / Patton Project in downtown Asheville because we believe multi-modal transportation investments make denser residential development work best for our communities. You can read more about the project on the city’s website here.

Dear Asheville City Council,

City Manager Debra Campbell,

Director of Transportation, Ken Putnam

Assistant Director of Transportation, Jessica Morriss

Members of the City of Asheville’s Multimodal Transportation Commission

I write today on behalf of MountainTrue and Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC asking you to support the College Street and Patton Avenue redesign project.

We took to heart Council member Mosley’s reflection of concern and even anger on behalf of the Black community regarding bike lanes during the August 22 council discussion on this project. The prospect of supporting what feels to some members of our community like “white encroachment in Black neighborhoods” is not a position we take lightly. While we believe that this redesign project would increase safety for all travelers through our downtown—pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike—we also take seriously the prospect that such a change may make some members of our community feel even less welcome or included, especially those Council member Mosley spoke on behalf of who are “most vulnerable among us.”

Additionally, we take seriously the concerns of downtown business owners who are currently beset by a host of challenges and stressors and who feel like the timing of this project is not right. For those owners in particular who have invested in and committed to downtown Asheville even since the years when downtown was nearly deserted and sorely neglected, we regret that the timing of this project feels like a threat rather than a support.

While we do not take these concerns lightly, Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC advocates for more attainable housing that is built in places and at a scale that most benefits the health of our natural environment. We support attainable housing in and near our city centers because that is an efficient use of infrastructure, it decreases our overall carbon footprint, and also because we want our downtowns to be vibrant, thriving, inclusive places that all people in our community both can and want to access and enjoy. We believe that investments in infrastructure that make downtowns more pedestrian friendly, rather than vehicle oriented, do pay off by activating our city center in a personal way and on a human scale. Bike lanes are a part of that landscape not just because they benefit bicyclists, but also because the less car-centric we make our downtown, the more people-centered it becomes. Complete street projects both enable vehicle access in addition to providing safer options for other road users, and, ultimately, we believe that complete streets in our city center will benefit downtown businesses by making downtown a place that residents will want to spend more time and money in.

When vulnerable members of our community and business owners feel that complete street projects like College/Patton go against their interests, we take time to step back and question our assumptions. It is true that the most vocal and visible champions for bicycle infrastructure in our community are white. It is also true that the challenges of both implementing this project and then adjusting to the new road design would be most immediately felt by the business owners whose businesses are located within the project footprint. Yet it is also frequently true that unwanted or even feared changes, once experienced, prove to be appealing and beneficial in unexpected ways.

We respect our city staff and traffic engineers who have studied this project and responded to concerns along the way. They have improved the design by increasing loading zone space and decreasing impacts to drivers by moving the bike lanes to the left side of traffic, instead of the right. They have consulted with and received support from emergency responders in our community. And they have compared vehicular traffic patterns to other streets in town to demonstrate that this new design would not create the delays or congestion that some opponents of this project fear. We trust their expert analysis and their process, which has built upon multiple studies and plans that have recommended projects like this one since the 2009 Downtown Master Plan.

Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC advocates for housing that is financially attainable and responsibly located. We also advocate for transportation investments that make our community more affordable and make denser patterns of development work best for all members of our community. And we do that advocacy as thoughtfully and respectfully as possible, trying to honor all the different lived experiences that will be impacted by the changes we promote. We seek to listen, understand, learn, and partner with individuals and groups who want Asheville and WNC to be the best they can be. It is from this place that we ask for your support of the College/Patton project in the hopes that it ultimately proves to be more beneficial to our community than harmful and in the hopes that all members of our community, from the most vulnerable to the most privileged, find themselves able to access and enjoy our city center as neighbors welcoming more neighbors.

Sincerely,

Susan Bean, Housing & Transportation Director for MountainTrue

Click here to take action in support of complete streets for Asheville

MT Raleigh Report — A State Budget. Finally.

After weeks away from Raleigh and countless promises about when a new state budget will be approved, lawmakers finally passed a new two-year budget last week.

Here’s our take on good and bad in the spending plan that has taken the legislature all summer and then some to send to Governor Cooper. For his part, the Governor opposed the budget but allowed it to become law without his signature in order to move forward on Medicaid expansion.

The Good.

The final budget includes new investments in state parks, farmland preservation, and land and water protection supported by the state’s land trusts and other conservation groups. Recurring funding for state trust funds for land and water conservation, as well as state parks, is now budgeted at a generous $28 million for each fund annually. Funding for farm preservation and trails also received substantial increases. The budget also provides $12 million over the next two years for the Saluda Grade Trail, a rails-to-trails project that includes 16 miles in WNC.

In especially good news for WNC water quality, the budget includes $2 million in funding to help farmers in the French Broad Watershed with fencing and other measures to keep livestock and their waste out of streams to reduce bacteria pollution across the watershed. This funding is a victory for MountainTrue, which has advocated for additional funding to reduce agricultural waste runoff in the French Broad for several years.

MountainTrue will also be the steward of another round of funding to develop and improve the French Broad River Paddle Trail thanks to renewed investments in the NC Trails Program, a unit of the NC State Parks system that designates and supports State Trails.

The Bad.

Tucked away in the final budget is policy language that essentially strips local governments of any authority to reduce or control food packaging waste – including plastic bags – at the local level. This end-run on local authority comes at a time when an increasing number of local governments in North Carolina – including Buncombe County – are considering ways to reduce single-use plastic and styrofoam from entering the waste stream. We can all thank (or blame) the well-funded NC Retail Merchants Association for this outdated approach to plastics reduction at a time when the public and many retailers are looking for more ways to cut down on plastic waste.

The environment is best protected when government and politicians are subject to robust public scrutiny, so we are also concerned with new rules in the budget that shield lawmakers from public records requests. But while shielding lawmakers from scrutiny, another concerning provision in the budget gives a General Assembly oversight committee new powers to investigate state and local governments, private companies, and charities, including the power to charge people who the committee feels aren’t cooperative with a crime. One of lawmakers’ key roles is to hold government agencies accountable, but we worry that these new powers may be used to intimidate individuals and agencies, not to improve their performance.

Less critical but also disappointing was the lack of funding for a variety of small but important conservation projects MountainTrue has supported along with local partners. These projects include funding to expand the new WNC Snorkel Trail to all WNC counties; complete the River Walk in Murphy; improve public access to the Watauga River Paddle Trail; develop a new public access point and riverwalk in Polk County; and improve Canton’s Chestnut Mountain Nature Park by expanding trails and improving a playground. We’re disappointed that these went unfunded, but we will be back in Raleigh next year to support them.

Your support of MountainTrue makes our advocacy in Raleigh possible. Thank you, and look for more information about the final days of the 2023 General Assembly in future updates.

ACTION: Tell NCDEQ to Deny the Draft Clear Creek Wastewater Permit & Stop Additional Pollution of Local Waterways

The NC Department of Environmental Quality is accepting comments on the Draft Permit for the Clear Creek Wastewater Treatment Project (NPDES Permit NCO090247). We invite you to join our opposition to this draft permit.

Strong wastewater infrastructure can effectively improve water quality, but unfortunately, the approach taken by Henderson County misses the mark. If DEQ issues this permit, it will result in construction of a new unnecessary wastewater treatment plant in a rural area of the county and a discharge into Clear Creek, which is already listed as impaired on the state’s 303(d) list of impaired streams. A new source of pollution is cause for concern, and issuing this permit would violate the Clean Water Act.

Additionally, there is a more environmentally sound and reasonably cost-effective treatment option available — connecting to the existing sewer system operated by the City of Hendersonville — and the County has not accounted for the costs of operating and maintaining a new wastewater treatment plant for years to come.

But any action on sewer expansion would be irresponsible without a strong plan to address future development. The county is still contemplating its 2045 Comprehensive Plan, which will guide the future for growth and development in the county, and appropriate land use protections need to be implemented before facilitating unchecked development.

We need you to tell NCDEQ to deny this permit. Take action below.

ACTION: Stop the NCGA from Stripping Local Governments of Authority to Fight Plastic Pollution

Breaking News: A draft conference report of the state budget released to the media includes language that would prohibit counties (§ 153A-145.11) and cities (§ 160A-205.6) from passing ordinances, resolutions, or rules that would restrict, tax, or charge a fee on auxiliary containers — the definition of which includes bags, cups, bottles, and other packaging.

This language would preempt local control and undermine existing provisions of the NC Solid Waste Management Act that give counties and cities the authority to ban single-use plastic bags and other forms of packaging and the use of plastic foam (e.g., styrofoam) in foodware.

Plastic pollution is a threat to our environment and to the health of North Carolina residents. Email your legislators and let them know that our right to protect ourselves from dangerous pollutants is too important to be traded away to fossil fuel and retail industry lobbyists in backroom deals.

Language in NC Budget Would Strip Local Governments’ Ability to Pass Plastic Bag Bans and Other Waste Reduction Efforts to Protect Environment, Public Health, Landfills and Recycling Centers

Media Contacts:

Karim Olaechea, Deputy Director of Strategy & Communications at MountainTrue
(828) 400-0768, karim@mountaintrue.org

Katie Craig, State Director at NCPIRG
kcraig@ncpirg.org

Ken Brame, President of the Sierra Club’s Western North Carolina Group
(828) 423-8045,kenbrame10@gmail.com

Michelle B. Nowlin, Co-Director at Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
(919) 613-8502, nowlin@law.duke.edu

For Immediate Release

Raleigh, September 19 — A draft conference report of the state budget released to the media includes language that would prohibit counties (§ 153A-145.11) and cities (§ 160A-205.6) from passing ordinances, resolutions, or rules that would restrict, tax, or charge a fee on auxiliary containers — the definition of which includes bags, cups, bottles, and other packaging.

This language would preempt local control and undermine existing provisions of the NC Solid Waste Management Act that give counties and cities the authority to ban single-use plastic bags and other forms of packaging and the use of plastic foam (e.g., styrofoam) in foodware. The inclusion of the preemption in the budget comes as both Asheville and Durham are considering ordinances to reduce plastic pollution, and the towns of Woodfin and Black Mountain have passed resolutions in support of a Buncombe County-wide ordinance. In 2021, Wilmington also passed a resolution encouraging the reduction of plastic waste.

Efforts to reduce plastic waste are popular among citizens and businesses. A survey from the City of Asheville received nearly 7,000 resident responses and showed support at 80%. Among 57 businesses surveyed in the Asheville area, there was widespread support for a waste reduction ordinance banning single-use plastic bags, plastic takeout containers, and styrofoam products.

The following are statements from representatives of organizations working to reduce plastic pollution:

Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper (a program of MountainTrue):
“Plastic pollution is a threat to our environment and the health of North Carolina residents. Our right to protect ourselves from dangerous pollutants is too important to be traded away to fossil fuel and retail industry lobbyists in backroom deals. We urge our elected officials to remove any such language and pass a clean budget.”

Sarah Ogletree, Director of the Creation Care Alliance of WNC (a program of MountainTrue):
“This ban is about loving our neighbors—protecting the air and water we all need to survive and thrive. The General Assembly should not prevent us from living our faith by caring for God’s creation.”

Katie Craig, State Director of the North Carolina Public Interest Research Group:
“Plastic waste threatens our health, environment, and communities. Our cities and counties often bear the impacts of our plastic waste problem, from managing recycling and landfill facilities to cleaning up litter in our parks and waterways. So, they should have a say in how their communities address the problem too. By preempting local authority to regulate single-use plastic bags, this provision threatens to undermine the ability of cities and counties in North Carolina to take meaningful steps towards sustainability, environmental protection, and the wishes of their own communities.”

Ken Brame, President of the Sierra Club’s Western North Carolina Group:
“At a time when we are seeing record heat waves and flooding due to Climate Change, why would the NC General Assembly prevent local governments from reducing carbon-intensive plastic bags? Microplastics from plastic bags are being ingested and are becoming a health risk. The General Assembly should care more about the health of its citizens than the profits of the plastic industry.”

Susannah Knox, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center:
“This is a short-sighted attempt to take control from local governments trying to serve their communities by protecting public health and cleaning up their streets and creeks. Citizens and businesses across the state have expressed overwhelming support for reducing plastic pollution, and politicians in the General Assembly should not stand in their way.”

If you or your organization, club, or business would like to voice their support for a Plastic-Free WNC, please contact karim@mountaintrue.org.

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