From Staff Reports 

The proposed Buncombe County 2043 Comprehensive Plan was reviewed by Buncombe Planning Department officials during an early-morning Feb. 3 meeting of the Asehville-based Council of Independent Business Owners in UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.

Making the presentation were Nathan Pennington, Buncombe’s planning director; assisted by Gillian Phillips, a planner III in his department.

Upon greeting the CIBO audience for the presentation, Pennington said Phillips would review the proposed Comprehensive Plan’s details and that he would later provide his comments. 

Phillips then noted that, regarding the purpose of the plan, it was created by the county in partnership with the community as a guide for decision-making and prioritizing resources and future planning efforts.

The Comprehensive Plan is intended as a broad, long-range planning tool that also takes into account the relationships involved.

“We have been working on this since fall 2021,” she said. “We were a little bit slowed down by (the) COVID (pandemic). We’re in the last phase” now.

“The commissioners and the planning board will look at it (the Comprehensive Plan) in April,” Phillips continued.

“The community has had lots of opportunities” to provide input for the plan. “We tried to get as much public input as possible….We tried to get kids involved... The steering committee, sort of anchored the process... It was 23 county residents, who applied to serve on the committee and were appointed by the commissioners.”

Further, she said, “We have a draft plan, which is 200 pages. Read the draft plan. Share your feedback.” (The plan may viewed online at its website — engage.buncombecounty.org/Y4853.)

As for the future land use map included in the Comprehensive Plan, she concluded her presentation by noting, “We are calling ours the ‘Growth, Equity and Conservation Map.’”

At that point, Phillips, as planned, yielded the microphone to Pennington, who noted that, historically speaking, “in 1998 — 25 years ago — we did Buncombe County’s first Comprehensive Plan. 

“Things have changed a lot... In 2006, there came the first update” to the Comprehensive Plan. And 2013 is the current plan we’re working off of.”

After a brief pause, Pennington said, “You never want to throw out an old (comprensive) plan,” as, using the old one, “you can ask: ‘What worked — and what didn’t?’”

As for why the Comprehensive Plan is needed, he listed the following:

• Statutory requirement

• Levels the playing field

• Helps to prioritize wants, needs and desires of the com              munity

• Land — “a finite resource X 1000 to the nth degree… It’s often taken for granted and we have very little of it… It’s so critical that we have this future land use map.”

• Assists with the management of expectations of residents, businesses and development community.

What’s more, Pennington said, “Most of our phone calls (to the Buncombe Planning Department) do not start with (828) area codes. That creates the friction we see every day...

“I recently built a new house in the Ridgecrest area — and many people don’t know that Ridgecrest actually provides municipal water,” so issues including the availability of water and sewer service availability varies around the county, he said.

Speaking historically again, Pennington said,”In 2009, countywide zoning came about” in Buncombe. “It came about in a sort of messy way. There are a lot of differences... We want to protect what’s important to us. We’ve gone a long way in protecting those areas... We also have a lot of areas that are impacted by natural hazards.”

He added, “As for the future land use map,… This is our first attempt to say: ‘OK, we’re going to get community input, etc. This is what’s going to guide future decisions.’

“One of the most common calls (to the county planners) is: ‘When is the county going to get out here and fix our roads?’ Of course, the (state) Department of Transportation is responsible for county road maintenance.”

In concluding the presentation on the proposed Comprehensive Plan, Pennington said, “Most comprehensive plans are essentially the same. They go from vision themes, goals, policies... and finish with actions.”