The City of Asheville hosted a series of public meetings in February to gather input which was used to help create the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program Draft Action Plan. Thanks to the public’s participation, the Draft Action Plan outlines unmet needs caused by Hurricane Helene within the city limits as well as the proposed programs and activities to be funded with the $225 million CDBG-DR grant allocated to Asheville.
The City of Asheville is asking residents to provide comments and feedback on the Draft Action Plan. The open comment period is March 4 – April 3. The Draft Action Plan will be uploaded to the Asheville Recovers website Tuesday evening, March 4. We invite the public to read the plan and submit feedback through the link on the page. Feedback and questions from this second phase of input will further inform the final Action Plan. Staff will present the final plan to the Asheville City Council for approval on April 8 before it is submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for final approval no later than April 21. All questions and feedback will be responded to by City staff.
Community Development Division Manager, James Shelton, mentions that “once HUD approves the Action Plan, the City can begin funding and implementing recovery programs. The City wants to highlight that disaster recovery is a long-term process and needs will change over time. The Action Plan that we submit in April will need to be reevaluated and amended over time to allow us to be strategic and adapt as our recovery needs change.”
Upcoming Public Participation
The City of Asheville also invites residents to provide comments at 3 public feedback sessions where residents can learn more about the Draft Action Plan and provide comments for how the plan might be improved. Each session will discuss the whole plan as well as one of the three categories of programs: Housing, Economic Revitalization, and Infrastructure. Residents are encouraged to register at our Public Input page.
Public Session Schedule:
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March 19 – Housing – Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville, Banquet Hall- 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
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March 24 – Economic Revitalization – Radical Hotel, Golden Hour Restaurant – 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
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March 26 – Infrastructure – AB Tech, Ferguson Auditorium – 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Background
CDBG-DR is a federal disaster recovery program that provides funding to communities affected by major disasters. Unlike the City’s annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, CDBG-DR funds are not permanent and must be approved by Congress in response to specific events. These funds must be used to address unmet disaster-related needs, particularly in housing, economic revitalization, and infrastructure restoration. These funds are intended to be used to invest in long term recovery by closing the gap between existing funding resources. Public participation is a critical part of the development of the Action Plan and the City encourages all residents to provide comment.