Story in the Mountain Express on the I-26 website!

http://www.mountainx.com/news/2009/wnc_alliance_launches_new_i-26_connector_web_site

Thanks, Jason Sandford!

Check us out in the Mountain Express!

http://www.mountainx.com/features/2009/072909the_green_scene

Thanks, Margaret Williams!

Emma Community Forum on I-26 Project

On July 20, at the invitation of ChildrenFirst and the Emma Family Resource Center, Julie Mayfield spoke to a group of about 30 Emma residents and other concerned citizens about the I-26 Connector Project.

Julie explained the project’s history, the current alternatives, and how those alternatives look when reviewed against the Community Coordinating Committee’s key design goals.

These design goals were agreed up on by a broad cross section of Asheville citizens and political leaders nine years ago, and they continue to be the touchstone for what a good alternative should meet.

In order to accommodate the multi-cultural nature of the Emma community, Julie’s presentation was simultaneously translated into Spanish and Russian.

Leilani Loves the Alliance

On Wednesday, June 24, Nascar driver and "Carbon Free Girl" Leilani Munter came to the Mountain Green Conference at Warren Wilson College as a keynote speaker. Her talk was very inspiring and afterwards she could only be refreshed by supporting the best environmental group in the world, WNCA.

New Maps Help Pinpoint Landslide Hazard Risk

High Country Press
February 12, 2009 Issue, Story by Kathleen McFadden

Link to this article: http://www.highcountrypress.com/weekly/2009/02-12-09/new_maps.htm

Staff members at the Southern Environmental Law Center have been working on maps to more accurately and adequately identify landslide risks in Watauga County. The SELC has developed this information at the request of three grassroots groups in Watauga County—Partnership for Watauga’s Future, Western North Carolina Alliance and MountainKeepers—with funding from the Watauga County-based Clabough Foundation.

The SELC maps overlay Watauga County subdivision data with the landslide hazard maps the North Carolina Geological Survey developed last year. Because the subdivision plats are marked on the SELC maps, they pinpoint the degree of risk for a particular piece of property.

The subdivision data used for the maps came directly from the county and the landslide hazard information came directly from the state.

According to SELC Senior Attorney D.J. Gerken, the principal focus in assessing landslide risk has historically been at the point of origin, but most damage occurs in the debris path, the downslope areas from the origin. Calling attention to these debris paths and alerting property owners and prospective property owners to the risk, he said, is one goal of the mapping project, along with identifying unstable slopes where landslides could originate. “Lots currently on the market have this risk,” Gerken said, “and buyers have no way to find out. These are slopes you do not want to disturb without thinking about it.”

Gerken said that just because a tract has an identified landslide risk doesn’t mean it can’t be developed, but such a risk indicates a need for an engineering assessment to determine the best way to build that will cause the least disturbance and risk to properties downslope. “We want people going in with their eyes wide open,” Gerken said.

About 17 percent of Watauga County is platted in major subdivisions of more than 10 acres, with approximately two-thirds of those plats unbuilt, Gerken said.

Thanks to the work of the North Carolina Geological Survey, Gerken continued, Watauga County has the advantage of having the best information available in western North Carolina about the nature and extent of landslide risks in the county, and the county has a range of options for addressing that risk.

One option, Gerken said, would be to identify landslide hazards on subdivision plats, just as floodplain risks are required to be identified now. “We already plan for 100-year risks in the floodplain, and there is no reason why we shouldn’t plan for 100-year risks when it comes to landslide hazards as well,” he said.

Another option is to require builders to consult a geotechnical engineer before building in the highest risk areas.

The SELC’s work doesn’t end with the production of these landslide hazard maps. Currently, a survey of Watauga County residents is being conducted to ascertain their opinions on development in the county. The survey results will be available in April.

The SELC plans to explore other development issues, including a look at whether the state’s degradation of some area streams correlates to development and graphic presentations of how subdivisions currently planned for High Country viewsheds would look if they were built.

The purple dots on this map of Watauga County show NC Geological Survey-identified places where landslides have started in the past. Currently, 990 houses in major subdivisions (this does not include non-subdivision lots) are on lots where landslides have started in the past, and 321 lots with historic landslides on them have been subdivided but not yet built upon.

This map zooms on the southeastern corner of the county that has by far seen the most subdivision development in recent years. It shows the overlap between areas identified by the NC Geological Survey as being in the “unstable” classification with comparatively higher risk of landslides and lots that have been subdivided but not yet built upon.

This map shows the overlap between unbuilt subdivision parcels in the southeast of the county and the potential debris flow pathways where landslides might go once started.

Strategic Funning

While most folks may think that strategic planning is a headache of a process, we here at the WNC Alliance do our best to make things as interesting as possible. Our facilitators (God love 'em) Pam Sugarman and Judy Futch brought us toys, crayons, candy, and paper to keep us distracted from thinking we were actually working. Well, it worked- and here are some fun photos from our weekend.

Linda Tatsapaugh, Julie White, and Kristan Cockerill huff (I mean smell) the delicious scented markers (notice Julie's ball on her lap ie. detachment disorder)

Scary monsters lurked everywhere.


Phillip Gibson maps out Antarctica with an intensity that could melt through icebergs.


Wendy Pataprsty doodles while contemplating buying a vowel.


What a bug sees when flying at Randall Boggs.


And last but not least, the whistling hot water pot. It attempted to serenade us so we evicted it to the hallway (doesn't it look so lonely? I felt a bit "Brave Little Toaster" about this one).

All-in-all, it was a hard working weekend where we took a long look at our priorities and how our members weighed in on what they wanted- and started the design of our strategic plan that will be out next year. Look for the draft plan in your winter copy of Accent!

The Cliffs and a dash of indigo dye

The Green Scene

by Margaret Williams in Vol. 15 / Iss. 18 on 11/26/2008

On an ice-cold November night, almost 200 people gathered for a public hearing called by the state Division of Water Quality concerning developer Jim Anthony‘s request for permission to alter 6,149 feet of streams and disturb about a quarter-acre of wetlands at The Cliffs at High Carolina. The 2,780-acre project straddles a mountain ridge between Fairview and Swannanoa.

The evening’s comments riffed on jobs, dried-up wells, golf-course chemicals, endangered trout, The Cliffs’ track record on other projects, past mistakes by other developers and—a Buncombe County favorite—what makes you a true native (or not). Toss in a few jokes about getting to meet golf-course designer Tiger Woods, and you’ve got a two-hour hearing.

As the crowd filled the A.C. Reynolds High School auditorium, Fairview resident Alicia Rocawich told Xpress that she and her partner are “actually quite pleased” to have The Cliffs for their neighbor. Though she’ll be installing a whole-house water filter to reduce potential sediment problems, Rocawich called the upscale developer “one of the most conscientious, when it comes to the environment.”

A large contingent of businessmen made a similar point, also emphasizing that The Cliffs has had a significant positive effect on Western North Carolina’s economy. One business owner reported that his grading company has grown from 10 to more than 50 employees, mostly in the last seven years of doing business with various The Cliffs projects in the region.

Contractor Dennis Whitmire assured residents, “We have never been asked to cut any corners at any time when it comes to the environment. Nonetheless, some residents were more cautious. “It all gets down to trust,” said Bill Boyd, who lives in the smaller Alpine Mountain subdivision nearby. “Ninety percent of developers I do not trust. I hope Mr. Anthony will do what he says he will and protect [our] ground water [and our] streams.”

Like many others, Boyd said he worries that the golf course and the approximately 1,000 homes planned for The Cliffs will deplete ground-water supplies, causing wells to go dry. Some speakers said this is already happening.

Ironically, some people said they experienced water problems when Alpine was being developed some years ago; they don’t want a repeat. Fairview resident Dede Styles recounted that a stream on her property became so choked with sediment back then that she had to find an alternative water source. Styles, a heritage dyer, uses centuries-old methods and natural ingredients to color cloth, she explained. To ensure good results, she needs good water. “At least I can see the silt. What about the chemicals I can’t see?” asked Styles.

She’s afraid Anthony’s proposals won’t keep out the fungicides, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers used in modern golf-course maintenance.

Many share her concern. Fairview resident François Manavit quipped, “I don’t want a toxic, Tiger-designed golf course.” It’s time for an organic golf course, he asserted, adding that Anthony should consider alternatives for his proposals, such as building bridges over streams instead of running them through culverts. “The Cliffs should not bury a trout stream for any reason,” Manavit declared.

Representatives of several nonprofits questioned whether such behavior is even legal. D.J. Gerken, counsel for the Western North Carolina Alliance, argued that the state can’t grant the permit “if alternatives exist that have less impact.” The proposed underground culverts, some about 1,000 feet long, may be “impassable barriers to trout,” he said, suggesting that state officials require a “substantial rewrite” of the proposal.

Some speakers had little faith that the state agency was up to the task of monitoring the situation if the permit were approved. They urged state officials to deny it. Black Mountain resident Bill Gunn observed that toxic chemicals have been found as far away as the Artic. “They don’t arrive there by truck: They arrive in the water. We will all be affected by [what happens] at The Cliffs,” he said.

After more than two hours of these and many other comments—all dutifully recorded by state officials—the hearing came to a close.

“It really matters what’s in the water,” Styles told Xpress as the crowd dispersed. She’s now able to draw water again from the stream that was muddied by Alpine-related development, she says. When it was at its worst, Styles collected water from a pristine source near the Blue Ridge Assembly, although something in its natural makeup prevented her from dying cloth indigo blue.

She wonders how a trace of golf-course fungicide or runoff from salted roads at The Cliffs in winter might affect her efforts to create natural greens, yellows and reds. Just a quarter-teaspoon of iron in a big pot of dye can change it from a pleasant red to a drab green, she noted. Still, casting a pragmatic eye toward The Cliffs, Styles mused, “Something good might come out of [it], such as jobs, and they might do a better job [than other developers have] of keeping silt out of the water.”

All the same, she concluded, “I have to share my water, because it goes on down to the river.”

DWQ is accepting written comments, sent by regular mail, fax or e-mail. Comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18. Mail them to: N.C. Division of Water Quality, 401 Oversight Unit, 1650 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1650, Attn: Cyndi Karoly (919-733-1721, FAX: 919-733-6893, Cyndi.Karoly@ncmail.net).

Copies of The Cliffs’ application are on file and can be viewed at the Division of Water Quality’s Asheville office (2090 U.S. Highway 70, Swannanoa, NC 28778). For more information, call 296-4500 or the Raleigh office (listed above).

Send your environmental news to mvwilliams@mountainx.com or call 251-1333 ext. 152.