Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies, and the real answers:

Question: What is going on across from the south entrance of Asheville Regional Airport entrance, at the corner of Airport Road and Fanning Bridge Road? A lot of trees have been mowed down. Will it be another gas station? Or is this airport property? 

My answer: I think we can all agree that we really need more downed trees around here these days.

Real answer: Two projects are ongoing in this area, which comprises about 10.5 acres and is a bit unusual in that it straddles the Buncombe County/Henderson County/Town of Fletcher lines. So multiple jurisdictions are involved in the planning process, although the airport does own all of the property.

“At 21 Airport Park Road, we have one lone parcel that is going to be another Sheetz,” Town of Fletcher Planning Director Eric Rufa told me.

This Sheetz store will be 6,879 square feet and located across the road from the airport’s main entrance. The Sheetz will be near the cell phone parking lot in front of the Wingate hotel.

Sheetz is a convenience store/gas station chain that opened a location just off I-26 at the Mountain Home exit in Henderson County last August. The company has plans to open five stores in the Asheville area, according to a November 2023 post in the online magazine C-Store Dive.

I reached out to Sheetz’s media department but didn’t hear back by deadline.

The airport will lease the parcel to Sheetz, according to airport spokesperson Tina Kinsey.

“Sheetz will be located in an area where a portion of our Shuttle Lot is currently located, immediately across the street from the main entrance of the airport,” Kinsey said. “Sheetz is replacing the airport parking spaces taken by their development — adding airport parking to the south, plus the 200-plus spaces contracted by AVL. Parking will extend to Fanning Bridge Road.”

So in a nutshell, the airport is adding more parking from the corner of Fanning Bridge Road up Airport Road to the Shuttle lot. This is the area the reader describes where the trees are being cut down.

“The airport is actively working to create more parking for travelers as part of the longer-term master plan, and this work is also part of the Sheetz development occurring on Airport Road,” Kinsey said. “Design is still being completed — we anticipate 200-plus additional spaces.”

Kinsey said there isn’t a completion date yet, but they’re targeting construction to begin in the spring.

In January, Nathan Pennington, planning director for Buncombe County, sent an email out to numerous planning and governmental concerns regarding the Sheetz store, explaining how it will fit in in the area.

“As proposed, the gas canopy and parking lot is to occur on the Buncombe County side and the main Sheetz building is to occur to the east on the Fletcher side,” Pennington wrote.

Question: When will someone start cleaning up the rivers and creeks around here? The Swannanoa River through Biltmore Village looks particularly bad. Is the Army Corps of Engineers going to do this? When will it happen?

My answer: This debris, ranging from pickup trucks to plastic wrap, is truly the worst-ever Christmas gift that just keeps on giving.

Real answer: David Connolly, a spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers, addressed debris cleanup at the Thursday Buncombe County Helene briefing, focusing mostly on right-of- way cleanup and homeowner debris. I asked him specifically about waterway cleanups.

It looks like debris removal in general is going to take time — months at least and probably longer, and the same holds true for waterways. Connolly did not sugarcoat his answers.

“If you think right-of-way debris removal is complicated, waterway gets that much more complicated,” Connolly said.

He noted that the Corps’ cleanup of heavily damaged Lake Lure is ongoing and will last through April. It began in October.

The Corps does have a “tasking” from FEMA to remove waterway debris in the mountains, but that involves multiple counties and multiple steps before the actual removal begins. Steps include receiving applications for the work, verifying the need through reconnaissance and then putting together a detailed plan that includes definitions of where the waterway in question begins and ends. The Corps also has to determine where the proper points of entry will be.

“So, though it seems like nothing’s happening, there’s a lot of back-end work that’s happening before we can actually be very clear on, ‘Where is the Corps picking up that debris? And how does that work?’” Connolly said, adding that the Corps is looking at similar cleanups in 10 to 15 counties where it’s waiting on clarity of directions. “And then we have to work through the contracting pieces of that, negotiate all those awards out, then start work and complete your work.”

I asked if he could give any kind of rough timeline.

“I honestly can’t — I won’t even pretend to speculate on that right now,” Connolly said. “I wouldn’t  want to give people some false hope of a timeline, because I really just don’t have one.”

Question: Today was pickup day for both garbage and recyclables. I live just off of Monte Vista with a Candler address. I watched in dismay as the Waste Pro employee proceeded to dump both containers into the garbage truck. This was done at every address in our neighborhood. We have had enough environmental degradation in this area from Helene. The thought of tons of recyclables that people have taken responsibility to separate going into the landfill is despicable. It’s my understanding that as part of the contract with the county, the recyclable items are to go to Curbie for sorting and then sale. Bottom line is, it’s a good thing that Buncombe County has decided to go with a different vendor. The only question is, should Waste Pro be placed in a garbage container or the recyclable container?

Another reader described the same phenomenon, noting it wasn’t the first time: Unfortunately Waste Amateur did it again, here’s video of both trash and recycling being tossed in the recycling truck. Today is not our recycling day; it’s next week. And next week we were expecting bins to be taken. Two-thirds of the neighborhood, Fountain Park, had their bins taken today. I put mine out just in case. I wonder if there’s any point in recycling while Waste Pro is still the vendor.

My answer: Sometimes I think we answer our own questions.

Real answer: Waste Pro is indeed being replaced by a new waste hauling contractor, FCC Environmental, at the end of the year. That new contractor is putting out new cans and Waste Pro is picking up its old ones, and the only answer I got out of Waste Pro addressed this.

“Waste Pro is operating in accordance with the county-approved transition plan for cart removal,” Waste Pro spokesperson Tracy Meehan told me via email. “Thank you and have a great day.”

I asked for a better explanation but got skunked.

At the daily Helene briefing, Buncombe County spokesperson Stacey Wood addressed debris pickups and FCC, so I asked her about Waste Pro drivers apparently throwing away recyclables.

“So during the transition we are tracking this issue and several others,” Wood said. “We have been made aware that this is occurring in isolated areas and circumstances. We aren’t getting a whole lot about this particular issue that you mentioned, but we are aware of it in certain circumstances.”

The county is tracking issues county residents have with either Waste Pro or FCC Environmental, and it encourages residents to report problems at buncombecounty.org/solidwaste. Neither company is great about returning calls right now, I’ve heard from several readers.

The issues tracker, Wood said, will allow the county to “manage concerns and also to learn about new hot spots if there are areas of debris in the right of way that need to be picked up if it’s causing a public safety risk.”

Wood said the county has heard reports about Waste Pro reportedly dumping in recycling with trash, although it appears to be isolated.

“We wish that it was not happening,” Wood said. “But as we learn about these issues, we are making Waste Pro aware of them. So please continue to keep us informed if you do observe these kinds of things happening, and we’ll do our best to continue to address those with the appropriate provider.”

I asked her if the county really had any leverage, as Waste Pro’s contract is ending.

“We are working as best we can with both providers during this transition,” Wood said.

Again, sometimes I think we answer our own questions.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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