Clean & Green Committee Meeting Notes
03.26.2024
7 pm at Haw Creek Commons
Present: Storms Reback (chair), Chris Pelly, Lisa Hadley, Renate Rikkers, Marti Terry-Purdy, Bruce Michael, Susan Michael, Michelle Decker, Linda Fornoff, Kim Heiselman, Christina Quetel, Joe Koeniger, Shannon Simpson
Haw Creek Hustle 5k
• We are still in need of manpower and financial support.
• At least 60 more registrants are needed. 41 currently registered.
• Encourage Haw Creek to come out and cheer.
• Will contact Charlie Bullman park for use of the bathroom and kitchen.
• Will get flyers to Evergreen Charter School. Chris has a contact there.
Haw Creek Entrance Project
• Storms and Joe have already dug the ditch in preparation for the installation of the stone wall. The wall will serve as a raised bed for plants.
• 2 pallets of stone will be dropped off on Friday afternoon.
• Volunteers can meet at 9am on Saturday at the Haw Creek entrance to haul rocks across the street. Bring gloves, wheelbarrows, and dollies. We will have safety vests.
• Storms will work on building the wall.
Greenway Update
• Grant documents will be submitted to the county on 3/26/24. We don't expect a final answer from them until July/August. The final approval is from the county commissioners.
• After approval, invasive plants will be removed. Then the Clean & Green committee can work on planting natives, habitat restoration, erosion control plan, and general aesthetics.
• Thoughts for future projects: creating a pollinator garden, finding donors for park benches, bluebird-house-making event.
• Planting will be overseen by master-planter Dan Niccum. $5,000 has been budgeted for the purchase of plants. We can also engage with GreenWorks and other free plant programs as well as procuring clippings of natives from residents.
• Is there any way to involve school children who need volunteer hours?
Wildfire Evacuation Plan
• Shannon shared resources from Marin, CA (Fire Safe Marin website contains more information).
• Storms and Shannon have reached out to the Asheville Fire Dept about evacuation plans and have not gotten responses.
• Ideas
o Map the trail systems from the valley to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Town Mountain Road.
o Plan a community fire drill.
o Write a letter detailing our concerns to the City Council to get wildfire risk and preparedness on their radar. Urge them to set up a meeting with AFD to plan a drill (Shannon to draft).
o Become a FireWise community.
Earth Day Event
• Meet on the morning of 4/21/24 for a clean-up at the entrance of Haw Creek.
• Renate will reach out to a kudzu education organization to plan something for the summer.
02.20.2024
7 pm at Haw Creek Commons
Present: Storms Reback (chair), Chris Pelly, Lisa Hadley, Renate Rikkers, Elizabeth Matthews, Dan Niccum, Doug Baughman, Marti Terry-Purdy
Storms discussed the second phase of the project to beautify the Crockett Avenue entrance to the neighborhood. The plan is to build a stone wall in front of the sign that will serve as a raised bed. We will use Tennessee stacking stones to build the wall. We will also improve the soil by getting four yards of good dirt delivered. The prep work (digging out the dirt where the stones will go) will require several volunteers as will the placing of the stones. Dan Niccum, who is a master gardener, will be in charge of ordering plants that are native and won’t require much if any watering to get established. Storms will let Dan know the square footage of the bed and the budget for the plants. Storms applied for a neighborhood grant from the City to pay for this project and is waiting to hear whether we need to choose between this project and the bridge by Creekside Taphouse. The goal is to complete this project before summer arrives.
Marti talked about litter pick-up in the neighborhood. She has been doing this singlehandedly and insists that it’s not too bad. But she did relay a story about a homeless encampment alongside the creek, where she found roughly 20 used needles. She called the police, who responded by giving the “campers” five days to leave. Once they were gone Marti cleaned up the site by herself. Most of the people present at this meeting volunteered to pick up litter in various spots around Haw Creek. Marti shared some of the litter grabbers and trash bags she has.
Chris gave an update on the Haw Creek Park Greenway project. Our campaign to raise money garnered $10,790 in donations. We also received a $5,000 grant from Connect Buncombe. Hopefully this will be enough to convince Buncombe County to contribute the rest of the money needed to complete the project. If we get the large grant needed we will be on track to complete the greenway by the end of the year.
Renate talked about the need to reduce the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in Haw Creek and shared an article (“Make America Rake Again”) that explained why. Many of those in attendance shared stories about the benefits of using electric-powered tools. The problem, we decided, was that it would be difficult to convince commercial outfits to agree to do this.
Storms expressed the need for the HCCA to devise an evacuation plan in conjunction with the fire department in case there’s a wildfire in Haw Creek. He plans to call the fire department and see if there is currently anything in place. If not, he’s going to work with them to create one. One of the goals would be to stage a mock evacuation to see how smoothly (or poorly) it would go. The ultimate goal is to become a FireWise Community.
We also talked about our desire to protect some of our Treasured Trees. Greenworks used to host this program but they are starting to phase it out. The hope is that we’ll be able to create something similar on our own. Rick Fornoff has expressed interest in leading the charge on this.
For upcoming events, we’re hoping to organize a clean-up of Haw Creek Park on Sunday April 21 to celebrate Earth Day.