Greening America's Communities: Asheville

SMM engaged with the EPA and local partners, Land of Sky Regional Council, City of Asheville, and RiverLink to identify design solutions that address riverine and urban flooding, erosion, and water quality degradation in the Central Asheville Watershed (CAW). The design assistance focused on existing opportunities at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College (A-B Tech).

SMM and Biohabitats, in coordination with the local partners, prepared GIS site analysis maps, conducted an initial site visit, identifying project sites and hosted a virtual design charrette where conceptual designs were refined to fit the needs and priorities of local stakeholders. The final site designs include green infrastructure interventions and public open spaces amenities in two existing parking lots; regenerative stormwater conveyance in an exiting drainage area; and native plantings for streambank stabilization near the A-B Tech campus and modeling riparian area management plan for the CAW. The designs help to accomplish local stakeholder goals such as better integration of social interactions between the surrounding community A-B and maximizing green infrastructure opportunities and the associated cobenefits. The plans and conceptual designs from this project helped RiverLink and A-B Tech procure funding to build the A-B Tech Green Infrastructure Project. Phase I was completed in 2025.