Black Mountain Fairway Drive stormwater project moves forward with $75,000 Clean Water Fund award, county staff say

Anne Phillip, a stormwater technician and floodplain administrator who identified herself during the meeting, briefed county officials on the Fairway Drive stormwater project in Black Mountain and credited a $75,000 award from the county’s Clean Water Fund with enabling construction work.

Phillip said the project, identified in a 2022 stormwater master-plan update and resident survey, targets a roughly 12‑acre subwatershed along Tomahawk Branch. “We’re very grateful for the $75,000 to be able to implement this Fairway Drive project,” Phillip said, noting the town was one of the program’s advocates.

The design calls for a constructed stormwater wetland sized to treat the first‑flush runoff (the one‑inch event) and an upsized conveyance able to handle a ten‑year storm. Phillip said the wetland’s drawdown design should eliminate about 85% of total suspended solids from that first flush, and the project also includes grass swales, a planting schedule for wet and temporary‑inundation zones and replacement of a culvert between two private properties.

Construction was delayed after storm ‘Helene,’ but staff said Headwaters Engineering completed preliminary and conceptual plans and a contractor began work in March. Phillip reported that swales are completed and the wetland excavated, although some soil still must be removed and the private‑property culvert remains to be installed.

Crews encountered unmapped subsurface infrastructure that slowed work: a broken terracotta drainage tile and an unmapped drinking‑water line feeding a former golf maintenance shed. “It caused some delay,” Phillip said, adding that the water line could be capped where appropriate.

Phillip said the project sits near a regulated floodplain but is being constructed in the non‑encroachment area and that excavation will not raise base flood elevation, which eased permitting. Board members asked technical questions about plant zones and resilience; Phillip described a three‑zone planting plan with deep pool, shallow water planting and temporary inundation zones and said live staking completed prior to Helene helped stabilize banks.

The presenter said the combination of grant funds and the town’s stormwater utility fees made the project feasible and emphasized the dual goals of water‑quality improvement and reduced flooding of properties adjacent to the site. The county did not take formal action on the item during the session; staff said remaining construction tasks will continue under the existing contract and permitting.