Asheville mayoral candidates weigh UNCA woods dispute, climate priorities

Asheville’s next mayor will not decide the fate of UNC Asheville’s land, but the office will shape how hard City Hall pushes on development, public land and neighborhood preservation. That is why the mayoral race between Esther Manheimer and Kim Roney is already a proxy fight over the Save the Woods campaign, transit spending and the city’s climate agenda, with both candidates having faced each other in the 2022 general election and set to meet again on the November ballot.

The woods dispute has become one of Asheville’s clearest land-use flashpoints. UNC Asheville says its Millennial Campus holdings total more than 200 acres, including 54 acres on both sides of Broadway Street, and on Jan. 27 the university announced a Millennial Campus Development Advisory Committee to gather input from university and community stakeholders. Save the Woods supporters say the issue centers on a 45-acre urban forest bordering Five Points, and about 250 students and community members rallied at Highsmith Student Union to defend it. Manheimer said she remains concerned about development of the property and its effect on ecology and nearby neighborhoods, and said she has repeatedly met with the chancellor and written to UNC Asheville to press community concerns even though state law limits direct city oversight.

That limitation matters. The mayor’s real leverage is advocacy, zoning pressure around adjacent areas and the broader political signal City Hall sends about what kind of growth Asheville will tolerate near neighborhoods such as Five Points, along Broadway Street, W.T. Weaver Boulevard and North Street. The dispute is about more than trees. It also touches university finances, housing pressure and whether the city treats land conservation as a planning priority or a secondary concern when education and development interests collide.

The same tension runs through Asheville’s climate targets. City data show emissions from municipal operations are on track for a 2 percent annual reduction goal but still fall short of the 4 percent target. Employee commuting, electricity use and fleet fuel are the biggest sources. Manheimer’s response points toward fleet electrification, building retrofits, renewable energy, commuter incentives and stronger data tracking, all of which would require capital spending and day-to-day follow-through from city departments.

Those decisions are anchored in the city’s Municipal Climate Action Plan, which City Council adopted unanimously on March 28, 2023. The plan lays out 22 high-impact activities and uses 2024 baseline data for monitoring. Asheville’s municipal goal is 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, while Buncombe County has set a community-wide target of 100 percent renewable energy by 2042. The city also says residents are especially at risk from flooding, landslides and wildfire, and it is working with UNC Asheville’s NEMAC on a climate resilience assessment that informed the city’s comprehensive plan.

Recovery governance has added another layer. Asheville replaced 13 advisory boards with four Helene Recovery Boards, including one focused on environment, housing and infrastructure, to guide work through June 2027. That structure links climate policy, rebuilding and land-use decisions in one place, making the mayor’s posture on the woods dispute and emissions goals a practical test of how Asheville balances growth, affordability and conservation while the city rebuilds.