Questions remain as reopening looms
Black Mountain hosts virtual town hall to address easing restrictions
Downtown Black Mountain has been mostly empty since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, but local merchants are in the early stages of preparing to reopen this weekend. Fred McCormick
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
May 5, 2020
A virtual town hall meeting, hosted this morning by the Town of Black Mountain, offered insight into the potential reopening of businesses on Saturday, May 9, but no concrete plans for the move.
Facilitated by Town Manager Josh Harrold, the Zoom meeting included updates related to the COVID-19 crisis from Buncombe County Emergency Preparedness Director Fletcher Tove and county manager Avril Pinder and provided opportunities for input from local merchants.
“You won’t come away from this meeting with a deadline for when you should prepare to reopen,” Harrold said to the approximately 50 people in attendance, via video chat. “What you will get is a better understanding of how those decisions will be made.”
Participants were invited to submit questions and plans for an eventual reopening through the online platform’s chat feature.
“We hope by doing this we can identify any community-wide barriers that we need to address and that local officials will have a better context for decision-making related to businesses reopening,” Harrold continued.
Buncombe County, and its six municipalities (Asheville, Black Mountain, Montreat, Weaverville, Woodfin and Biltmore Forest) enacted a state of emergency on March 12, in response to the global health crisis. The declaration was followed by a supplemental order, on March 25, which was designed to slow the spread of the contagion and required the closure of all non-essential businesses. Governor Roy Cooper implemented a stay-at-home order for the entire state on March 27.
While the county’s initial priority was protecting vulnerable populations, Pinder said, that focus began shifting last week.
“Last week we worked with the (Asheville Chamber of Commerce) and all of the municipalities and several businesses to talk about how we reopen our community,” she said. “You’ve heard the governor talk about testing, contact tracing and trends, and I’m here to tell you that Buncombe County has all of those three pieces in place.”
Pinder cited partnerships between the county and private healthcare facilities to secure tests and the coordination of a team to conduct tracing. Statistical data regarding current trends in the county can be found on the COVID-19 Coronavirus Cases Dashboard on the county’s website.
“Now it’s time for us to align with the governor around how we open up local businesses,” she said before introducing Tove, who reviewed the governor’s three-phase plan to ease restrictions. County leaders anticipate Phase 1, which includes the reopening of retail businesses with social distancing requirements, to begin Saturday.
The initial phase of the plan would be in place for at least two to three weeks before the implementation of Phase II, which would lift the statewide stay-at-home order while encouraging vulnerable populations to remain in their residences. The second phase would allow “limited opening” of restaurants, bars, fitness centers, among other businesses, and allow religious services with a reduction in capacity. The final phase of the plan, which would be implemented at least four to six weeks following the start of Phase II, would lessen restrictions for vulnerable populations and increase the allowed capacity for restaurants, bars and other gatherings.
“This would put the end of Phase III sometime in late June or early July,” Tove said.
The county is awaiting details from the state reagarding the specific guidelines for the first phase of the plan, according to Tove.
“As soon as we get that information this week, we’ll digest it and push it out to everyone as soon as possible,” he said. “That will help everyone plan and prepare for what is kind of a soft opening of the economy.”
While the county intends to mostly align with the state’s order, according to Tove, he anticipates continued restrictions on leisure travel to short-term rental properties in Buncombe, at least, through Phase I.
“A big concern of ours is visitors coming from New York, Florida or Georgia with a mindset that Western North Carolina is a refuge from COVID,” he said. “We want to discourage people from coming here, for at least a couple of weeks, as we figure out what our phased opening looks like.”
Downtown bookstore Sassafras and the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center were among the local businesses to disclose how they would modify operations with the implementation of Phase I.
Sassafras plans to place a table in front of its entrance with hand sanitizer and signage detailing capacity limitations and spacing requirements. SVM is instituting an appointment system that will limit 15 visitors at a time once they resume operations and will require guests to wear masks and use hand sanitizer before entering.
As businesses prepare to reopen, the county is working to develop a communication strategy for disseminating information related to the plan.
“We want to push that out in a way that makes sense locally,” Tove said. “We know that even when we reopen, a lot of the community will have concerns about coming out. So part of our communications plan will be to give business owners guidance that can be put up in storefronts and checklists so that when people come in they can know what is expected of them. In terms of guidance, we’re hoping to get that pushed out by the weekend.”