Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: It has now been over three months since Costco submitted its plans for a new store in Asheville (Enka), but I can’t find any information on the status of the application. Has the city made any progress at all on the application? How can something like this go on for so long without even a hint of information leaking out? Can The Watchdog sniff out a progress report?

My answer: My sniffer tends to get sidetracked by craft beer and a good smashburger, but I’ll try.

Real answer: Asheville Watchdog broke the news of Costco submitting plans to the city back in early March, but it looks like the project is idle for now.

Asheville City Council Member Sage Turner posted to the social media platform Nextdoor this week that Costco does not have an active application right now.

“Costco requested what’s called a pre-application meeting with city staff earlier this year,” Turner posted. “The process is meant to help development understand and navigate the review and approval process. Costco has not taken steps since. This means there is not an active application to build a Costco at this time.”

Will Palmquist, principal planner with the city’s Planning & Urban Design department, said Thursday, “We have not yet received a formal development application for the project. The project applicant did schedule another TRC-pre application meeting for July 2 to informally review concept plans for the project.”

So that’s a good sign. The TRC is the Technical Review Committee, an early step in the approval process. Previously, Palmquist said the project would require a conditional zoning, as it’s more than 100,000 square feet.

After the TRC review, it would go to the Planning & Zoning Commission. The commission’s recommendation would be forwarded to City Council for the final decision.

Plans on file with the city show the Costco situated on 25 acres within Enka Commerce Park, with 839 parking spaces. The plans also show the nearby historic Enka clock tower, which will be preserved.

A Costco spokesperson sent me the company’s boilerplate response to my most recent query about their plans.

“Unfortunately, it is our company policy to not comment regarding future Costco warehouses until we are ready to share details about the new location (usually 2-3 months in advance),” the spokesperson said, suggesting I check Costco’s website for updates. 

That site, which lists the names and dates of upcoming locations, does not include Asheville. 

Fletcher Partners is the development company that owns and has developed much of Enka Commerce Park. Partner Martin Lewis did not respond to a request for comment for this update.

Turner said the idleness does not necessarily mean Costco has scrapped its plans.

“We don’t know if they’ll return and apply officially,” Turner wrote. “They could! And they might not. They issued a site plan and did some design work; that’s a good sign.”

Turner also noted that, “The property owner also plays a role; they could be working on their end of the deal ahead of applying.”

Turner acknowledged that thousands of local residents expressed their excitement about Costco submitting plans, as customers now have to drive to Spartanburg, South Carolina, for the nearest store and an Asheville location has been rumored for decades.

‘If and when I learn anything more, I’ll share another update,” Turner wrote.

Question: We ordered a bear-proof can from FCC Environmental Services as soon as they took over the waste contract, the first of January. We have placed at least a dozen calls to 828-820-7022 and have spoken with their representatives, who have assured us that once the containers were delivered, we would receive one. It is now June 17 and nothing has been delivered. We have been told they were back ordered. They have put us to a supervisor who never answered and have also assured us that we should be receiving it within the week once they received them. We have bears up here on the mountain, frequently in our yard and have attacked our dog, and are quite good at getting into trash. Please help us obtain a bear-proof can, which we told them we would pay for.

My answer: I’m pretty sure we’re going to find a huge cache of bear-proof cans at the Regional Bear Denning Headquarters somewhere in Fairview. These are smart animals, you know.

Real answer: The good news is that FCC Environmental does have enough bear carts in stock now, according to Kurt Dutton, FCC’s operations manager in Asheville.

“The issue that we’re running into is we are backed up with delivering carts (and) removing carts due to a shortage of drivers right now,” Dutton told me Tuesday. “We have just filled four positions, and we have two more open requisitions, and one of those is for our container delivery driver to fill that position.”

“And once we have those two positions filled — one is a rear load and one is a container delivery driver — we will be fully staffed,” Dutton continued. “And then I do not see an issue with getting carts delivered, removed, etc.”

As I wrote in late May, FCC has been struggling with customer service since taking over garbage pickup in Buncombe County in January from Waste Pro. 

Dutton said FCC has been working on the call center issues, too. When a call goes into the call center, the center emails staff in Asheville about the issue. 

“Whether it’s a bear cart or a regular cart or recycle or a missed pickup — whatever it might be — they email that to us, and then we take care of it from there,” Dutton said.

Meanwhile, let’s hope they get all the bear carts out there. We have a lot of hungry ursines around these parts.

Question: The Asheville Police Department and the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office provide good information about local crime on their respective websites. A couple of weeks ago, both websites stopped publishing booking photos (mugshots). This takes away some important information from the public. A quick Google search says that booking photos are public records. What could the reason be for removing them?

My answer: All the bears arrested for pilfering bear-proof trash cans looked remarkably alike, so law enforcement had to shut down the site to conduct more detailed bear facial scanning. 

Real answer: This one revolved around a temporary technology glitch with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office website, which provides the mugshots for its arrestees as well as APD’s. APD spokesperson Rick Rice said the Sheriff’s Office site was experiencing “technical difficulties,” but mugshots are back in place.

A quick check of the Detention Center webpage on Thursday showed most are back up, although I’ll note there was one humorous mugshot of a blank cinder block wall. Some camouflage that guy was rockin’!

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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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