Buncombe County commissioners took steps Tuesday to build more than half a mile of sidewalks in Swannanoa’s historic business district.
The Board of Commissioners accepted two state grants for the work and approved shifting other funds to construct new sidewalks and repair or replace old ones along streets just west of the former site of Beacon Manufacturing Company’s blanket plant, which burned down in 2003.
County officials plan for $400,000 of the money to come from a grant for repairs to homes owned by low- and moderate-income county residents that county government received in December 2022 but has yet to spend…