SWANNANOA, N.C. — Local nonprofits are proposing a new greenway in Swannanoa.
The nonprofits are saying this project would offer multiple benefits like flood reduction, long-term resilience, and strengthened community connections.
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“Greenways are compatible uses because it offers green space, riparian buffers, appropriate uses along those rivers, so that when the flood does happen, whatever is there isn’t harmed and damaged and can more quickly bounce back,” said Megan McCreary, a Board Member for Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa (FANS).
The proposed greenway would be part of the Fonta Flora State Trail.
MARCH 14, 2026 – Local nonprofits are proposing a new greenway in Swannanoa. (Photo: WLOS Staff)
Right now, FANS is commissioning a feasibility study for this greenway that could run from Grovestone Road to the western end of the Warren Wilson campus.
McCreary says that the feasibility study could begin any day now and will take about a year to complete.
“The feasibility study that we were talking about today, that I spoke at length about, that is something that our local nonprofit, Friends and Neighbors of Swannanoa, is spearheading, so we raised the funds for that. We’re hiring the consultant team for that to move that specific plan forward, but any long-term implementation of a greenway, so when it comes time to hire a consultant team to do drawings, to work with landowners, to purchase land or easements, or to actually build a greenway, anything beyond this first stage is absolutely going to need to include the county and have them be a meaningful partner in this, and we’ve worked really hard to build those relationships and maintain them and include them in this process so that we’re working with them, you know, in lockstep along the way,” answered McCreary in part.
MARCH 14, 2026 -{ }Local nonprofits are proposing a new greenway in Swannanoa. (Photo: WLOS Staff)
Kristin Wagner, a cyclist, says the greenway matters for all cyclists.
“It just matters. It matters if people can move around without a car,” Wagner said.
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Melissa Gladden, a Swannanoa resident, says it’s important for building community.
“It’s going to tie us into those communities that need to be tied into, so we’re not overlooked. We’re part of a whole trail system. And from what I can understand, we can even look at it from a resilience point of view, that we’re connecting for when and if we ever have to go off grid again,” Gladden said.
