Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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JUNE 7-13, 2017 UCW 7 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Fayetteville City Council has a unique opportunity to show how it governs in a sticky situation during a public hearing June 26. at Monday night, the Council decides whether to rezone property from rural residential to limited com- mercial. It's the kind of hearing the Council has decided on countless times. But this rezoning hearing is different. For one, the property is not in the Fayetteville city limits — yet. Secondly, the people who are fighting the pro- posed rezoning are not city residents. ey have not elected anyone to the governing body to represent their interests. Here's how that works. A couple of commercial developers from Florida and Charlotte want Fayetteville to rezone 16 acres outside the corporate limits so they can get city water and sewer. To get sewer, the developers voluntarily annex the property into the city. As of late, there's no requirement to be annexed for water, but sewer is another matter. But here's the rub. is "high-end" retail store's parking lot and an area designated as public space abut the backyards of homes on Windy Creek Way in Wendemere, a well-maintained subdivision whose front entrance bor- ders the city limits. Plus, the developer proposes to jam this "high-end" retail store right next to Stoney Point Elementary School. It's where King, Stoney Point, Rockfish and Lakeview roads meet. e developer also proposes to reopen a closed portion of King Road just before it reaches the intersection. e resulting fork on King Road would funnel traffic into the commercial property via a traffic circle. at could add to or alleviate the early morning logjam at the intersection. On the surface, it looks like a ri- diculous location to put a commercial retail store. I dread having to go that way on weekdays mornings, especially when school is in session. e developers won't say what kind of "high-end" retail store, but rumors abound that it's a Publix or Trader Joe's grocery store. ere is no men- tion of what will go in the outlying parcels fronting Rockfish Road. ere's a Harris Teeter across the street and a Food Lion on the other side of the high school football field, part of the campus that makes up Stoney Point Elementary and Jack Britt High School. ere's also a slew of open commercial property along Rockfish Road heading toward Cam- den Road. Here's another issue for the Coun- cil to chew on. Its own planning staff recommends not rezoning the property because the land use plan says it's supposed to be for residential development. at usually means single-family houses. But the Rezon- ing Commission, made up of people appointed by City Council, voted 3-2 to recommend rezoning. So, it's the classic commercial devel- opment rights of a landowner versus residential neighborhood quality-of- life rights for an entire neighborhood the Council must decide on. e Council also must consider getting a PWC water-sewer customer and tax- paying commercial property. en there's Shivani Kohut, a Wen- demere resident. She galvanized the surrounding community to fight the rezoning. Last week, she and support- ers packed a Stoney Point Recreation Center meeting room with residents from Wendemere and adjoining neighborhoods — some from within city limits — to plan a strategy to con- vince Council NOT to rezone the property. I attended the meeting, where at times participants couldn't wrap their minds around the issues that Council is allowed consider in its deliberation. Instead, emotions ventured toward the possibility of crime festering in the parking lot and designated public areas. ey should instead talk about quality-of-life issues: mosquitoes in a proposed retention pond next to the elementary school, flooding caused by more impervious pavement, park- ing lot lights illuminating people's backyards and traffic congestion at an already congested intersection where gridlock happens often. But calmer minds prevailed. Shivani and a cadre of supporters organized a public information campaign. It includes passing out a flyer asking area residents to sign a petition against the rezoning. e flyer also urges those affected to call or email Council members about their concerns and to donate money for a lawyer. Finally, the flyer urges people to show up at City Hall Mon- day, June 26, to fill the chamber. e group also published a Facebook page: Say NO To Commercial Greed. I contacted all Council members via email and asked them if they had visited the site, if they had an idea of how they would vote, and if they had ever deliberated over a public hear- ing where Council action would affect non-city residents. Only two responded. One — a person who I've always thought well of in the past — berated me for asking if he had an idea of how he would vote. Note, the question did not ask how they would vote; it asked if they had an idea of how they would vote. Perhaps the question could have been phrased better. But as a constituent, I have the right to ask any question regarding an issue that affects me, and I have the right not to be chastised by someone elected to represent my interests. Bill Crisp, whose district abuts the area, responded in his usual diplomat- ic manner. Crisp said he visited the site and does have an idea of how he will vote. He will keep his intentions close to the vest until he's heard everything at the public hearing. e silence from the others is interesting. Rezoning Near Stoney Point? by JASON BRADY JASON BRADY, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. OPINION With a Food Lion right across the street from Stoney Point Elementary School, talk of another high-end grocery store nearby has some people upset.