Council hears homeless community concerns, approves charter school permit
A CityView photo by Anthony Wooten
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BY EVEY WEISBLAT | CityView Staff
At Monday’s Fayetteville City Council meeting, residents raised concerns — many of them focusing on homelessness — during a public forum, while the council approved a special use permit for a charter school and discussed the demolition protocol for a condemned building undergoing repairs. Here’s a breakdown of what happened:
Public comment period
What happened: Four of the nine residents who spoke during the 30-minute public comment period had concerns related to the city’s approach to homelessness, homeless shelters and the treatment of the unhoused community. Three of those speakers were members of the homeless community; another speaker was arguing against the county’s placement of its planned homeless shelter on B Street.
Other comments focused on climate change, the Fayetteville Police Department’s treatment of death by distribution cases, walkability and accessibility problems in the city, housing issues and the presence of the Black Lives Matter slogan on the Market House.
Why it matters: The once-a-month public forum offers residents a chance to voice their frustrations in real time to council members. Homelessness continues to be a major topic for residents making public comments, as it has been since the city’s Day Resource Center, a resource center for unhoused individuals seeking support services, opened in September.
Charter school permit
What happened: The council voted 9-1 to grant Bethel Christian Assembly Inc. a special use permit to build a small charter school in a single-family residential neighborhood in an undeveloped property at 4502 Rosehill Rd. Councilmember Mario Benavente cast the dissenting vote. He argued that the council had not adequately reviewed evidence that the developer met the standards required for a special use permit to be approved.
The property is in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by another elementary school, two churches and several houses. When the permit application was first discussed in an evidentiary hearing at the Oct. 23 city council meeting, council members had unresolved concerns about the traffic impact of the proposed school and an apparent lack of community outreach from the developer. The council voted 7-3 to remand the application to staff to gather answers to the council's questions.
Why it matters: At previous council meetings, Benavente has raised concerns about the council’s ability to follow legislative conventions and protocol, particularly as it pertains to developmental ordinances. He noted that the council did not present any evidence to affirm the validity of the developer’s case prior to making its determination to approve the permit. Interim City Attorney Lachelle Pulliam agreed that it was “best practice” for the council to list at least one piece of evidence in support of its decision to approve the permit.
Property demolition debate
What happened: Councilmember D.J. Haire requested removing a condemned property in his district from the demolition list, as he had been made aware the owners were making repairs on it. The council voted unanimously to instead allow city staff to reach out to the owner of a condemned property and come back with an assessment of it. Both council members and city staff were concerned about a lack of inspection history on the building and unauthorized repairs having been completed on it.
Why it matters: The discussion comes as the council has looked to speed up its demolition process for a large number of dangerous buildings that are open and waiting to be demolished in the city, with 131 properties on the demolition list as of Oct 3.
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
