FAYETTEVILLE -- The city will take an inclusive approach with its initiatives while rejecting policies treating segments of the community differently, Mayor Lioneld Jordan said Tuesday during his state of the city address.
Jordan spoke for about 30 minutes, characterizing the state of the city as "stronger than it has ever been before."
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The city's economic development plan to become the "Startup City of the South," providing affordable broadband to the public, paying down the debt and doing a lean-government review highlighted Jordan's intended accomplishments in the coming years.
Continuing a number of street, sidewalk and trail improvements, embarking on the next phases of Kessler Mountain Regional Park and overhauling the transportation plan also made Jordan's to-do list.
Jordan touted the extension of Van Asche Drive, renovation of the Walton Arts Center, completion of the first phase of the regional park and finishing Rupple Road from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Persimmon Street as recent accomplishments.
The city will continue operating on the principles of an inclusive, partnership-based government by exploring affordable housing developments, supporting public transit, making roads friendly to bicycles and pedestrians and by creating a city focused on inclusion and integration of new Americans in Fayetteville, Jordan said.
Jordan intends to establish broadband connectivity at city-owned buildings and public parks, put more Wi-Fi hot spots around the city and solicit proposals for Internet access. The Digital Inclusion Plan will close the "homework gap" and provide affordable Internet service to families who need it, Jordan said.
Jordan also said he has asked departments involved in planning, development and building permits to streamline processes by looking at policy from a customer's point of view.
"With the great confidence voters displayed for me and this administration in the last election comes an equal responsibility and humility to uphold the principles of our community," Jordan said. "I believe our commitment to these principles is validated and shared and I will do everything in my power to maintain them."
In other business, the council approved a preliminary plan for the Park Meadows subdivision in south Fayetteville with a 5-0 vote. Jordan cast a vote after Alderman John La Tour left the meeting early. A resolution requires at least five affirmative votes to pass.
Alderwoman Adella Gray appealed a Planning Commission decision to grant the plan after neighbors voiced concerns over the potential impact on traffic safety the development would have. The plan will bring 290 single-family lots to about 68 acres at the northeast corner of 15th Street and Morningside Drive.
Developer Jesse Fulcher said he and his team worked with city staff for the past four weeks to make further adjustments to the plan. An addition introduced Tuesday called for constructing a trail about 200 feet long on Huntsville Road, bordering the development's northern edge. On-street parking also would be added to Morningside Drive.
A traffic study concluded a signal isn't warranted at Huntsville Road and Morningside Drive, but the city will continue to monitor traffic as construction on the project progresses, said Jeremy Pate, Development Services director.
The process to get the plan approved started in October. Fulcher acknowledged neighbors' concern and said the intention was to reduce the impact on traffic as much as possible.
"We're not creating these problems with congestion and speeding. Those issues exist," he said. "Our job is to come up with ways to help those situations and not make them worse."
Additionally, aldermen voted 5-0 to adopt two zoning districts, residential intermediate-urban and neighborhood services-general, and amended several chapters of the Unified Development Code to make room for the new designations. The council left the item on its first reading during its Jan. 3 meeting.
Neighborhood services-general would serve as an in-between to the residential neighborhood services and community services districts. It would allow nonresidential buildings up to 8,000 square feet, as opposed to the range of 3,000 to 25,000 square feet the other two districts allow.
The residential intermediate-urban district would address the "missing middle housing" gap between single-family homes and apartment complexes without allowing certain uses reserved for a downtown area, such as bars and restaurants.
At the beginning of the meeting, Bonnie Bolinger, senior administrative assistant in the mayor's office, received the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Brotherhood Award for her efforts to organize blood drives in the city.
NW News on 01/18/2017