FAYETTEVILLE -- The city will grow by about 150 acres at its western edge, but a proposal to rezone the area will have to wait until next month.
The Fayetteville City Council on Thursday voted 7-1 to annex land along Hughmount Road. The request included the Hughmount Village subdivision, which is a phase of a larger subdivision project still in development.
The meeting was held Thursday rather than Tuesday to accommodate a Black Lives Matter demonstration that attracted thousands of people on the downtown square. It was held online via Zoom because of the covid-19 pandemic.
Robert Rhoads, attorney representing property owners Johnelle Hunt and Phil Phillips and a majority of Hughmount Village residents, said past agreements from 2012 to 2014 with the city prompted the landowners to seek annexation.
When Hughmount Village was built, part of the agreement was the city would provide water and sewer to all phases of the development, and all of it would be annexed, Rhoads said. The subdivision also was built under city regulatory standards, even though it remains outside the city limits, he said.
Some council members expressed concern that failing to annex the land would result in development under county standards, which are far more lax than that of the city. The land's proximity to Clabber Creek was of particular interest.
Council Member Mark Kinion said he saw environmental quality as the primary issue. Without annexation, further development could have a septic system near the creek. Residents who already live in the area also would be downhill of future homes to the north, which could exacerbate flooding issues if not developed correctly, he said.