Fayetteville City Council Work Session – January 5, 2026
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Fayetteville City Council Work Session – January 5, 2026
The City Council held a work session on January 5, 2026, beginning at 2:00 PM, to discuss eight major items including redevelopment of the Blount and Gillespie site, a proposed veteran tiny home community, the annual Point-in-Time homeless count, a completed feasibility study for the Black Voices Museum, bond project updates, downtown municipal service district boundaries, real property lease policy revisions, and proposed amendments to the parades and demonstrations ordinance. The meeting lasted approximately five and a half hours, with council voting unanimously on most items and sending one item back to committee for further study.
Blount and Gillespie Redevelopment Efforts Update
- Staff and HRNA Advisors presented three conceptual redevelopment scenarios for the 8.5-acre city-owned site at the corner of Blount and Gillespie. The concepts ranged from 100 multifamily units and 25 townhomes (Concept 1) to 200 multifamily units (Concept 2) and the densest option (Concept 3). All preserve the E.E. Smith House and include public open space.
- Councilmember Green expressed support for Concept 1 but noted it was the least financially feasible. Councilmember McMillan asked about affordable housing integration; staff advised that a mixed-income approach could be considered in the RFQ/RFP process. Councilmember Jones asked about the proposed Tax Increment Grant (TIG) and its potential duration.
- Council voted unanimously to receive the report and directed staff to proceed with rezoning the site to a single mixed-use district and to begin a two-stage solicitation process (RFQ then RFP) to identify a development partner. Staff estimated a three-month timeline for the rezoning and RFQ preparation.
Proposed Veteran Tiny Home Community
- Redeploying American Veterans (RAV) presented a plan to build a tiny home community for homeless veterans, with wraparound services including job training and financial literacy. RAV identified two potential sites: 1010 Johnson Street (0.46 acres) and West Cliff Road. They stated a Fortune 50 company would cover all costs except land.
- Councilmember Hare made a motion to receive the report, direct staff to work with RAV on zoning and land opportunities, and add the item to the city-county liaison meeting agenda. Councilmember McNair seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
- Councilmember Jones raised concerns about zoning and minimum square footage requirements. Councilmember Mayor Pro Tem Thompson noted the need to coordinate with the county on potential sites, as the county recently authorized $30 million for a shelter.
Point in Time Count Presentation
- Dr. Deborah Harris, Chair of the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Continuum of Care, presented the 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) count results: 383 individuals were counted on January 24, 2025 (delayed from January 23 due to weather). She noted a 14% increase in homelessness nationwide since 2023. The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) showed 845 people served in 2024, with 2,580 referrals in a seven-month period.
- Councilmember McMillan asked about coordination gaps in white flag shelter operations and the need for a collaborative table. Councilmember Ferguson asked about the process for faith-based organizations to become white flag locations.
- Council voted unanimously to receive the report. Councilmember McNair made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Davis.
Black Voices Museum Feasibility Study
- Community outreach consultant Dr. Dobb Evans and architects from Gensler presented the completed study for a proposed Black Voices Museum on the corner of Person Street and Otis Jones Parkway. The 83,000-square-foot concept includes exhibition space, a theater, and an event center. Project cost is estimated between $175 and $225 million, with construction start in 2029 and completion in 2031. Annual attendance is projected at 150,000 visitors, with an earned income of $2.2 million against operating costs of $3.65 million, requiring $1.45 million in annual fundraising.
- Councilmember Hare asked about attendance projections. Councilmember Davis asked about private investor integrity. Councilmember McMillan urged inclusion of local history, including the lynching of Archie Beebe and the 2020 protests.
- Council voted unanimously to receive the report and directed staff to arrange a joint meeting with city and county leadership to discuss next steps and fundraising.
Parks & Recreation Bond Project Update
- Dan Lamontane, senior project manager with Freeze & Nichols, provided an update on 20 capital projects. Notable statuses: Fire Station 16 is at 60% design with a Guaranteed Maximum Price expected in March 2026; Courts at Glenville Lake paving is expected to be complete by end of January 2026; McCarthur Road Sports Complex bids due in February 2026; MLK Jr. Park permitting is ongoing; Veterans Park Phase 2 design is due this month.
- Councilmember Hare pressed for an update on the Glenville Lake trail access from Merksman Road, which is expected at the February work session. Councilmember Hondros raised concerns about parking at Glenville Courts and the delay in resolving Fire Station 4.
- Council voted unanimously to receive the report.
Downtown Municipal Service District Boundary and Park View Townhomes
- Staff confirmed that Park View Townhomes (47 units, valued at nearly $13 million) lie within the MSD. The MSD tax rate is approximately 15 cents per $100 of assessed value, generating about $19,000 annually from these properties. Removing them would require a public hearing and ordinance change effective July 1, 2026.
- Councilmember Hare questioned what enhanced services the townhomes actually receive. Councilmember Davis noted that the residents pay HOA fees for trash and maintenance and do not benefit from downtown ambassadors or special event cleanup.
- Council voted unanimously to set a public hearing for the first meeting in February 2026 to consider removal of Park View Townhomes from the MSD.
Proposed Changes to Real Property Lease Policy (Policy 155.6)
- Councilmember McMillan proposed revisions to increase transparency, including requiring public notice for lease renewals, prohibiting city council members and employees from leasing city property, and mandating multi-channel listings. The city attorney noted that two airport employees currently lease city-owned residential properties, and that 10 nonprofits have leases with the city.
- Councilmember Green raised concerns about the impact on long-term tenants and specialized airport leases. Councilmember Hondros noted that multi-year leases are common for commercial tenants making significant investments.
- Councilmember McMillan withdrew his initial motion to adopt the changes and instead moved to send the policy back to the Policy Committee for further review. The motion passed unanimously.
Proposed Amendments to Parades, Motorcades, Special Events and Demonstrations Ordinance
- The city attorney presented amendments that would create a 10-foot buffer zone around outdoor dining areas and an 8-foot personal bubble for approaching diners without consent, citing Hill v. Colorado as precedent.
- Councilmember McMillan argued the ordinance is a lawsuit waiting to happen, infringes on First Amendment rights, and is content-based. He noted that North Carolina General Statute 14-288.4 already prohibits harassment.
- Councilmember Ferguson supported tabling the item for a dedicated discussion. Councilmember Mayor Pro Tem Thompson suggested it be sent to a future work session with a lighter agenda.
- Councilmember McMillan moved to table the amendments and direct staff to return with alternative policies within 30–60 days, to be discussed at a special meeting. The motion passed with one dissenting vote (Councilmember Hondros).
Meeting Transcript
Now we're ready. Okay. Well, let us start our work session with our call, our invocation. Let's all stand right after we repeat our pledge of allegiance. Councilman Hare, if you'll do the honors. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Lord Jesus, once again, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for letting us make it through the night and seeing another day that we've never seen before. Father, as we move forward in our first meeting of the year. Help us to come together, bring a bond together to move forward for the concerns and issues of the city and the citizens of Fayetteville. Let us have a great meeting this evening. Amen. So we're here this afternoon to update you on our efforts to evaluate the city owned property at the corner of Blunt and Gillespie. Today we're going to talk a little bit about the partnership we have with uh HRNA, uh the study that they performed for us, the concepts that they've helped us developed, and then the next steps. So I'm going to introduce a little bit of this in the background and then kick it over to my friend Austin to take us through the technical. All right, so just to put this into context a little bit, um, we've owned this property um about eight and a half acres on the corner of Blunt and Gillespie, less than a half mile from where we are right now for quite some time. Uh we had not fully acquired everything until recently. Um there's been a couple of concepts floated in the community and considered by city council over a 10 year period to look at what to do with this, and um for y'all that are in real estate and business, you know it starts with what's financially feasible in the market. What would somebody want to come in and want to buy, want to live in, want to shop at. And so that's why we brought in some advisors that I'll tell you about in just a moment. Uh, but we partnered with them to talk about the market potential to test different concepts on the site, what would make sense from a visual from a layout and from a financial standpoint. So a little bit of the history here. Uh back in 1902, the Smith House was built on this site. Uh that property is is now owned by the city and programmed out by the park and recreation department. Um starting in 2008 with our Hope Six redevelopment efforts, we began acquiring 41 individual parcels. Uh City Council allocated six million dollars towards Hope 6. Not all of that went towards this, some of it was infrastructure, some of it was single family housing built by some nonprofit partners in the Hope Six area. In 2016, we brought in Red Rock Global to study some opportunities around in and around downtown and and throughout the city of Fayetteville for redevelopment. And I'll talk to you a little bit about that study and where we are with that in just a moment. Back in 2018, uh, right before I got here, we looked at um uh kind of reconstituting this business park idea where there would be um business and and um office uh type stuff there. And what we found at the time was that the market wasn't quite there for it. Um then uh in 2019, uh Robert Van Gians at the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Uh uh Development Corporation uh worked with some partners to come up with an opportunity zone vision. This area was one of those opportunity zone areas, the the Blunt Street going down it being like a warehouse district. 2020 happened and uh in March, everything changed. Uh the government shut down, COVID became a reality, and the economy economics changed. Um, and so all of these efforts kind of stalled out at that point. Uh the market changed, the demand for office space uh changed dramatically after COVID. And so in 2025, we're we had just bought the last kind of key piece of property to have every ownership of all the property in this area. And so we wanted to look at something to help contribute to the downtown's growth and the future of it. So the about that Red Rock Global uh plan. So they really looked at four different focus areas in that plan. Uh, two areas on Mercston Road, Upper and Lower Mercerson, uh, Massey Hill, and then what they called the Center City Action Park, which is the Blunt and Gillespie site. So for Upper Merkerson, uh they talked about having uh uh improvements to the roadway. Uh right now, NC DOT is undertaking a substantial improvement to that upper area, and then industrial development up towards 295. And so FCDC is our industrial development arm. So they are looking at opportunity sites and marketing those to um to industry. On the lower merchant area, they recommended a baseball stadium. Now, while we didn't build that on Merkston Road, we did build that less than an eighth of a mile away, right in our downtown. Um, and then they recommended a business center, which uh the city along with the county and Fayetteville State University have opened up the business and entrepreneurial hub.
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