A Dec. 4 town hall meeting of the Fayetteville City Council featured updated plans for the Walton Communities proposal near downtown Fayetteville.
The council chambers had far fewer residents attending on Dec. 4 compared to the previous meeting, along with far fewer speaking against the proposal.
Several of the 10 people speaking in public comments again expressed concerns that the development, situated between Grady Avenue and the new city hall site south of Stonewall Avenue, and partly bordered by Beauregard Boulevard on the east, would have a negative impact on traffic.
Others during public comments thanked Walton Communities partner David Knight for working with residents and responding to their concerns. One of those concerns dealt with the positioning of townhouses near Grady Avenue. Knight at a previous meeting said Walton could substitute single-family homes for the townhomes.
Knight kept to that idea on Dec. 4, saying that the single-family homes, as many as 44 in total, could be “cottage style” homes in the high $200,000s to low $300,000s.
Another item that met with community approval was to negate the presence of apartments on the Sams property along Beauregard Boulevard, and the keep the area as park space with only a roadway going through the property to connect to Beauregard.
To date, the concept calls for 278 apartments in seven, 3-story buildings in the interior of the 30-acre property near the future city hall park areas, up to 44 single-family homes and 23,000 sq. ft. of commercial and office space. The majority of that space would be located on a small parcel between Beauregard and Ga. Highway 85, with a smaller portion on the first floor of two of the apartment buildings.
While conceived at up to 44 single-family homes, a number of those homes are contingent on having the property bordering Beauregard and Grady included in the project. Knight said the owner of the property, Sam Burch, had asked to be a part of the project.
“We’re trying to make the neighbors and city staff happy, and make it work financially,” Knight said. “We’re serious about this. We’re long-terms managers. We own the property and we will take care of it.”
Asked about apartment prices after the meeting, Knight said 1-bedroom apartments would likely rent for $1,150, 2-bedrooms for $1,500 and 3-bedrooms for $1,800.
The request, which could come before the Planning and Zoning Commission as early as Dec. 18, if not tabled until a later date, is asking that the property be rezoned to C-1 (downtown historic mixed-use district), which conforms to the Fayetteville Comprehensive Plan, adopted last year after receiving input for 650 residents.
