Proposed apartment complex puts residents at odds with Fayetteville mayor and his partners

Residents in eastern Cumberland County are concerned that a proposed apartment complex that Mayor Mitch Colvin is a partner in developing will cause further flooding on their properties.

The Fayetteville City Council was supposed to consider a rezoning permit for the project last month but removed the item at the start of their March 25 meeting.

According to the project’s application, developers want to build the three-story complex on 27.92 acres in the 1600 blocks of Cedar Creek and Fields roads.

The application lists Cedar Creek Road LLC, which is registered to Darrin Collins, as the owner of the properties for the project.

A February memo from the city's planning department states that Cedar Creek Road, LLC is made up of Darrin Collins Inc. and MAPCO Properties LLC.

The business registration with the North Carolina's Secretary of State Office shows that Charleston Group Law is a registered agent for MAPCO LLC, and Mayor Colvin is its managing member.

Charleston Group Law submitted the rezoning request to the city on behalf of Cedar Creek Road, LLC, and its founder Jonathan Charleston spoke at the city's zoning commission meeting as the "applicant's representative," minutes show.

The developers requested that the land be annexed into the city and the area be rezoned from rural residential and single-family residential to a multi-family residential district.

After hearing from residents who opposed the rezoning, the city’s zoning commission voted 4-1 on Feb. 13 to deny the annexation “because it is inconsistent and does not align with the area designation” on the city’s future land use map, according to minutes from the meeting.

City records show that the city planning staff intended to recommend to the City Council in March to zone the area as a single-family zoning district that would be more restrictive than a mixed-residential zoning district, but allow for similar uses of mixed residential with a special use permit.

Residents in the nearby Cedar Creek and Locks Creek neighborhoods say the location for the proposed development is prone to flooding during hurricanes and major storms.

While Federal Emergency Management Agency maps show the area is not designated as a flood plain, city records show city staff has previously sought to change the designation, and the city has also budgeted for flood mitigation in prior years.

Flooding

Channing Perdue has been a resident along Cedar Creek Road for 15 years and said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and North Carolina Department on Environmental Quality have identified most of the area as wetlands prone to flooding.

“I don’t even know why a three-story apartment complex is even conducive to that area,” Perdue said last week. “It’ll be smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood.”

Perdue said nearby Locks Creek floods every time it rains, with water spilling over the banks 3-5 inches.

“There’s a whole slew of things that are wrong with them building on that property,” Perdue said. “It’s wetlands. It’s hydric soil. That means it saturates. It floods. It ponds. There’s nowhere for that water to go, and if you put a three-story apartment complex on top of that ground, that water is going to get pushed out somewhere.”

Perdue said she is a farm owner and during Hurricane Florence, she had to board her animals, as water reached her barn and took two weeks to recede.

Perdue said it’s her understanding that the mayor and his partner would be required to apply for a wetlands delineation permit and build a system to push the water out so that it isn’t retained on the property.

Her concern is that if the water is pushed back into Locks Creek, it’ll be taking on extra water that’ll cause quicker flooding on nearby properties.

“It’s a reckless endangerment to the community and environment, and they will need to be held responsible if they build this and it floods,” she said.

Mayor responds

Mayor Colvin said in an interview last week that no one would intentionally build a complex in a community that floods.

Colvin said that engineers have been hired to look at the property and ensure stormwater wouldn’t pond on the site, and there will not be negative impacts.

“I trust the process and state and city’s guidance to make sure we prepare for that,” he said.

City records state that the Public Services Department's Engineering Division has proposed a stormwater project near Locks Creek to address some of the flooding issues and that the city's Technical Review Committee would be responsible for assessing developments in potential floodplains.

Colvin said Fayetteville has a housing deficit of about 20,000 homes and that areas of the city that have been overlooked need them.

“I think eastern Fayetteville is a great area,” he said. “It’s where our city has expanded its growth. I think it’s a great community, and I would much rather have people living in Fayetteville instead of going to another community because we’re short on housing. I think this (project) compliments that in addition to supporting the growth and development in the city.”

Colvin said he and his partner want to be able to use the property to meet community needs.

Other concerns

Aside from the flooding, Perdue is worried about what an apartment complex will mean for nearby property values and whether having more people in the area increases crime and overcrowding in schools.

Jeremy Stanley has lived in the Cedar Creek area since 2004 and said that while his property is outside the buffer zone to have received a notification of the rezoning request, he’s gotten to know nearby neighbors and thinks the proposed complex would be unfair to them.

Most homes near Lock’s Creek are built on stilts because of the flooding, and he shares Perdue’s concerns that the complex will bring more traffic on Cedar Creek Road.

Stanley said he thinks the area is more suitable for single-family and agriculture zoning instead of multi-family use.

The mayor’s involvement, he said, raises more questions.

“Does this mean he has an option to get this done more quickly? He can persuade council members.”

Colvin said he is going through the same protocol that any other developer would, and he will not receive any favoritism.

“I’ve followed all council policies on disclosures, and disclosed it on an ethics form earlier in the year before it even came to this point, and of course, I would not be partaking in any council action about this,” he said.

While city funds wouldn't go toward the private project, Stanley said he wonders if the mayor and his partner could still financially benefit from city-funded drainage projects.

Fayetteville council to consider ban on new homes in Locks Creek area

What's next?

Since the matter was removed from the council’s March meeting, Stanley said he wouldn’t be surprised if it returns during the summer when residents who oppose the project could be on vacation.

Colvin said he and his partner are applying for conditional rezoning to “give flexibility to reduce the number of units and make other modifications” from the original application.

“We’re going through the process just like anyone else would,” he said. “There are no special exceptions made for me or this project. I plan to comply with all city and state regulations and hopefully see what the outcome is. I think it’s a positive investment on that side of the city.”

Perdue said she thinks the project is unacceptable and that a special use permit would allow the property to have any zoning use.

“I’ve seen the amount of flooding that can happen, and I hope they understand that if they move forward, they’re putting lives in jeopardy," she said.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville residents: Mayor should not build in flood area