Fayetteville City Council Votes In Favor Of Infill Ordinance

The city currently has no rules regarding infilling, in which builders buy property in older neighborhoods and build new higher density housing.

Council members voted 9-1 in favor of the infill ordinance, which would require builders to notify residents who live within 300 feet of proposed sites. It also limits infill projects to five acres or less.

"It's houses right on top of each other," said Ronnie Mitchell, who lives in the Haymount neighborhood of Fayetteville, where developers are building eight houses on two lots across the street from his property. "Now, you're putting more of them on top of each other."

Many in the community cite a 2003 infill development in which crews moved a house on Dobbins Road and built three units in its place.

Wayne Riggins, who helped write the rule, said the ordinance could be a win-win situation for everyone and that it would give the public a right to a hearing in some cases of infilling.

"Tearing down old homes and tearing down old trees and putting in higher density fundamentally changes the character of the neighborhood," Riggins said.

Developers declined to talk to WRAL about the ordinance.