After fighting it for years, Fayetteville neighbors concerned by building of nearby halfway house

Residents in a Fayetteville neighborhood can only watch as a 100-bed federal prison halfway house is being built near their backyards.

Some residents still have concerns about the project that they previously fought for years.

About a year ago, the selected part of Cain Road was a wooded area. Since then, it's been cleared and they've started construction of that federal prison halfway house. The folks who live in that apartment complex behind it say that's not good news.

Fay Council has lived these apartments on Tally Drive for nine years. But now the wooded area that used to bump up to her backyard is being replaced with a halfway house for inmates released from federal prison.

"We have children that live right here," said Council. "There's a school right down the street. And whose to say they won't jump the fence."

"I have a window right here. my bedroom is right there," Council continued. "I don't know what they went to federal prison for, but what if it's something that they might want to do again. Break in someone's house or ... molest somebody, I don't know. I don't think it should have been put right there."

Earlest Dove agrees. He's lived off Cain Road for 40 years. His view of the halfway house will be blocked by trees, but he knows it's there.

Dove and other residents fought to stop its construction in 2019. They won, but the state Court of Appeals reversed a Superior Court decision that denied the special permits needed for its construction.

"I pray ... I say God... I hope nobody don't come down here and be a madman or either a person that's say they're sick of living that way and decide they want to break out," Dove said.

There will be room for 80 male and 20 and female inmates. It'll serve as the last stop for offenders before they make their way back into the civilian population.

What does that mean for people like Council?

"It's time to move," Council said. "That's what i told my husband. It's time to move."

Several who spoke with WRAL News said they're not against people going to prison having a second chance. However, they do wish the facility would have been built in a non-residential area.

WRAL News reached out to Dismas Charities in Charlotte for comment about the project and didn't get a response.