Road on master plan isn’t adequate notice

I attended the Feb. 12 Fayetteville Planning Commission meeting. I was there in support of friends who were petitioning for the removal of a proposed road through their property. Two specific points about this case troubled me.

First, they and their fellow petitioners live outside of the city limits and were never informed by the city that this road was part of a long-range master street plan that the city formulated in 2007. Commissioners told the petitioners (who are not citizens of Fayetteville, remember) that it was their responsibility to discover this for themselves by routinely checking the city’s website. The petitioners recently discovered the fact only because an affected landowner was having trouble selling his land due to this proposed road.

Second, that landowner’s situation made clear that the proposed road does affect the monetary value of each landowner’s property, as the petitioners asserted, and yet the commissioners did not appear to take this seriously. This point, plus the intrinsic value of their land, their rights as property owners in the county, the questionable effects of this road in an area prone to flooding and whether or not this road is really necessary all supported one commissioner’s motion to table the petition for further discussion and a viewing of the property. A quick vote denied that possibility.

The petitioners will move forward with their claims to the City Council and I hope these issues will be given serious consideration at that stage of the process.

DELL EDDINS Fayetteville