The Fayetteville City Council on Monday will hear about a micro-grant program that would work with community groups to reduce crime in the city.
“It’s part of the city’s violence reduction strategies,” City Manager Doug Hewett said Friday. “We hope to leverage groups with ideas on how to help us. We have grants ranging from $1,500 to $5,000. They’re designed to support community groups who have programs to prevent violence and crime in the city of Fayetteville.”
The council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Hewett said groups are not required to be a nonprofit to request a micro-grant.
“The program is also designed for capacity building,’’ Hewett said. “If you’re able to demonstrate how you will use those funds to the city’s goals, then the next go-round they can apply for a larger grant.”
Hewett said there will be four Community Safety Micro-Grant cycles. The city has allocated $50,000 for each cycle.
Interested organizations must have an annual operating budget of less than $100,000, according to background material in the agenda packet.
Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins first proposed a series of crime reduction strategies in the fall of 2021, according to background material about the program. The council appropriated $250,000 to fund the Community Safety Micro-Grant strategy in November.
Over the winter, the material states, the Police Department and the city’s Economic and Community Development Department benchmarked other programs and reviewed best practices.
The first grant cycle is expected to get underway on May 2. Applications would be due by 11:59 p.m. on May 29. The fourth and final grant cycle is expected to be completed by the fall of 2023, if not funded further.
“Funded programs will be required to report measurable outcomes,” the city said.
Two pre-application workshops will be offered to provide instructions on how to use the application portal, the material states.
In other business, the council has several items on its consent agenda. They include:
-The adoption of a capital project ordinance amendment to provide additional funding for a Greenock Avenue Hurricane Matthew repair project.
The avenue at the privately-owned Arran Lake was damaged by the storm on Oct. 8, 2016.
“It used to be a roadway on top of a dam,” Hewett said. “That project, that amendment, allows us to move forward in the third quarter of 2022 and repair that roadway that was damaged. The project is funded wholly by the state and federal government and taken us time to move through the state and Corps of Engineers. Hopefully, it’s to go out to construction."
-The consideration is a conditional rezoning off Santa Fe Drive in western Fayetteville. If approved, the conditional rezoning would change from single-family 10 to mixed-residential 5 to build no more than 960 apartment units on Berkley Hall Way.
That site, the property of WHM Group LLC, contains more than 81 acres.
“This is at the corner of (the) All American (Freeway), Interstate 295 and Santa Fe,” Hewett said. “That’s down from the Amazon business park. It will help us significantly with our need for housing in the city. That’s consent additional zoning.”
-The adoption of a budget ordinance amendment to change downtown parking enforcement times to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Michael Futch covers Fayetteville and education for CityView TODAY. He can be reached at mfutch@cityviewnc.com. Have a news tip? Email news@CityViewTODAY.com.
