Murchison Choice Neighborhood Initiative

A Message from ECD Director Chris Cauley and FMHA Executive Director Dawn Weeks:

We are writing to update you on the recent news with the Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant submitted to HUD by the City of Fayetteville and Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority. We received notification that our grant application was not selected for this round of funding. Funding is allocated by Congress to HUD for this program and the number of applications funded is dependent on scoring factor and funding available. Unfortunately there were more applications than funding available. HUD received 28 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant applications and is awarding 7 grants totaling $305,593,615. It was an honor to be selected as a finalist in our first attempt applying for this incredibly competitive grant.

FMHA and City staff have done an extraordinary job of involving the community, leveraging partnerships, planning for these funds, and creating a community-led vision for the future of this important historic area. Dawn and I could not ask for a better team of staff, experts, consultants, and leverage partners. City Council and the FMHA board continue to be committed to this project and staff will seek feedback from HUD to strengthen our application for success in future rounds. In the meantime, the Economic and Community Development Department will continue to offer grants, loans, technical assistance, and partnerships to help achieve the goals of this transformation plan and build upon the historic investment in parks and infrastructure already underway from City Council.

After we have gotten feedback from HUD and Congress passes the next budget with Choice funding included, we will be in touch for next steps. Don't hesitate to reach out with plans and opportunities between now and then!

On Thursday, June 13, 2024, City of Fayetteville officials, including the Economic and Community Development department, welcomed a delegation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to Fayetteville for a site visit of the Murchison Road Corridor. The delegation visited Fayetteville State University, toured several Murchison Road neighborhoods, and heard from City officials about plans to revitalize the Corridor (see The Transformation Plan tab below). The City is now awaiting the delegation's decision regarding being awarded the Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant. An award notification is anticipated by August 2024.

Lizmary Evans, Fayetteville Observer

For more than five years, residents of Fayetteville's Murchison Road corridor have been navigating life without a grocery store nearby.

Since the Walmart Neighborhood Market closed its doors at 3421 Murchison Road in 2018 — just three years after is opened — the community has faced significant challenges in accessing fresh and affordable food and is considered a food desert. Fayetteville City Council Member D.J. Haire, who represents District 4 where part of the Murchison Road corridor is located, said that the effort to bring a grocery store to the corridor is a high priority but has proved difficult.

"The Murchison Road Corridor not having a grocery store has been a little challenging, but the surrounding communities have adapted," Haire said via email Thursday.

What is the Murchison Choice Award?

In 2020, the city was awarded a HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant for the Murchison neighborhood and plans for a grocery store are highlighted in the $41 million grant application.

"It’s my hope after our Murchison Choice award is received, speaking optimistically, we’ll see the direction it goes from there a little better," Haire said.

The Murchison Choice Neighborhood Initiative proposes how a grocery store would be a Community Capacity Improvement, Haire said.

Since Walmart left Murchison Road in November 2018, the closest grocers for residents along the corridor are Food Lion at 3300 Rosehill Road (2.2 miles away from the Walmart Neighborhood Market). Attempts to reach Walmart for comment regarding a possible reopening at this location and its LoopNet listing were unsuccessful.

Haire recalled the V-Point on the south end of the corridor, which closed in 2013 after 65 years of business, and possibly a Winn-Dixie on the north side during his childhood. He said he grew up right off Murchison Road on Washington Drive and has seen its "ups and downs."

"A grocery store with healthy food was identified as a top community need during the development of the Murchison Choice Implementation grant, which is still in review," said an April 1 news release from the city of Fayetteville.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is conducting site visits across the country, with Fayetteville selected as one of nine communities to host a visit, according to Haire. He said that once all visits are completed, six awards are expected to be granted and that a final decision on the $41 million grant is anticipated by August.

Chris Cauley, Fayetteville's economic and community development director, said via email on Monday that in regards to the grocery store plans submitted to HUD, it would be "inappropriate to speculate when the project would be completed given the amount of variables involved to get this off the ground and operational."

Cauley said that this grant application has become a priority due to significant interest from the City Council.

"The grant application says that the small-scale neighborhood grocery store should be located within walking distance of the Choice residents," Haire said via email. He said that the surrounding communities must support any business if it’s going to be successful on the corridor.

Haire said that getting a grocer on the corridor has been an interest for himself, the community and city staff for several years now.

"We will continue to seek out options for this historical road and its surrounding historical neighborhoods," Haire said.

City of Fayetteville Shortlisted for Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant

On Wednesday, May 1st, The City of Fayetteville was notified by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that the City was shortlisted for the Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant. The City of Fayetteville, along with eight other municipalities, is in consideration to receive an estimated potential grant award of $41 million to implement the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Plan (read more about the City's proposed efforts under The Transformation Plan tab below). 

The City is currently planning for a HUD site visit in June.

Stay tuned for more exciting information coming in the next few weeks! The City anticipates an award announcement to be made by HUD in Summer 2024.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -  The Fayetteville City Council met April 1 at 2 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers for the monthly work session to discuss matters relevant to the city with regards to their strategic plan. 

The meeting was called to order at 2 p.m. by Mayor Mitch Colvin followed by the invocation was offered by Councilmember Derrick Thompson, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance lead by the Mayor and Council.

The City Council discussed the Murchison Road Grocery Co-operative Feasibility and Options. Discussion ensued about the many municipalities with co-op programs specifically about food deserts which are areas with a poverty rate above 20% with limited access to healthy food options within one mile.  Impacts of food deserts are physical and mental health, economic impacts, and crime rates.

The Choice Grant Project would look at a plan with a grocery store, satellite bank, and pharmacy.  The commitment is $6 million where the Choice funds provide $2 million, CDFI is $3 million and the City provides $1 million.  The next step is to wait until the notification list is available for Choice Neighborhoods.

BY EVEY WEISBLAT | CityView Staff

The Fayetteville City Council will meet at 2 p.m. Monday. Here’s what’s on the agenda: 

Murchison Road grocery store: The council will review options to address food insecurity and bring about healthy food options for residents in the Murchison Road corridor. The city can explore several options to achieve the goal, including recruiting a traditional grocery store, assisting community-led efforts to establish grocery co-op or enhancing healthy food options at current retailers in the corridor. A grocery store with healthy food was identified as a top community need during the development of the Murchison Choice Implementation grant, which is still in review.

City of Fayetteville Hosts Citizen Participation Meetings in Murchison Corridor

The City of Fayetteville held several citizen participation meetings in and around the historic and culturally significant Murchison Road neighborhoods regarding the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Initiative.

Read more about these meetings under the People tab.

Since April 2021, the City of Fayetteville and its community partners have been committed to listening to the residents of Murchison Road. In April 2021, Community Ambassadors were selected to serve as liaisons between the residents and the planning team. These Ambassadors serve a vital function – to ensure that the decision-making focus continues to rely heavily on the needs of the Murchison Road residents.

In June 2021, the first community meetings were held in Bronco Square and Murchison Townhouses. At these meetings, citizens were able to give the planning team feedback on what they considered the challenges, assets, and opportunities for the neighborhood. This was followed by a second community meeting in August 2021 that focused on the vision of the future for Murchison Road. The year ended with several “Community Conversations” meetings being held with several neighborhoods, such as E.E. Smith and Murchison Townhouses, where residents were once again invited to give their input on the plans for the future.

Continued from "City of Fayetteville Hosts Citizen Participation Meetings in Murchison Corridor"

The residents of both Elliott Circle and Murchison Townhouses participated in discussions regarding the future of their neighborhoods. At these meetings, the residents were able to meet with the City and its community partners to discuss their hopes for the future and to give their feedback on design, accessibility, relocation, and potential amenities that the revitalization of their neighborhood would bring. Both events were attended not only by the community, but also by the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority, partners with Urban Strategies, Inc., developers, and City employees.

While it was important to get feedback from those directly affected by revitalization in their neighborhoods, the Murchison Corridor neighborhood as a whole will also be affected by development in their area. This is why it was also important for the City to host community meetings, as well. Across two nights, residents were invited to come and hear about the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Initiative and the plans for their neighborhoods. They were encouraged to give their feedback and recommendations for what they see in their futures. To ensure that all who wanted to participate were able to attend the meetings hosted at Fayetteville State University, City employees ran shuttles throughout the community to provide alternate transportation to those who were in need.

The community response to the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Initiative has been overwhelmingly positive. The residents of the Murchison Road Corridor are looking forward to stepping towards the future, beginning with the revitalization of their historic neighborhood.

The last 20 years have seen significant development and changes in the City of Fayetteville including the revitalization of downtown Fayetteville with new shops, services, hotels, offices, and entertainment opportunities. Unfortunately, these positive improvements have not benefited all residents in a truly equitable fashion. The 60-unit Murchison Townhouses development is over 50 years old with many buildings in poor physical condition that require significant rehabilitation. The site is also disconnected from the surrounding neighborhood, which contributes to a sense of isolation for residents. The Murchison Road Corridor neighborhood has several physical structures that do not meet local building code standards and contains over 650 vacant parcels in the area’s 3 square miles. Businesses along Murchison Road have also suffered in recent decades as the neighborhood has declined.

While the neighborhood faces significant challenges, abundant opportunities also exist. The city encompasses portions of Fort Bragg, one of the largest military bases in the world, which adds significantly to the regional economy. The Murchison Road Corridor itself is known as the historic center of African American culture in the city and is anchored by Fayetteville State University, a Historically Black College and University founded in 1867. In addition, the community contains easy access to public schools, early childhood learning centers, and various community medical clinics. The neighborhood’s natural creek corridors and small lakes are underutilized assets that can be greatly improved for local recreation. Because of Fayetteville State University, along with the community’s close proximity to downtown, the neighborhood provides a potential market for additional student and faculty-oriented housing, as well as potential retail uses that could provide additional jobs and services for residents.

Assets

It is abundantly clear that the two major assets of the Murchison Road neighborhoods are its rich cultural history and the community atmosphere. Home to Fayetteville State University, which is the second oldest state assisted institution in North Carolina #1 HBCU producer of teachers in the state, the Murchison Road neighborhoods are overflowing with a sense of community and pride in their historically rich location. 

Challenges

Community members have identified lack of access to healthy foods in the neighborhood as a major challenge, due to the fact that there are no grocery stores within walking distance along the corridor. Poor access to transit services makes it even more difficult for residents to have access to healthy foods - turning the corridor into a food desert. Lack of activities for the younger generations also poses a challenge to residents. 

A mixed-income housing development is comprised of housing units with differing levels of affordability, often with some market-rate housing along with units that are available to low-income occupants below market rate. The “mix” of affordable and market-rate units that comprise mixed-income developments differs from community to community, and can depend on location, the local housing market, and the marketability of the units themselves.

Mixed-income housing improves education. The educational benefits of mixed- Income housing affect all income classes. Experience shows that the socioeconomic status of a school’s pupil population is the primary factor related to academic performance. Both academic performance and life opportunities of low-income pupils improve significantly when they are surrounded by middle-class classmates. Studies further confirm that the academic performance of middle-class students is not adversely affected by having modest proportions of low-income classmates. Mixed-income neighborhoods produce mixed-income neighborhood schools, and everybody wins.

Mixed-income housing is good for neighborhood stability. Mixed-income housing contributes to the long-term sustainability of affordable housing. In order to attract and retain occupants willing to pay affordable and market rates for housing, the design and construction of all the housing units in the development (including the below market-rate units) typically are higher quality than traditionally-developed public housing. In addition, the communities tend to be more stable than many of the communities that support exclusively low-income housing. These are direct benefits to low- and very low-income occupants.

Mixed-income housing is a safe investment. The objection to mixed-income housing that is most often expressed is the fear that mixed-income housing will adversely affect the market value of nearby homes. However, mixed-income developments usually contain only a limited percentage of subsidized housing, and home builders have shown remarkable ingenuity in producing affordable housing that is architecturally compatible with neighboring market-rate homes, thereby preserving and improving the character and marketability of the neighborhood.

The Murchison Choice Neighborhood Plan is a community-led plan that was designed with the help of the residents of the Murchison Road Corridor. Through community surveys with partner agencies, we were able to compile a snapshot of the residents, their wants and desires for their community, and combine that with our vision to create a plan for revitalization of Murchison Road. 

The City of Fayetteville has also taken key early action steps in the development of the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan.

Three key elements of the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Plan are: People, Neighborhood, and Housing. Consideration of these elements shaped not only the process of creating the plan, but also its implementation.

Click the links to read about these portions of the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Plan. 

What Is The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative?

The HUD Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) employs a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation. The program helps communities by revitalizing distressed public (and/or assisted) housing while investing and leveraging investments in:

• Well-functioning services and public assets

• High quality public schools/education programs

• High quality early learning programs/services

• Public transportation and mobility

• Improved access to jobs

The CNI will ensure that current residents will be able to benefit from this transformation by preserving affordable housing or providing residents with the choice to move in to affordable and accessible housing in another existing neighborhood of opportunity.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is focused on three core goals:

1. Housing: Transform distressed public and assisted housing into energy efficient, mixed-income housing that is physically and financially viable over the long term.

2. People: Support positive outcomes for families who live in the target developments and the surrounding neighborhood, particularly outcomes related to residents’ education, health and recreation, safety, employment, and mobility; and

3. Neighborhood: Transform distressed neighborhoods into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods with access to well-functioning services, high quality public schools and education programs, high quality early learning programs and services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs.

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Where Does Fayetteville Fit In?

The City and FMHA are required to develop and implement a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. This Plan is the guiding document for the revitalization of the public housing units while simultaneously directing positive transformation of the surrounding neighborhood. To successfully develop and implement the Transformation Plan, The City of Fayetteville and FMHA will work with Murchison Townhouse and Elliott Circle residents, public and private agencies, community and philanthropic organizations, neighborhood residents, and other identified individuals and stakeholder groups to gather and leverage resources needed to support the strategic and financial sustainability of the Plan.

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What Happens Now?

The planning process kicked off in early 2021 and was completed in early 2023. In February 2024, the City and FMHA submitted an application for a Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant ($30-$40 million dollars) to help fund proposed changes. An announcement of grant awardees is expected from HUD in the Summer of 2024.

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How Is The Murchison Road Corridor Community Unique?

The Murchison neighborhood was selected for its tremendous opportunities and strategic location less than a mile from downtown Fayetteville, on the direct route to Fort Bragg. The neighborhood is the historic center of African-American commerce in the City and is anchored by Fayetteville State University, an HBCU which offers over 60 programs of study. The community has been designated as a Federal Opportunity Zone as well as a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area.

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How Does This Relate To The Murchison Road Corridor Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA)

The City has recently finalized an NRSA Plan as the initial step to address the decline and disinvestment of the Corridor area. The NRSA designation affords the City some flexibility when pursuing economic development, housing, and public service initiatives with their Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. The NRSA is designed as a tool for low- and moderate-income residents to improve the economic state of the neighborhood by making it attractive for investment, facilitate the reinvestment of economic activity into the neighborhood to support long-term development, and foster the growth of resident-based initiatives to identify the needs of the neighborhood.

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What Do We Hope To Achieve With The Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant?

The grant will be used to assist with the transformation of the Murchison Road community, attracting business, education, and recreation opportunities for residents that will help the neighborhoods of Murchison Road thrive.  

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How Are We Working With The Community?

When residents are genuinely at the center of a planning process, a unique outcome unfolds. Relationships become the focal point of the work. This is because for residents, planning is personal – it’s about their children, their families, their homes, their neighbors and their streets. It is about making their day-to-day lives better in real time. As we implement the investment and physical changes necessary to revitalize the community, local residents will be engaged so that they can help to assume a leadership role in the process.

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How Can This Benefit The Neighborhood In The Short-Term?

The planning team dedicated significant grant funds to design and build “Early Action Projects” in the community. These Projects included the installation of Little Free Libraries, the establishment of a Community Garden, a Digital Equality Initiative including free Wi-Fi at the Murchison Townhouses property.

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Does The Implementation Process Include Construction Of New Housing?

YES! This process will involve the construction of housing, retail, and other larger improvements based on community input and available resources.

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Are There Resident Hiring Opportunities As Part Of This Process?

Yes, we have identified a set of Community Ambassadors in Spring 2021 to assist with resident engagement, data gathering and Plan feedback. Ambassadors are being provided a stipend for their effort.