Council renames road, delays sale barn vote

The Fayetteville City Council approved renaming a roadway in west Fayetteville at Tuesday night’s meeting. West Salem Road will now be named West Weir Road. The change is logical because the street formerly changed names four times within a half-mile stretch, said John Goddard, who plans emergency service routes as the city’s GIS coordinator.

It would be better to change the name now, because in coming years, more addresses may crop up along the road, making it more difficult to change those addresses later, Goddard said.

Neighbors in a nearby subdivision spoke against the name change because they oppose any action that would promote the extension of Rupple Road. But the council decided that the name change was a distinct issue from the road extension plans for Rupple Road. The resolution passed unanimously.

The council delayed the sale barn issue for another four weeks. The applicant, Campus Crest LLC, requested to table the rezoning until the next meeting, but aldermen unanimously decided to push it back until the August 18 meeting when all the council members would be present.

The sale barn rezoning has been a contentious issue, with many neighbors and veterans speaking out against the rezoning. Campus Crest plans to buy the sale barn property and build student housing, but the deal is contingent on rezoning it to Downtown General.

Mary Robbins is a regular contributor for the Fayetteville Flyer. She declared Fayetteville as her hometown upon moving here for college. She is a Journalism graduate who enjoys live music, the outdoors and attending city council meetings. For more of Mary’s contributions, visit her author page.

Disclosure: The owner of the sale barn property, Billy Joe Bartholomew, is our own Dustin Bartholomew’s grandfather. Read our full disclosure policy here.