Residents meet over affordable housing apartments to be built in Fairmont

FAIRMONT – Some townspeople are organizing and looking to push back in Fairmont.

On April 16, by a vote of 4-1, the Fairmont Board of Commissioners at its monthly meeting voted to allow the construction of an affordable housing apartment complex to proceed.

Previously, the town’s Planning Board had given its approval during a meeting that some residents have considered a complete sham.

At the town council meeting, Commissioners Melvin Ellison, Heather Seibles, Clarence McNeill and J.J. McCree voted for it. Commissioner Jan Tedder-Rogers was the sole opposition. Commissioner Terry Evans recused himself from the vote.

During a public hearing portion of the meeting, nearly all the 13 or so people who spoke, spoke out against the request for a special use permit to build the complex.

Still, it passed muster.

On Monday evening, a group of 11 residents gathered at the home of Henry Bernanke in town to discuss the significance of what is being called The Reserve at Fairmont. And what they anticipate it means for their town and those who will live in the vicinity of the proposed three-story, 76-unit family community at 705 Church Street.

They don’t want it in their neighborhood.

“Most of us, we moved here from somewhere else and the reason why I moved here – my husband and I – he retired, and we were looking for a small town. The day we moved in, the people were so welcoming. … I mean, it was everything and beyond what we (expected),” Carol King said from Bernanke’s family room, where the people sat together.

“I’m upset about what’s going to happen,” she said. “Church Street is the prettiest little street in this town. I hate to see what it’s going to be.”

“Another 200 people, we’re all packed in one area,” piped in Biernacki, continuing the thread of King’s comments. “What that, in effect, is going to happen.”

Mary Jernigan then added, “I just can’t believe that there’s not another location where they can put these.”

As planned, the estimated $18.65 million project will consist of four residential buildings and a separate building housing the office, community center, computer center, covered picnic area and more on a 7.63-acre site.

Overall, the group did not believe that anything unethical had been done to get the complex passed. If they did, they weren’t saying. While there does seem to be an undercurrent of belief that bribes had been accepted, no one in this group went so far as to say that with a news reporter in the room.

Sissy Bass called Mayor Charles Kemp an ethical man, but she did believe that the town was receiving “some kind of payback” regarding the development. She was not alone.

In a letter to the editor of The Robesonian, Kemp wrote:

“My letter today is not as much about the building of an apartment complex as it is the untrue criticism of my integrity and public service record of which I am exceeding proud. At no time in the past 46 years of my service to the citizens of Fairmont has either my integrity or service record been called into question until the past 2½ months. Part of the reason comes from the lack of knowledge by some as to the rules and procedures of government. Some actually believe that as mayor I could have stopped or diverted the final outcome of this apartment matter and when the matter came to a vote I could have made a difference.

“Neither are or were possible,” Kemp said in the letter to the editor. “The apartment complex passed by the votes of commissioners whom I have absolutely no control over. They, like myself are elected by the voters and vote as they feel led to. Plus I CANNOT VOTE unless it’s a tie and this vote was 4-1. I have been called a liar, alleged to have refused to speak to citizens, accused of not dispersing information regarding meetings on the complex, and at our town board meeting on the 16th in front of 95 citizens, was accused by a citizen of refusing to speak to him about the complex matter. My counter to these false accusations is found in the N.C. Ethics Commission regulations. … The applicable ethics rule relating to the misstatements regarding my actions is that NO ELECTED OFFICIAL IN NC can attend any meeting, have any conversations, make a speech, or otherwise verbally comment on any matter which is to eventually come to their elected board prior to that occurring.”

The sad thing to King, she said, were those like Jean Anders, a 95-year-old woman who has lived in the vicinity of the planned development “forever. And look how it’s going to affect her. Why can’t she live the rest of her days in peace?”

According to Bernanke, five criteria are needed before this affordable housing apartment complex can be approved. Those include that it has to be in harmony with the rest of the neighborhood.

That, members of the group agreed, was not the case.

One of the founding fathers of the town is buried on that land. “It’s unmarked, but, my Lord, in 1810 they used wooden markers. They don’t last 200 years,” Jernigan noted.

“The historical value of it, that’s very important,” Phillip Wall commented.

“The biggest thing that bothers me,” Wall continued, “is we had no clue about it as citizens. Every person that voted for this is supposed to represent us. They’re elected officials. And I’m not seeing where they’re listening to what the public is saying. Nor did they make any concessions in their vote. They voted – I don’t know what their driving force was – but they voted for this. They said we needed more housing.

“That’s great,” he quipped. “Question: We don’t know any other place to put it? I know of three pieces right now that are at least that size that would house it. One of them is right behind McDonald’s,” Wall said, referring to the fast food restaurant off North Walnut Street. “Seven-acre tract of land right there.”

Wall asked, Why is the town not concerned about the infrastructure along Church Street, which he described as a “two-land blacktop that is more than deteriorated? It’s in horrible shape as well as most of the roads in Fairmont. Why are we not concerned about the infrastructure of this town – the failing water systems, the inadequate sewer systems, the streets that are in such disrepair. There’s been no street repaved in this town since Helene (his wife) and I have been here unless it was a state highway or if there was a problem.”

The biggest part of the water system in Fairmont, Wall said, is 125 years old. Some of the water pipes, he added, are asbestos.

The current water system, which already has its share of problems, will not be able to handle “a huge development and expect that water to flow down the street. It’s going to rupture the street,” it was said.

As the residents took turns speaking, vintage video footage from Fairmont’s heyday played on Bernanke’s television.

The complex would be completed in 2026, Gabrielle Lazaras said during the town’s Board of Commissioners meeting on April 16. She works with the developer, Chatham Banks Development Group of Raleigh.

The land was sold to the group by Michael Walters, who submitted the application and paid all fees for the application on Feb. 6, 2024, the town said in a memorandum for record.

Wall said another one of his concerns is that “this town is down to 2,000 residents – let’s give it a round number. Isn’t our budget supposed to reflect the monies that they get? I don’t know about y’all, but my property taxes went up 60% last year. I just got a proposal in the mail. It’s going to go up another 40%. I’m not seeing that Fairmont is living within its means. All this grant money is great, but why are we having grant money to run … “

He did not finish the thought.

Since Town Manager Jerome Chestnut joined the town staff, he has been productive in obtaining various grant funding for Fairmont.

Members of the group questioned the required parking space for the complex and how would Church Street be able to handle the traffic going in and out of the development. That would include family members and friends coming over to have picnics and such with the tenants.

The town receives very limited funds from the state, King said. When Chestnut spoke at her Book Club meeting, she added “He said, “We get very limited funds from the state’ – and he was talking about road repair. And he said, ‘We don’t have the funds. We only get like $60,000 a year.’ So he said, ‘We have got to grow our population. And this was a lead-in to these apartments. We have to have more people to show that we have grown because the more we grow, the more we’re going to get from the state.’ “

In terms of the financing, Bass said she was upset because the town board never looked to see what was happening at all. “They don’t know where the financing is coming from,” she said. “How the financing is run. The financing is from N.C. Housing Finance Agency.

“They have rules. This is public knowledge. They have their rules about who can live in the housing to get this financing,” said Bass. “Who can live there. How much money they can make. They have their own rules, getting this financing, which is government financing. It’s through this N.C. Housing Finance Agency, a government agency.

“But the town never questioned where it’s coming from,” Bass said. They didn’t even know the rules that the finance agency has. At the Planning Board meeting, we were told that everybody would have jobs that live in this housing. There’s no stipulation that you have to have a job to live in this housing. Matter of fact, 30% of the housing is going to be for people who make less than $11,000 a year.”

Kemp said in his letter to the editor, “When I gaze at the image I see in my bathroom mirror I am confronted by a person of high ethical standards, integrity, a burning desire to serve others, and an unbridled love and devotion to Fairmont and all her citizens. I refuse to believe that anyone can prove differently.”

Wall said, “I am totally upset with the people running this town. Our focus is not on the bones of Fairmont.”