Fayetteville staff present 2025 state and federal legislative priorities including airport, housing and public safety funding requests

City staff and the city’s state and federal lobbyists presented a consolidated 2025 legislative agenda to the Fayetteville City Council on Jan. 6, laying out priorities that include airport expansion, regional transportation projects, affordable housing and new public-safety funding requests.

The package presented by Jody (Economic and Community Development lead) and federal lobbyists Leslie, Ryan and Ron groups several requests: state-level asks include continued support for Fayetteville runway extension and route expansion, a West Fayetteville public-transportation hub, pedestrian and Cape Fear River Trail projects, dam infrastructure and pedestrian safety. Housing priorities include state-level support that supplements federal HOME, CDBG, HOPWA and ESG funding and continued advocacy for VASH vouchers and fair-housing alignment. Public-safety asks include support for state regulation on ghost guns, recruitment and retention for fire and police, firefighter cancer benefits, support for school-resource officers and funding requests tied to the city’s Office of Community Safety.

Federal priorities highlighted by Ryan and Ron mirror the state list and add several large discretionary requests: $15 million for an international terminal at Fayetteville Regional Airport, roughly $4.85 million for stormwater infrastructure, pursuit of a RAISE (DOT) discretionary grant for trails and active-transportation projects, and renewed pursuit of a Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant for the Murchison Corridor. Staff said the Choice Neighborhoods application was “very strong” last cycle, reached a regional short list and that federal staff and members of the congressional delegation had advocated for Fayetteville.

Specific funding figures listed in the state package include $3 million for a regional law-enforcement training center, $1 million for mental-health co-response, $1 million for community-based violence interruption programs, $1 million for workforce-development initiatives, $2 million for homeless-support programs, $2 million for the Cape Fear River Trail extension and $2 million for solid-waste and transit-facility modernization.

Council discussion focused on messaging and regional coordination. Councilman Maher and others urged aligning the city’s asks with Cumberland County priorities where possible to present a unified request to state and federal delegations. Council members also discussed political realities in the General Assembly and at the federal level — lobbyists advised that gaming and medical-marijuana discussions and hurricane recovery spending would drive appropriations discussions — and urged tailoring language to increase majority-party support without altering the substance of the city’s requests. Several council members pressed staff and lobbyists to frame the regional law-enforcement training center as broader “public-safety” or “public-safety and justice complex” to reduce community backlash and emphasize services for first responders beyond police training.

Choice Neighborhoods application work was discussed at length. Kelly Strickland (city staff) said Urban Strategies remains a partner and the city intends to secure top-tier grant-writing support, noting HUD’s debrief identifying specific weaknesses the city is addressing. Federal lobbyists said funding availability for Choice Neighborhoods may increase in the coming cycle and urged continued, organized advocacy to the delegation and agency staff.

Staff outlined next steps: adopt the action agenda (staff said it will bring the package back for formal adoption at the next meeting), schedule the city’s legislative breakfast, coordinate advocacy visits to Raleigh and Washington, and refine talking points to emphasize local data (including military-community impacts) and regional partners.

Council asked staff to continue coordinating with county partners and the city’s federal lobbyists. No formal vote on the legislative package was recorded during the discussion; staff said the agenda would be packaged for the next regular council meeting and presented for formal adoption then.