Council allocates $422,000 from housing bond to close Kingdom CDC—s Rose Hill infrastructure gap

Fayetteville City Council on May 14 voted unanimously to allocate $422,000 from the voter-approved $12 million housing opportunity general-obligation bond to close an infrastructure funding gap for a Kingdom CDC single-family project on Rose Hill Road.

Housing staff outlined the request and context. The project — a 15-home subdivision originally scoped for 16 units — has a split of units targeted at households up to 80% of area median income and others up to 120% AMI. Staff said construction bids and updated engineering estimates left the nonprofit developer short about $422,000 for road, grading and utility work. Kingdom CDC had already been awarded about $750,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for infrastructure; ARPA rules require those funds to be expended by Dec. 31, so staff said bond support is needed quickly to avoid losing the ARPA award.

"These dollars are limited," the housing presenter said, describing a proposed framework to reserve bond proceeds among rental development, homeownership production and rehab programs. Staff recommended holding a rental-development reserve, increased down-payment assistance capacity and a preservation program; the Rose Hill request would be a near-term allocation from the bond to enable immediate construction to proceed.

Councilmember Green moved to allocate the $422,000 from the housing bond to the Kingdom CDC Rose Hill infrastructure gap; another councilmember seconded. After a brief discussion about ARPA spending timelines and confirming a certified project budget would be provided, the motion passed unanimously.

Yates and staff said the city—s financing plan already includes the $12 million GO bond capacity in future years of the capital plan, so bringing this allocation forward would be a programming decision rather than an immediate additional tax levy. Staff said they would return within roughly 30 days with an appropriation ordinance, an agreement with the developer and a certified line-item breakdown of the requested infrastructure costs so council could confirm the ARPA-eligible funds could be spent on schedule.

What was approved: the council—s unanimous vote authorizes staff to program $422,000 of the housing GO bond to cover Kingdom CDC's infrastructure shortfall for the Rose Hill Road project and to pursue the related appropriation and legal agreements necessary to permit the ARPA funds to be expensed before the year-end deadline.