Fayetteville School District now has plans to move forward with the construction of a new middle school for fifth and sixth-graders in West Fayetteville.

• The City Council approved a 23 acre zoning request for an area located on the east side of Rupple Road near the second of three roundabouts between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Wedington Drive.
• The land was previously listed under CS (Community Services) and NC (Neighborhood Conservation) zoning, but the School District requested the area be rezoned as P1-Institutional.
• Superintendent John L. Colbert said the zoning change would delay the project, which was part of a bond restructuring that voters approved last February, and must be obligated by 2023. -Fayetteville Flyer
• However, the discussion then turned to safety, and if the school’s design could include features to slow speeding traffic along Rupple Road.
• The School District then revised plans, including new designs for landscaping features closer to the road, a narrowed parking lot and an outparcel along Rupple.
• The plan is still waiting to be approved by the School Board.