New vision emerging for neglected Shaw Heights neighborhood

Shaw Heights has a reputation.

A doughnut hole in the midst of Fayetteville, the Cumberland County neighborhood has remained neglected as surrounding areas have been annexed by the city.

The area is known for drug activity. Earlier this year, a 3-year-old boy was shot and killed when hit by a stray bullet while sleeping in a mobile home park along Shaw Road.

A stream of pedestrians has worn dirt trails along the side of the narrow street where there are no sidewalks. Vacant and crumbling homes dot the landscape.

But Fayetteville officials are exploring ways to redevelop the neighborhood that lies along the edge of Fort Bragg.

"It certainly looks to us like a doughnut hole we might want to fill in," City Manager Ted Voorhees said.

Voorhees said the city, along with the county, has a responsibility to focus on the quality of life for all its residents, in the city limits and in adjacent areas.

"In an area that has significant under-investment, if that is contributing to poor quality of life, contributing to a crime problem, then we need to do something about it," Voorhees said.

Last year, the city asked the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government to analyze four scenarios for development there. They were to include various combinations of military and market-rate housing, retail space and public facilities such as a high school, library and recreation center.

But since the report was commissioned, there has been a shift in the military landscape, with Fort Bragg facing troop reductions and opening military housing to retirees and Department of Defense civilians.

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New vision emerging for neglected Shaw Heights neighborhood