Winston-Salem residents are speaking out against plans to sell city-owned land in the historic Happy Hill neighborhood for a private affordable housing project.
Missouri-based Vecino Group submitted a proposal to build 42 affordable units on about nine acres of city-owned land in the community.
At Monday’s meeting, Happy Hill Neighborhood Association President Tonya Sheffield criticized the plan, telling the City Council residents hadn’t been consulted about it.
“Vote against this outsider coming into our community trying to tell us what we want," she said. "We've been talking to the community. We know what they want.”
Sheffield called it another example of how the city’s first Black neighborhood has been left out of the conversation when it comes to its own development. Several speakers noted the community was deeply impacted by the construction of U.S. 52 in the 1950s, which destroyed homes and gravesites.
City leaders didn’t directly address their concerns during the meeting. The Council is set to vote on the Vecino Group proposal next month.