A City That Works for Everyone

Fayetteville is growing fast, but our infrastructure, codes, and policies haven't kept up. We're paying for decades of deferred decisions. It's time for leadership that finishes what we've started.

Kyle Smith, candidate for Fayetteville City Council Ward 4

About Kyle

Kyle Smith during his time on the Fayetteville City Council
🏛 Former City Council Member, 2017–2020

I'm a Ward 4 resident who taught high school geometry for 18 years before entering public service. Before I ever ran for office, I helped lead the grassroots campaign to pass Fayetteville's civil rights ordinance — a resident-led initiative that the voters approved in 2015. That experience taught me what civic engagement looks like when it works.

I represented Ward 4 on the City Council from 2017 to 2020. I focused on street safety, responsible infrastructure investments, and expanding opportunities for residents to participate in city government. I worked with neighborhoods on the 2019 comprehensive plan update and the 71B Corridor plan, and I pushed for the zoning code modernization that should have followed.

Since leaving office, I went to work for a neighborhood developer and homebuilder because I wanted hands-on experience with the housing challenges our neighbors face every day. I'm active with Fayetteville Strong, the local Strong Towns conversation group that promotes fiscal responsibility, safe transportation, affordable housing, and government transparency.

I'm running because Fayetteville is growing fast, but our codes, our infrastructure, and our policies haven't kept up. We need a council member who will move the city forward with purpose — not someone who waits for the next crisis.

My Platform

Guided by principles from the Strong Towns movement — a nonpartisan framework for building fiscally resilient, people-centered communities.

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Fiscal Responsibility & Infrastructure

Decades of sprawl have left Fayetteville with $120 million in deferred maintenance, and every dollar of new infrastructure creates a 50-year obligation. We need lifecycle cost analysis on every major project and a public bond dashboard so voters can track how their $375 million is being spent.

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Smart Growth & Zoning Modernization

We will never meet the challenges of 2030 with the policies of 1970. Our 2019 comprehensive plan was supposed to guide a development code overhaul — that second step never happened. It's time.

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Housing Choice & Affordability

70% of Fayetteville households are one or two people, but most of our housing is three-bedroom single-family homes. ADUs, duplexes, and townhomes are evolutionary change that builds individual wealth — not revolutionary change that transforms neighborhoods overnight.

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Transportation & Connectivity

Wedington Drive has no safe pedestrian crossings. Subdivision streets carry cut-through traffic. We need street design that builds a resilient network safe for everyone — not just cars.

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Local Economic Development

Economic gardening, not big-game hunting. A diversified local economy with dozens of thriving small businesses is more resilient than betting on a single large outside employer.

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Trust & Civic Engagement

Our biggest decisions involve the school district, the university, and neighboring cities — but these institutions too often operate in silos. We need transparency, early coordination, and genuine public input.

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Sustainability & Green Space

Sustainability and fiscal responsibility are the same argument. Compact development preserves more green space than sprawl and costs less to serve.

Why This Race Matters

Fayetteville voters passed a $375 million infrastructure bond. We approved a comprehensive plan in 2019 to guide how our city grows. But the zoning code modernization that was supposed to follow? It never happened. Meanwhile, decades of sprawl have created $120 million in deferred infrastructure maintenance — roads, pipes, and systems the city built but can't afford to keep up.

We don't need more plans. We need leaders who will implement the plans we already have.

Development proposals keep coming to the Planning Commission under outdated rules, and neighbors are caught in the middle. It's not enough to vote "no" on individual projects while doing nothing to fix the underlying policies. If our drainage standards are inadequate, fix the drainage standards. If our tree preservation rules are outdated, update them. Seven years of saying "this isn't good enough" without proposing something better isn't leadership — it's obstruction.

Ward 4 deserves a council member who has done this work before and will move the city forward with purpose.

Get Involved

Municipal races are decided by the smallest margins. In a low-turnout election, every single conversation matters. This campaign runs on neighbors talking to neighbors — and the difference between winning and losing could be a few dozen doors.

  • Knock doors with us on weekends
  • Make phone calls to Ward 4 voters
  • Host a yard sign in your front yard
  • Share the campaign with friends and neighbors
  • Host a house party or neighborhood meet-and-greet

Sign Up to Volunteer