Although they never clearly said why they were opposed to the extended-stay hotel, Candlewood Suites, on Retail Drive, four Wake Forest commissioners wiggled and squirmed and tried every trick in their book before they approved the development plan “with reservations.”
Although they never clearly said why they were opposed to the extended-stay hotel, Candlewood Suites, on Retail Drive, four Wake Forest commissioners wiggled and squirmed and tried every trick in their book before they approved the development plan “with reservations.”
Commissioner Margaret Stinnett was allowed to recuse herself. She and her husband, Richard, own the two-acre lot where the hotel will be built.
First Commissioner Anne Hines asked planner Charlie Yokley to explain what the development plan review process entailed. She had apparently received a large number of e-mails and telephone calls. Homeowners in the nearby Crenshaw Hall Plantation subdivision strongly objected to the hotel during the January planning board meeting. They said the hotel was too high, would cause light pollution, would adversely affect traffic and they worried about protecting the students in the nearby Wakefield High School Ninth-Grade Center (in the converted Winn-Dixie store) from “transients” staying at the hotel. Planning board member Edward Gary, who is president of the subdivision’s homeowners association, was the only vote against the hotel.
Warmoven Street, which Ts into Retail Drive in front of the hotel site, connects the subdivision to the retail and commercial area. The street was originally stubbed out and a thick stand of pines buffered the subdivision. But the town required the street be extended as part of the site plan for a Texas steak-style restaurant planned on the other side of Retail Drive. The restaurant was not built but the street was.
Yokley said all the commissioners were doing was “reviewing for compliance to the development standards of the town.” The process is very different from that used in a special use permit.
“You have a proposed use that is consistent with our zoning,” town attorney Eric Vernon said. The development plan process assures that the proposed use is built in a manner consistent with all the town’s regulations. “With the exception of a condition (installing bicycle parking) the applicant has satisfied all the requirements of the site plan.”
Commissioner Chris Kaeberlein asked, “What purpose are we serving?” if the planning department staff had approved the plan.
Town Manager Mark Williams said there could be a situation where the developer and the planning staff do not agree on whether a plan meets the town’s requirements. He could ask to have the town board decide the matter.
Commissioner Peter Thibodeau said a lot of people believe the town board has the authority to say whether or how the hotel is built.
We do have the authority to turn down a project if it violates the morals of the community, Kaeberlein said.
“I think there is some confusion about how that reads,” Vernon said. There may at some time be a situation that poses an imminent threat to the health or morals of the community. “From what I understand, there is no objective evidence there is any threat to health or safety.”
Planning Director Chip Russell said the only reason the town board had to consider the matter was because the town’s U.S. 1 Corridor Plan adopted about 15 years ago requires that any project within that corridor be approved by the board. “If it had been a couple of hundred feet away this would not have come to you.”
Kaeberlein said the property is not in the town limits, and Russell said yes, and they will have to ask for annexation along with water and sewer.
Commissioner Frank Drake suggested the board could deny the annexation request.
“Why would you want to do that?” Williams asked. He noted the land is in the town’s extra-territorial jurisdiction and subject to town zoning. The area is zoned for highway business, and a hotel is a permitted use. “You’ve still got to approve the site plan if it meets all the requirements.”
“The real question is not whether or not we can deny the site plan,” Drake said. Because the staff has approved, “it is beyond our discretion unless we want to flout the law.” But it is not beyond the board’s discretion, he said, to deny annexation “if an individual has misgivings about this project.”
“What misgivings?” Russell asked, and Drake said he was not answering that question.
If the hotel is not annexed, Russell and Williams noted, the property will pay double water and sewer rates but will not have to pay town taxes. “They may not want to be annexed,” Williams said.
Drake finally agreed denying annexation would accomplish nothing.
“My concern,” Hines said, “is there is no time to vet projects. I do not consider a hotel of this caliber appropriate next to a school and a lively young neighborhood.”
Williams pointed out the commercial zoning was done before the neighborhood was built and before the school system decided to locate a school there. Schools are a permitted use in every town zoning district.
Mayor Vivian Jones said the hotel site is “completely surrounded by commercial development.”
Hines and others wanted to ask the applicant, Milan C. Patel with Milkam Hospitality in Henderson, some questions.
Hines and Drake asked several questions about “long-haul truck drivers” and parking for large trucks. “I’m not going to say the hotel doesn’t cater to truckers, but it would be difficult” because of the rates, Patel said. He said the majority of the guests will be people relocating to the area, district managers working at companies in town and other business people.
Thibodeau asked if there would be government subsidized housing in the hotel. “I don’t foresee that,” Patel answered.
After that questioning, Hines said she sent an e-mail to Lori Millberg who represents this district on the county school board. Hines asked how long the school will be in the old Winn-Dixie, and Millberg replied they had to sign a 10-year lease. Even if the ninth-grade center can be closed when the school populations change because of new schools and reassignments, Millberg said it was not out of the question that the Winn-Dixie space would be needed for middle school or elementary school students. She also said the school system believes it can assure the safety of students at all schools.
“The school board doesn’t have a problem with it,” Hines said about the hotel.
The vote was unanimous to approve.
The commissioners also voted unanimously to approve the renovation plans for Wake Forest-Rolesville High School with only a few questions about the planned parking deck and Rock Springs Road.
Now it appears the only stumbling block in the way of the expansion and renovations at the school is the ability of the county to sell bonds worth $435 million. If successful, the money will be used to pay off some short-term loans that were used for school construction and for other construction projects, including the local high school.
The plan is to move all WF-R students to Heritage High School for the 2009-2010 school year, the first year the new school will be complete. That will allow for speedier work at the existing school on Stadium Drive.