Attorneys for the Town of Wake Forest and the group that wants to build the Wake Union Place shopping center presented their arguments Wednesday morning before Superior Court Judge Carl Fox, but it will be thirty days, late February, before they and town residents learn his decision.
                Joseph Nanney, a litigator for Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton, argued the town’s case, and Raleigh attorney Clyde Holt spoke for his clients, WRI-Wake Union LLC. The Town of Wake Forest contracts with Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton for its legal work, and Eric Vernon, who advises the town board and was in court Wednesday, called the Gazette that afternoon.
                It was clear, Vernon said, that Fox had studied the transcriptions and records provided by both sides and quickly narrowed the questions down to traffic. In December of 2008 all five town commissioners voted against granting a special use permit for the shopping center. The basis for the decision was their view that WRI and Holt had failed to prove the proposed use would not cause undue traffic congestion or create a traffic hazard.
                “He asked a lot of questions about traffic,” Vernon said, and Fox is aware of that section of Capital Boulevard because he drives up to Louisburg to hold court.
                WRI (Weingarten Realty Investors) proposed to build Wake Union Place on the former Parker-Hannifin site on Wake Union Church Road where it meets Capital Boulevard.
                Over the course of the three public hearings in September, October and November, two traffic engineers, Will Letchworth hired by the town and Robert Ross hired by WRI, presented different studies which reached different conclusions. However, the two men agreed both methods of gauging and predicting traffic were valid and acceptable. During the October meeting, Letchworth agreed with Ross that the shopping center would not cause undue traffic congestion.
                Commissioner Chris Kaeberlein, who made the motion to deny, said he was not convinced that the applicant had proven his case conclusively, as the town ordinance requires.
                Before the vote, Vernon advised the five commissioners, “There is divided evidence on the traffic. You may consider that evidence on both sides of the question.” However, Vernon said, although they questioned the amount of parking and the extent of the impervious surface, the town planning staff testified the project met all regulations.
                In his appeal, Holt noted that the town had rezoned the land to conditional use highway business in 2005. He also noted that the town’s planning staff report recommended approval of the shopping center and that the planning board recommended approval.
                Holt said the town board’s decision “is contrary to, and unsupported by, the ‘whole record’ evidence.” He also said the decision was “arbitrary and capricious” and the board considered political and personal preferences in their consideration.
                The commissioners have not commented on the appeal although they have met with Vernon in closed session at least twice since it was filed in mid-January 2009 and at least one closed session was to consider a settlement or negotiation offer from Holt and WRI.
                “Now we just have to see what the judge decides,” Vernon said.
                About 30 acres of the 67 acres planned for Wake Union Place was the site of the town’s first industry. In 1964, eight years after Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem, Mayor Wait Brewer and John Wooten Jr. were able to call The Wake Weekly and announce Schrader Bros., a company manufacturing hydraulic equipment, had agreed to move to town. The town commissioners set up the independent Industrial Development Commission which bought part of the former Jenkins farm on the new U.S. 1 west of town and sold bonds to pay for the land and the construction of the building. Schrader and its successor companies paid off the bonds, paid the taxes and maintained the buildings.
                After the bonds were paid off in 1984, the town board refused to accept the deed and instead received the property taxes while the IDC continued to own the land and charge $1,000 per month rent.
                Parker-Hannifin closed its operations in 2002, and in 2006 local developer Jim Adams bought the land and buildings for $2.9 million. After paying for lawyers and consultants, the IDC was left with $2.2 million which it donated to the town last year. The commissioners have decided to set aside the money and its growing interest to use for economic development. A task force has been set up to determine the how and when the money will be used.
                There is substantial groundwater and soil contamination on the site from TCE, a solvent used to clean the machinery, leading to the land’s identification as a Brownfield Site. The building remnant that still stands is also contaminated. Parker-Hannifin is committed to doing the cleanup, which will take years.