January 4, 2005

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            Commissioner Stephen Barrington led off with his concerns about left turns at some intersections such as onto Ligon Mill Road from South Main – “The traffic keeps coming.” – and at the underpass.

            Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said they are all state Department of Transportation signals and the intersection has to meet warrants – sufficient traffic – before they can be altered. “You can ask them to do the traffic counts and see if the traffic meets warrants, or you can hire consultants and do those studies ourselves and submit them to DOT.” The last would be faster, he said.

            “The lights at the underpass are in flux until they pave the road and can get the signals back in the road,” Town Manager Mark Williams said.

            Commissioner David Camacho said the Purnell Road/Harris Road intersection is another place where protected left turn signals are needed. “They do have a left turn at Stadium and Jenkins.”

            The intersection of Holden Road and Capital Boulevard just over the Franklin County line also needs left turn protection, he said. Commissioner Margaret Jones Stinnett strongly agreed. “I go there every day.”

            The commissioners agreed to send the concerns to their public works committee after they reconstitute the committee, an item on their agenda for Jan. 17.

            Barrington pointed to a building on Ligon Mill Road, “the last one until you turn left into Wal-mart.” The appearance does not fit its surroundings, neat brick office buildings, he said.

            The owner, Williams said, has had the building permit for five years, before the appearance standards were adopted, and has done “just enough to keep his building permit active.

            “We’ve been watching that, believe me,” Planning Director Chip Russell said.

            Barrington also asked the status of signs directing traffic to the downtown area, and Williams said it is in the hands of the Downtown Revitalization Corporation. “I’m sure you’ll hear about it at budget time. They’ll be looking for money to put the signs up.”

            When the second leg of the N.C. 98 bypass opens at Capital Boulevard, those signs ought to go up immediately, Camacho said.

            Mayor Vivian Jones wanted to know when curb repairs on several streets will be complete “so we can get rid of all those orange cones.”

            It will be from 120 to 150 days, O’Donnell said, for the work on the handicapped ramps. He also said the roundabout at South Main and the seminary campus will not be complete until spring. “They need an extended period of good weather” to do the concrete work, which he described as “very intricate.”

            Jones also inquired whether town ordinances allow a sandwich sign in a street. A new downtown business has been placing a foldable sign on South White Street.

            After the Christmas parade, Stinnett said, South White remained dirty and the overflowing trash barrels were not emptied for three or four days. “Nobody cleaned the street on Saturday.” She asked Williams if the schedule could be rearranged so the street department crews could clean the street Saturday afternoon.

            “We could change the schedule,” Williams said.

            After the Hoops for Wake Forest event, Russell said, “We pick up the street before we leave.”

            The commissioners agreed event organizers should coordinate with the town for trash pickup and street cleaning.

            Since the subject of the town’s new street sweeper came up, Jones said she had never seen it on any town street and asked how many times South White Street had been cleaned. O’Donnell checked with Public Works Director Mike Barton by phone and told the mayor after the meeting it had been done eight times in 2005.