March 22, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            When the board returned at 8:45 p.m., Mayor Vivian Jones said the board had instructed its attorney, Eric Vernon, “to continue to negotiate for land acquisition.”

            The discussion about the town hall site took only about half of the hour; the remainder of the closed session was devoted to a personnel matter.

            The board did unanimously commit to financing about 75 percent of the cost to build the third fire station on the west side of town and to support the increased personnel cost. Based on the area served, Wake County will pay about 25 percent of the station’s cost.

            During the board’s February work session, Fire Chief David Williams Jr., said the station will cost about $1.32 million even though developer Jim Adams will donate the land once he completes the purchase of the Parker-Hannifin property. It will be in the vicinity of the Wake Union Church Road and Kearney Road intersection. Williams wants to open the station in January of 2008.

            In February, Town Manager Mark Williams said the cost of the station would probably mean a 3-cent increase on the town’s 54-cent property tax rate. Currently 10 cents of the 54 cents is dedicated to the fire department. Tuesday night Williams said the ongoing cost would be $596,000 for debt service and personnel.

            Mark Williams also said the station will reduce response times to the west side of town and the unincorporated area west of it and will reduce insurance rates for businesses and homes. “The need for the third station is very apparent.”

            Commissioner David Camacho recalled the appeals former fire chief Jimmy Keith made that raised the fire department’s share of the tax rate from 8 cents to 9 cents and finally to 10 cents. Camacho said it was his understanding Keith wanted the 10 cents to be able to afford the aerial truck (now on order) and the third station.

            “I don’t recall the third station,” Mark Williams said. The county’s insistence that all departments implement the first-responder program added greatly to the operating costs, he said.

            Commissioner Margaret Jones Stinnett warned there may be a problem with the station’s location. “Ten years down the road (Capital Boulevard) is going to be a freeway and you’re not going to have access from U.S. 1.”

            “We can get to Jenkins Road,” the fire chief said.

            “We do have demand and need in that part of the community,” Commissioner Stephen Barrington said. “I think we need to have a fire station out there. The debate is exactly how we’re going to pay for it.”

            It is hard to tell now, Mark Williams said, because the money will be needed in the 2007-08 fiscal year and the tax base will have grown.

            Camacho said that with town expenses fairly stable and the tax base growing, “the tax rate should come down.”

            The commissioners also angered about 25 Thornrose subdivision residents who want an amenities center with a swimming pool. The planning board had voted five to three to deny the special user permit request by Lennar Communications of Carolina, and the town board followed suit with a three to two vote. Stinnett and Commissioners Velma Boyd-Lawson and Frank Drake voted to deny the request. Chad Sary, a town planner, had recommended approval.

            Camacho said he was not happy with the filling and building in the Sanford Creek floodplain approval would entail but the request “does meet all existing policies and rules.” Camacho said denial, even though the board plans to change the rules about building or filling in a floodplain, would be arbitrary and premature.

            Drake said he did not think it was arbitrary, and rested his argument on the fact the burden of proof rests on the applicant for special use permits.

            (It was impossible for those in the audience and probably those watching at home to hear all the discussion because Drake addressed his fellow commissioners, some of the others speak very softly and the microphones, which do not appear adequate, did not pick up what they said. The hope is they will be issued clip-on microphones like TV reporters when they move to the new town hall.)

            There was no dissent about the other planning items although Stinnett had asked the petition for contiguous annexation of part of the Forbes tract be removed from the consent agenda.

            The board unanimously approved Taylor Blakely’s request for a special use permit to build a daycare center at 3705 Rogers Road, Scott Pittman’s request for a conditional use permit for a 24-lot single-family residential subdivision between South Franklin Street and South Allen Road, and Ammons Development Group’s request to rezone 73 acres at the current end of Heritage Branch Road to office and institutional.

            Stinnett was concerned about the use of the Forbes land, and Planning Director Chip Russell said that tract, to be called Reynolds Mill, has already been zoned and the master plan for 125 units has been approved. “We don’t normally annex raw land.” Russell also said the developer is building a section of Ligon Mill Road north to the bypass.