April 19, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            Because of these changes, the Wake Forest Town Board Tuesday night unanimously agreed to waive the 6-month waiting period and allow the company to ask for a special use permit for the center at May’s planning board meeting. The commissioners and the planning board denied the request in March.

            The change also allowed the engineer to add to the tree save area around the parking lot.

            There was no unanimity for two agenda items: the master plan for Heritage Overlook 65-lot subdivision and a change in the master plan for South Forest Business Park with Drake and Stinnett voting no to each.

            Stinnett said her objection to the Heritage Outlook plan was the one entrance/exit. Camacho said he agreed with her point about the single access but wondered at what size to make second entrances mandatory. Russell said the town’s design manual specifies subdivisions over 100 lots need two or more entrances. Drake said, “How many houses, the answer is one, mine.” He sketched a scenario with the four fairways surrounding the subdivision soggy from a hurricane and the entrance blocked by fallen trees. A fire truck could or would become bogged down in the rain-soaked earth.

            The board unanimously approved rezoning a house at 851 South Main from business to residential and amending the Historic Preservation Commission portion of the zoning ordinance.

            All commissioners agreed in approving the resolution by which the town agreed it had no interest in the Parker-Hannifin plant and land. They did give Vernon the authority to make minor adjustments to the language to meet the title company’s requirements so that Wake Forest developer Jim Adams can complete his purchase of the property. The Industrial Development Corporation, set up in 1964, owns the property and has been leasing it to Parker-Hannifin. Adams will pay $2.9 million for the 33 acres, spend $600,000 to tear down the dilapidated building and construct a high-end shopping center.

            There were only two speakers for the public hearing about the budget.

            Kathryn Spiegel asked the board for $7,392 to pay for a part-time (40 hours a month) director for the Wake Forest Cultural Arts Association. The group sponsors in part or wholly several events: the DuBois Jazz Festival, Six Sundays in Spring, the Well-Dressed Garden Tour, the Historic Homes Christmas Tour, the Autumn Arts Festival and the Area Artists’ Studio Tour.

            Mary Hayes asked that the construction of the North Loop, or at least the portion from White Street to Harris Road, be expedited to reduce the amount of traffic going through the Mill Village, where she lives. The North Loop will be about three-fourths of a mile north, and when it is complete the at-grade railroad crossing at Brick Street will be closed.

            She noted there are limited ways for people to cross the tracks throughout town. The only crossings are on Rogers Road, the N.C. 98 bypass bridge, Elm Avenue, the underpass at Roosevelt Avenue and Brick Street. Otherwise, “you have to go all the way to Youngsville.”

            “The streets in the Mill Village are very skinny,” Hayes said, and there are no sidewalks. The speed bumps on Brick have not slowed traffic. “The only thing it has done is aggravate the drivers.”

            When Drake asked if she wanted Brick closed now, Hayes whooped, “Oh, I love you,” but declined because it is used by the police and fire departments.