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The Wake Forest Town Board spent about
80 minutes in a closed session at the
end of Tuesday night’s meeting, and
returned to the meeting room at 10:20
p.m. only to adjourn.
Town Manager Mark Williams
said the board had directed the staff
and attorney Eric Vernon to continue to
negotiate. Williams, Vernon and Deputy
Town Manager Roe O’Donnell were in the
closed session with the commissioners
and mayor.
There had been some hints in
the last two weeks that a decision was
near.
The board has selected two
possible sites: the DAB site along East
Elm Avenue between South White and
Brooks streets – the site favored by
most speakers at the public hearing
earlier this spring – and a combination
of properties along Brooks Street from
the East Owen Avenue intersection south
toward The Forks Cafeteria. When the two
sites were selected, Williams said he
preferred the one on Brooks because of
its closeness to the planning department
and the police station.
The Renaissance Plan
envisioned the town hall on or near the
DAB site with a town green.
Craig Briner, who owns the
Wake Forest Plaza and land across Brooks
from the DAB site, has proposed several
incentives to the town if they choose
that site. They include construction a
three-story retail and office building
at Brooks and Elm, completing
construction of Brooks through to East
Holding Avenue, refurbishing the plaza
building, and presenting a site plan
this summer for 120 upscale townhouses
on the 12 vacant acres next to the
plaza.
The DAB property is owned by
Linwood and Sandra Davis of Wake Forest
through a corporation, WAVTAMPA
Enterprises. Wake County values the
property for tax purposes at $322,509.
The company buys and sells used cars,
vans, SUVs and light trucks. The
property was formerly the Miller Oil
Company, which was later bought and
operated by McCracken Oil.
The town owns the parking
lot at the corner of Brooks and Owen.
The property that might be purchased for
the town hall would be the Green &
Wooten insurance agency building and lot
and the Coin Laundry and its parking
lot. One possible configuration for the
town hall also would cover the American
Legion building and parking lot. One of
the possible plans for the town hall
showed the present building razed and
the parking lot reconfigured. Another
proposed a green space next to the H.L.
Miller Park where the present town hall
and parking lot are.
John E. Wooten Jr. and his
wife, Shirley, of Wake Forest own the
insurance company building and land,
which are valued at $114,393 by the
county in its tax books. Lee Pryor owns
the Coin Laundry and parking lot valued
for tax purposes at $136,799. |
