August 2, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            They were disappointed by the Wake Forest Planning Board’s response, which was a sympathetic ear but a 6 to 1 recommendation to approve the requested conditional use R-8 zoning and connect Clearsprings Drive from Rogers Road to Chalks Road.

            The clear winner was the Allen and Mary Freeman house, rescued by the statements of local lawyer Kathryn Drake, chairman of the Capital Area Preservation board. The planning board stipulated no building permits will be issued for the land the house and its associated buildings stand on while Drake works to find a way to permanently preserve the house.

            Clearsprings is a county subdivision zoned R-30 with septic tanks, a community water system and lots that range from an acre to more than two. Its only access is Clearsprings Drive, which is 18 feet wide.

            If the town board approves the rezoning and master plan on Aug. 15, that narrow street will be connected to one 35 feet wide. As a result of neighborhood meetings the engineer, Mike Crowley of Crowley & Associates, has put in a roundabout to calm traffic, but neighbors said that will not be enough.

            “I’m looking to prevent a problem,” Andy Martin said. He lives on the narrow street where there is barely enough room for cars to pass. He said he did not want to be the one to have to call when someone crashes into a tree or hits a neighbor child.

            As Martin and others pointed out, Clearsprings Road at Rogers will connect to a street in the future Heritage South. Children in that subdivision will be assigned to Jones Dairy Elementary School and Clearsprings will be the most convenient cut-through to Chalks and Jones Dairy roads.

            Drivers also might want to use that road instead of Marshall Farm Road, which also connects to Chalks Road, because Marshall Farm has speed tables and what is still considered a dangerous intersection at Rogers Road at the top of a hill. Even though the hill was recently cut down, board member Peter Thibodeau said people who live in the area feel they “take their lives in their hands making a left turn off Rogers.”

            The future Clearsprings Drive will meet Rogers at the top of a much smaller hill to the east, an area with better sight distance.

            Clearsprings in the existing subdivision will not have speed tables or three-way stop signs at the side roads because the state Department of Transportation will not allow them. DOT’s reasoning, quoted from the planning department’s analysis, is that three-way stops confuse motorists, leading to accidents, and there is no history of accidents at those intersections. If speed tables are installed, DOT, which maintains the road, said it would remove them because of complaints about vehicle damage and because it cannot plow snow over them.

            David Williams, Willfair’s president, said they had offered to pay for the speed tables and stop signs.

            The other contentious bone for Clearsprings residents is the disparity between the size of their lots and those in the planned subdivision, even though Crowley has increased the adjoining lot sizes to 15,000 square feet.

            Jay Hoy said his family moved to Clearsprings “because its country living in the city.” Hoy said even those larger lot sizes are not enough and said he would prefer they be half-acre lots. “This development (Majestic Oaks) should be twenty to thirty lots to make it flow and look like it should.”

            The planned subdivision will have 60 single-family lots – reduced from the original 65 – with homes that begin at 2,500 square feet and cost $325,000 and up.

            Hoy and Martin were the spokesmen for the 35 or so neighbors who came to the public hearing, and Hoy said there were more who could not attend. Danny R. Lineberry sent a three-page letter to Mayor Vivian Jones expressing his opposition, and Alister and Linda Score sent an e-mail to the planning department asking the planning and town boards to reject the rezoning.

            The property, 18.75 acres with three owners, is now in the county’s jurisdiction. The town board has accepted a request for annexation and will consider that along with the rezoning and master plan on Aug. 15.

            Board member Steve Stoller said he was concerned about the lack of transition between the large lots in Clearsprings and those planned, and member Kim Parker said he was very torn about the road issue.

            Thibodeau, who later voted against the recommendation, raised questions about the different road widths, the availability of an alternate source for lawn irrigation – the developers have agreed not to use the town’s water – and the lack of open space. Planning Director Chip Russell said they could capture rainwater or dig a well and will be using a drought-resistant grass like Bermuda or zoysia. For smaller subdivisions such as this with no Neuse River buffer or greenway nearby, planner Chad Sary said, the town charges a recreation fee in lieu of the open space.

            Willfair will also assure the builders will install water-saving appliances in the homes.

            The vote was 6 to 1 because Stoller left early to pick up his wife at the airport and members Speed Massenburg and Michael Martin were absent. The other board members are chairman Bob Hill, vice chairman Alphonza Merritt, Ward Marotti, Tom Cornett, Chris Kaeberlein, Parker and Thibodeau.

            In the only other business, the board quickly approved the master plan for the Northern Wake Regional Center to be built by Wake County. It will be constructed between the post office and the library almost directly across from the short stub of Brooks Street. The plan calls for a reconfigured parking lot for the library, which will still have room to expand to the south.