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While the town board was in closed
session Tuesday night discussing the
site for the new town hall, neighbors in
the Clearspring subdivision on Chalks
Road told town officials about a
possible problem with the annexation
petition for the proposed Willfair
subdivision on Rogers Road.
They echoed Commissioner
Frank Drake’s question after the public
hearing about annexing Willfair’s 18.75
acres.
When the board returned to
the meeting room, attorney Eric Vernon
said they were right. “We have
discovered a defect in the request for
annexation.” If property is owned by a
husband and wife, both spouses have to
sign the annexation request. In this
case, Todd Allen signed but his wife,
Clellie, did not. “It was certified
while it was defective,” Vernon said,
and “I believe it is in the best
interest of the town to re-certify.”
Told they could rezone the
property and approve the master plan to
become effective once the tract is
annexed, the board proceeded to add
another condition before approving the
R-8 (residential with minimum lot size
of 8,000 square feet) zoning.
That condition, to which
developer David Williams Jr. and his
engineer, Mike Crowley, agreed, was to
recombine the six lots adjoining
Clearspring into four lots and then
split an adjoining large lot to make
two.
The commissioners’ concerns
were both the transition between the
large lots in Clearspring and the
smaller ones in Willfair and the old
Freeman house and kitchen that is
probably historic and salvageable.
Commissioner Velma
Boyd-Lawson said, “I have great respect
for preserving the older property,” but
there is an equal question of the
quality of life for the people who
already have homes there.
Commissioner Margaret
Stinnett said the subdivision was “too
many lots on too little acreage.”
Kathryn Drake, a local
lawyer who heads the board for Capital
Area Preservation, said, “The house is
the real deal.” It was probably built in
the 1840s in Greek Revival style, and
the upstairs is still intact with
original details. “It is worthy of being
saved,” she said, although it probably
would not qualify for the National
Register of Historic Places because of
changes and damage to the first floor.
“But it could be eligible for local
landmark status.”
The developers – Williams,
Steve Faircloth and David Faircloth –
plan to donate it to CAP, Drake said.
First, though, CAP has to find out if
the house can be saved, and that
involves pulling out the cinder blocks
that hide the original brick piers and
looking at the damage. There is termite
damage up to the second floor.
Mayor Vivian Jones said her
concern is that it is not fair to the
developers to prevent development of the
two lots the house and kitchen are on
“forever and forever.”
Drake said she will report
back to the board later this year about
the future of the house before the
developers begin clearing and grading.
In other business, the
commissioners:
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Approved a resolution of
appreciation for the services of
Joel McCrea Wiggins, the Wake Forest
police officer who died recently. At
least 30 of his family came to town
hall for the short ceremony.
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Appointed John Mills to the one
vacancy on the Historic Preservation
Commission and appointed Karen
Claggett and Stephanie Jenny to the
two vacancies on the Human Relations
Council.
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Received a petition for annexation
from Waters Edge Environmental
(Oasis Pools) for property on
Shearon Farms Avenue and approved
the master plan for the Northern
Regional Center as part of the
consent agenda
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Agreed to amend the contract with
Narron Construction for the North
Allen sidewalk project to include a
4-inch Thermo Edge Line along the
east side of the street. The new
contract total is $366,472.51, with
most of the cost paid by Wake
County.
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Approved a bid of $200,494 from Nu-Tech
Paving for a 2,200-foot section of
the Olde Mill Stream Greenway.
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Approved a grant application of
$90,360 for the second year of a
grant from the N.C. Governor’s
Highway Safety Program to pay for
salaries in the traffic enforcement
unit.
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Approved a contract with the Trust
for Public Land to purchase the
Clinebelle Tract.
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Approved a $1,217,262 contract with
National Transformer Sales for one
40 MVA transformer for the electric
substation planned at the N.C. 98
bypass and Capital Boulevard.
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