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In a few short years, the Wake Forest
area lost the industries that had given
work to hundreds. Burlington, Athey,
Parker-Hannifin and Weavexx are all
gone.
People do work locally in
small industries in the South Forest
Business Park, in distribution centers
like The Body Shop, and in small
businesses all over the area, but many
more people have to commute to Raleigh,
Durham or RTP for work.
Could Wake Forest attract
some industry? Do we want to provide
employment opportunities? Do we want a
cushion against future tax increases on
homes?
Right now 78 percent of the
town’s tax base is residential and only
22 percent is commercial with industry
providing only a small share of that.
Industries are beneficial as part of the
tax base mix because they pay more
property taxes than they demand in
services.
I would never suggest we
follow Holly Springs’ example and go
$8.3 million in debt to buy the land and
prepare it as they are doing for
Novartis. The honeymoon bubble there
broke with a bang when they looked at
the cost.
But I do think the town
board, the chamber of commerce and the
residents need to look at the idea of a
certified site and some reasonable
incentives. It should be part of the
agenda for the soon-to-be-named steering
committee for the land use plan.
Aside from improving the tax
base, an industry near or in town would
reduce congestion and air pollution on
local highways, provide incentive for
associated suppliers to locate here, and
spur more retail-small business growth.
And it would give local people a chance
to earn a paycheck that could support
their families.
Town government in the past
played a large part in attracting
industry. In the 1960s the town
established an independent body, the
Industrial Development Corporation, to
establish what was then Schrader
Brothers here. In the 1990s the town
made a loan, repaid in full and with an
extra dollop of $40,000, to the
independent Business and Industrial
Partnership which took the lead in
building South Forest Industrial Park.
It is time, it seems, to
begin to explore how the town, both as a
government and as all of its people, can
find a way to provide jobs for those
people. |
