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Holsteins grazed there 30 years ago, and
the silos still stand as a reminder that
the Wake Forest area was once home to
several thriving dairy farms.
Tuesday morning Planning
Director Chip Russell turned up a sheet
on his flip chart and revealed the
conceptual plan for Holding Village, a
collection of neighborhoods, some retail
areas, green areas and small parks,
similar to Meadowmont near Chapel Hill,
proposed for half of what was the
Holding dairy farm.
There would be 1,200 homes,
about half multi-family and half
single-family, and the plan is to begin
construction on the first phase, the
northern part, next year.
Bill Andrews, who is heading
up the Holding family group planning the
development, said, “The timing is
perfect with the Renaissance Plan.”
They want to take the
Renaissance Plan south of the bypass and
build a community with a village feel
that is within walking distance of
downtown. The northern part would be a
mix of housing styles and retail,
including condos above shops, and the
southern part would be entirely
residential.
The 300-plus acre tract runs
from the N.C. 98 bypass down to an
unused portion of Forestville Road and
nestles next to Heritage North.
Its major roads will be
Friendship Chapel Road east and west and
Franklin Street north and south. Inside
Holding Village, however, they would not
be straight, three- or four-lane
collector streets but would instead wind
through the complex.
“The key is completing
Franklin Street,” Andrews said. It now
stops at the bypass on the north. Andy
Ammons has built a portion of it north
from Rogers Road, but it stops at the
Holding property line.
The land has been in the
Holding family for over 80 years,
Andrews said, and all the family members
have warm memories of it and the farm.
“I’ve chased cows down to what was the
Marshall-Stroud farm,” Andrews said. “We
wanted to keep our thumbprints on this
property.”
To that end they turned to
Roger Perry of East West Partners
Management Company in Chapel Hill, the
firm that developed Meadowmont, and to
other designers who would use the land
wisely.
The plan includes saving and
highlighting the two large ponds. Near
the 12-acre pond, they plan an
amphitheater which can be used by the
public. There would be pocket parks, and
Andrews said they plan to help
Friendship Chapel Baptist Church restore
a cemetery that has been long abandoned.
Russell said the traditional
neighborhood development is nothing new
and was frequently built in the past.
“You see it lots in older areas.”
However, there are two
stumbling blocks to the plan. The first
is obtaining a sufficient water
allocation from Raleigh for the 1,200
homes.
The second: “None of our
ordinances allow this.” Later, Russell
said, “Hopefully we won’t get in the way
of the developers.” |
