January 25, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            If all the builders and developers with approved plans decided to build all the homes they have been allotted this year, they would pull 1,562 building permits and start digging foundations.

            That number is almost twice the limit – 800 homes – the mayor and commissioners informally agreed to during their recent retreat.

            Planning Director Chip Russell told them there will not be enough water allocation from Raleigh to last until the spring of 2010 if homes continue to be built at the present rate, about 1,000 a year.

            Wake Forest water customers used 3.79 million gallons during a peak day this past summer. The merger agreement with Raleigh, which owns the water and sewer systems, says the maximum the town can use through April 1 of 2010 is 4.9 million gallons a day.

            That difference of 1.1 mgd will only allow 3,200 homes to be built in the four-year period, or 800 per year. The town must plan based on peak water use.

            Russell said he would talk to developers, asking them to voluntarily reduce the number of units they build in the four years. And, he said, no one has used the maximum number they could.

            The comprehensive planning committee made up of Commissioners David Camacho and Frank Drake and planning board members Bob Hill and Kim Parker, will wrestle with ways to cut the building boom down to size. The committee usually meets the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 a.m. at The Forks Cafeteria, and the meeting is open to the public.

            “You’re really talking about limiting a commodity,” Camacho said during the retreat, “and we’ve got to come up with a fair and equitable way about how to dole out 800 building permits.”

            The goal is to have a policy by April. Currently the maximum number of building permits for any subdivision in a year is 50, although some developers have received larger allocations because of public benefit such as greenways.

            The commissioners also discussed reducing the consumption of treated drinking water by discouraging irrigation systems, encouraging lawn grass that needs little water, wells for irrigation and low-flow toilets and plumbing fixtures.

            The largest subdivisions, the possible number of homes and their allocations for building permits in the next few years are:

            - the Ammons Reservoir Tract, 800 homes, with 50 possible in 2006, 125 in 2007, and 150 in each year through 2011.

            - Austin Creek, 427 single-family homes with 110 possible in 2006 and 30 each year through 2015. The 196 townhouses are planned as 20 each from 2007 through 2015.

            - Bishops Grant, 172 single-family homes with 50 each from this year through 2008 and ending with 22 in 2009. Its 48 townhouses would be built in 2009 and 2010.

            - Bowling Green, 278 single-family homes with 100 built this year, 100 split between single-family homes and townhouses in 2007, 100 homes in 2008 and ending with 28 homes and 44 townhouses in 2009.

            - the Dameron property, the eastern part of the former Holding dairy farm, is planned with 813 homes. Building would begin in 2007 with 100 homes that would increase to 166 in 2008, increase again in 2009 and 2010 to 200 each year and end with 147 in 2011.

            - Heritage North has already pulled 53 building permits with 334 remaining. Plans are for 200 homes in 2006, 100 in 2007 and 34 in 2008.

            - Heritage Wake Forest has 242 approved lots in its different areas, and the bulk of those, 208, are planned for 2006.

            - Heritage South pulled 53 building permits last year and has approval for 391 more. Russell’s spreadsheet calls for 47 to be built this year, 50 each year after that through 2012 and 44 the final year.

            - Northampton still has 194 unbuilt lots. Plans are for 50 each for three years and 44 in 2009.

            - Shearon Farms plans to build 58 of its 372 unbuilt townhouses in 2006, 75 each during 2007 through 2010 and end with 14 in 2011.

            - Stonegate at St. Andrews has pulled building permits for 46 single-family homes but has approved plans for 474 more of those plus 217 multi-family units. Together, the builders would pull 125 permits each year of 2006 through 2010, ending in 2011 with 66 multi-family units.

            - Wildflower will build its 75 single-family homes this year and the next two, and the building for its 167 townhouses will stretch from this year through 2010.

            After April of 2010 the water allocation from Raleigh will increase by 4 percent, and then in 2020 there will be another increase of 3 percent.