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Tuesday
night the Wake Forest planning board
members and the town commissioners will
hear comments from area residents about
a big plan – the 256-acre, 1,300-home
traditional neighborhood proposal for
part of the former Holding farm – and a
request for just one house – a permit to
operate a bed and breakfast on North
Main Street.
Holding Village will be the
town’s first traditional neighborhood
development, and the zoning ordinance
was changed earlier this year to allow
for the mixed uses, homes closer to the
street than in the typical subdivision,
and in general an atmosphere much like
the downtown areas in small towns in the
past.
The development will be
bounded by the N.C. 98 bypass to the
north, the CSX rail line to the west and
different Heritage subdivisions on the
south and west. You can see the site
from the bypass. Look for the three
silos and a pond.
The members of the planning
board received the detailed drawings for
the development after last month’s
meeting and now have the regulating.
Planning Director Chip Russell is
recommending the planning board hold the
matter over to May for more
consideration because of the level of
detail in the plan.
The town hired The Louis
Berger Group Inc. to make a traffic
impact assessment, and they recommended
a signal with dual dedicated left turns
at the Franklin Street-N.C. 98 bypass
intersection and realigning Friendship
Chapel and Cimarron Parkway to eliminate
the offset. They do not recommend adding
a signal there. They said South Main
will have to have a second continuous
through lane in both directions “if thre
is any hope of increasing the level of
service on this street. They recommended
a dedicated right turn lane on South
Main where it meets the bypass.
The Berger Group also
recommended crossing treatments where
Franklin Street meets Rogers Road
because of the two schools there.
Louise and William Howard
are asking for a special use permit to
operate the bed and breakfast in their
home at 238 N. Main St. in the town’s
historic district. The Wake Forest
zoning ordinance allows such a use, but,
if approved, this would be the first in
town.
There have been at least
three unsuccessful attempts to place a
bed and breakfast – at least two by
former resident Inez Mercer for the
house she then owned at 229 N. Main and
a third involving the Poteat-Swett house
which is now offices for Wake Forest
Baptist Church.
The Wake Forest Historic
Preservation Commission has written a
letter supporting the permit. Louise
Howard chairs the commission but left
the room after answering questions.
The planning board meeting
and hearings begin at 7:30 p.m. in town
hall. You do not have to sign up in
advance to speak at the hearings; just
raise your hand when Chairman Bob Hill
asks who wants to speak. |
